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Hi,
whoever you might be. Just thought i'd drop you a line to
congratulate you on a great site. I also want to take up
the question you ask about Crass...what did they achieve?
Well, the same could probably be asked of, say, the
Pistols? The answer, put simplistically, would probably be
that the Pistols affected the way some of us looked at and
perceived things. And they happened to do it through what i
consider to be a great musical form. I believe the same
could be said of Crass. Or, at least, they made this 15
year old kid at the time look at and question certain aspects of
the life and society that surrounded me. I would readily
agree with your argument that some of the lyrics are lacking in
their content in that they tend to attack only the white status
quo (which is arguably justified, but that's another story) but i
believe that's where Crass's strength actually was because their
message(s) were implicit rather than explicit. It was the
system and cultural practices that upheld institutions such as
marriage, meat eating, religion etc that was being
attacked. The message went further than just specific
institutions. Or, as i've said, that's how i understood
it. Which brings me onto another aspect that seems to
always be overlooked when talking about bands and their influence
etc. And that's the audience. Bands do not stand in
isolation. They are, if you like, only as good as the
people who appreciate them. The Pistols, the Clash, Crass
and everyone else would mean absolutely nothing were it not for
the people who came to see them. So the question of
influence, as far as Crass are concerned, must be approached by
asking how many people bought their records? How many
people went to see them? How many people were actually
affected by them? The answer, i think, would be thousands
(probably hundreds of thousands...or am i just being romantic
:-) And that affection has lasted, in some people at least,
to this day. And it could also be argued that, much like
the Pistols, Crass's influence was cultural as well as musical -
many of the people who initiated what became known as
"Rave" culture, where directly influenced by
Crass. If not by their lyrics per se, then by the DIY ethic
that they continually espoused. And continuing on the
audience theme, you seem to be quite fascinated by clothes.
Now i know it's a boring old cliche but punk is not, and never
has been, about clothes. So to condemn Crass for
introducing the gloomy black and white world of their artwork and
clothing again fails to recognise the role of the audience - just
because Crass wore black does not explain why that particular
look was adopted by so many people. There must be more to
it. I'd suggest that Crass, just like the Pistols, managed
to tap into and reflect something that was already there.
And in doing so, managed to influence, or at least articulate in
a relatively accessable way, the thinking and perhaps actions of
a lot of people.
Trev
25/5/00
My
reply
Thank you for a
very well reasoned letter and some good points. I think when it
comes down to it its all about a piece of plastic..... to read
any more into it and you are on dodgy ground.. its all about
rock'n'roll and Crass quite simply were'nt rock'n';roll.
Attacking marriage ??? Thats easy. Attacking religion.... even
easier... eating meat.... so easy. Now the question is are you
thinking for yourself or are you standing in a room with
hundreds of others like sheep repeating what someone Crass ...
tells you. Making your own mind up involves having both sides of
the story not a polemic and making a reasoned judgement.
Did the Pistols change anything... probably not ... have an
influence ?... undoubtably but they didn't have to forever
quantify and preach like Crass. If I was to follow the ten
commandments of Crass I would have plastic shoes eat vegetarian
food, not be married to a woman who does not wear make up'
shave her armpits etc or wear high heels, believe in anarchy and
peace and so on and so on. Fact.... the poll tax riots
brought down the poll tax and eventually Maggie... anarchy and
peace my arse.
I'm sorry if I seem
obsessed with clothes.. I never noticed it but I think it is
pertinent to Crass. For people who frequently bandied around
terms such as fascism and communism and attacked people ie
Berketex Bride, women and priests etc for their clothes I find
it a tad ironic that their logos, artwork, dress and
followers all adopted a sort of military look. An image is
an outward expression of your beliefs and as all manipulators of
political power kno is a powerful tool and helps maintain a
seperate identity.
As to Crass
influencing rave culture.... look at those rave adverts... remind
you of Never Mind The Bollocks ???? It don't remind me of Crass.
Don't start me on rave culture.... its the governments dream....
thousands of people drugged all night in a field /club like
sheep. The distinction between rock'n'roll and normal life
has gone. Rave music plays in the background of B&Q ads
....there is no rebellion. Scuse me but Crass didn't invent DIY
music, labels, distribution.. there were others before them. You
mention the role of the audience.... well there you go... what
was it for Crass. If it was the music why weren't you listening
to the lyrics....If it was the lyrics were you arguing , thinking
or disagreeing or were you blindly repeating them coz you learned
them off the sleeve ??? Were Crass musicians or politicians ??
Were you sheep or were you fans ???
I make the point
frequently on the website punk was part of rock'n'roll plain and
simply....it was fun exciting and rebellion but it was just
rock'n'roll...read any more into it and you are on the wrong
track. I'm not religious but basically I had more respect for
missionaries going to Africa and trying to convert natives than
Crass. They had the bottle to take a message and try and spread
it not like Crass to the converted. You say there must be
more to Crass.. that they tapped into something. I think you are
right here but only up to a point. Basically punk collapsed in on
itself around 1979... as the first and second wave bands all
collapsed it left itself without direction and without a
figurehead and to be honest Crass filled that void and gave punk
a fresh injection and changed punk into the rebirth of the
hippies.
