Gob On You ! - Mutilate me !

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One of the worst things about punk was the gobbing (spitting) at bands. I remember seeing The Clash take to the stage in a hail of spit that looked like a snowstorm!

Who started these shenanigans then ? "Apparently the origin of spitting at gigs came from an early Damned gig at which somebody threw a can of beer at Rat Scabies and he just went up to the bloke, pulled him up by the scruff of the neck and spat in his face. From then on everyone decided spitting was a good idea"

Severin of the Banshees (The Damned's nemesis) seems to concur " I don't know who started it , but it was probably that arsehole Rat Scabies from the Damned." Ooh you bitch Severin !!!

Ramones on stage Rainbow London December 1978
A shower of beer and gob illuminated by the stage lights.

Johnny Rotten disagrees though " I think the audiences gobbing on stage came from me. Because of my sinuses, I do gob a lot on stage, but never out toward the crowd...But the press will jump on that, and the next week you get an audience thinking that's its part of the fashion and everybody has to be in on it. There's not much you can do to stop it after that."

Very phlegmatic if you'll excuse the pun John.

Says Julien Temple (Rock'N' Roll Swindle director) " When Rotten finally came out on stage, it was like Agincourt. There were these massed volleys of gob flying through the air that just hung John like a Medusa."

Siouxsie caught conjunctivitis after gob landed in her eye. Strummer got glandular fever after he swallowed it. Bands like The Clash, Pistols etc would be playing with huge big gobs landing on their strings. No wonder punk bands played fast and wanted to fight their audiences !

If you're in a