I'm no apologist
for the pistols but if Crass had been the no 1 band in 76 when
they formed you can bet your life the pistols would have appeared
on stage in gaudy clothes, eating a steak. reading a porn mag and
fighting .....why coz that's rebellion ... that's what happens when
someone tells you should be doing something once too often. To
them I'm a conformist... a capitalist , sexist, animal torturing
.. perpetuating the male myth .... yawn ad infinitum.
If you like Crass
and got something from them then I'm happy for you.. to me they
were never a punk band.... I mean how do you define punk ???
Thanks once again
for the email and if you don't mind I'll post it on the site coz
I like it and its well reasoned and you took the trouble to say
something.
Trevs
reply 26/5/00
Hi Paul,
and cheers for replying to my message. I'd disagree with
some of the points you make (now there's a surprise :-) and i
would venture that as we're both of us looking at the situation
in hindsight, things tend to become a bit distorted, perhaps most
significantly around what are seen as "easy targets"
and the longevity of Crass's "preaching". But
anyway, i don't propose to go on with the debate, except to
say that no, i am not some blindly led Crass-esque sheep
(although i'll readily admit to having been initially but,
ironically (and pertinantly) it was Crass's lyrics and
over-arching ideals that led me away from being so) and, like
you, i believe they were wrong with their Anarchy and Peace
stance. As you rightly say, it is direct action that
changes things.
And
finally from the guestbook
My name is ...: HEINZ HAUGEN
Spit it out then !!!!: HELLO THIS IS A REALLY GREAT SITE.GOOD
READING AND LOTS OF INFORMATION. I AGREE WITH YOU ON WHAT YOU SAY
ABOUT CRASS,THEY REALLY SUCK. MY FAVORITES ARE SEX PISTOLS.UK
SUBS.CAOS UK.EXPLOITED,COCNEY REJECTS,SUBHUMANS. UK SUBS PLAYED
IN MY TOWN(STAVANGER)EARLIER THIS YEAR AND IT WAS A GREAST GIG.I
TALKED TO THE BAND AND THEY SIGNED MY WARHEAD SINGEL. KEEP UP THE
GOOD WORK ON THIS SITE THANKS
My name is ...: Becca Puke
Spit it out then !!!!: Hey, I've just read your epitaph to Crass
- I like em but I was well impressed with the absolutely fucking
brilliant slagging ya dealt em. Someone needed to say somthing
like that at the time to get rid of their mysterious aura. Sites
+ zines which relish arse licking and brown nosing their idols
are all over the shop but to get a writer who sez what they think
with no bullshitting is rare nowadays, I hope one of crass gets
to somehow read that + get it right between the eyes - wotever
doesn't kill ya just makes ya stronger right!!! Nothing is
sacred!!!!
Thu July 20 2000 - 01:04:49
My name is ...: Steve Resin
Never mind the Pistols and all that
shite, it was only ever about money anyway. The only true great
punk band from the late seventies was Crass, who shunned the
major labels & started their own, spoke more about the state
of the country in one song than Lydon could in a lifetime of
dross albums, kept the price of their records to an absolute
minimum and even run a punk commune in London where anyone was
free to call in & crash out. Their art-work was revolutionary
and their singer (steve ignorant) the best punk voice the world
will ever know. And where is Rotten, king of punk, now? Sitting
on his fat arse in sunny L.A., thats where! In the words of The
Exploited, "Fuck the USA". "They said that we was
trash, but the name is Crass not Clash. You can stuff your punk
credentials, cos it's them who take the cash."
From: Steve Diamond
Geezer
Sent: 18 August 2000
23:56
Some of your points made about
Crass on your excellent site are valid, but I recall Crass coming
to prominence (for me anyway) as the `real` punk rock was dying a
1000 deaths with shit `New Wave` bands. Ok Crass were preaching
an impossible dream of Anarchy Peace and Freedom (a contridiction
in terms\ to most people) but their hearts and minds were surely
in the right places and they seemed to genuinely beleive in what
they were sayin. I saw Crass\and Dirt in a North London Pub
(early 80`s) I think and they were awful\par musically, but it
cost a quid to get in and was a good laugh. As pointed out by
someone else on your site theyre records also sold for a fraction
of other punk bands, they shunned TOTP`s (I never knew that) how
could they appear on tv? It would undermine everything they
preached. And at least Crass NEVER sold out, like 99% of so
called Punk bands (esp The Clash). For me, Crass gave me some
fucking good hardcore punk music to singalong with in my bedshit,
I reckon a lot of the lyrics were vrillant, they made me think
about life and the system and made me question a lot of shit that
we lie down for, and I think that was all Crass really hoped to
achieve. I reckon they are the bollocks and Steve Ignorant is
still getting a sore throat with The Stratford Mercenaries. Keep
up the good work mate.Steve.
5/5/01
Hello,
About your article on CRASS. I agree with you that they did
attack subjects that people have been already talking about (marriage, meat eaters,etc.)
But nothing was done about it. They however were trying to get
people to stand up and take action. Sometimes the band can be
misunderstood because of their odd lyrics but rest assure, they did have an
impact and did accomplish many things in the underground world. CRASS
stood up and said stop talking about it and do it. They passed out flyers
at their shows giving people ideas on what they could do. They wanted
change and gained many people on their side while they were together.
CRASS was formed buy Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud for the sole
purpose of getting their message out. You may have heard it all before but
they dug deeper into the core of the subject and got people to stop believing
and taking shit. I don't see how you can look at the Pistols and said they
made more of a change then CRASS. The Pistols were racists and had
nothing to back up their attempted rebellion.
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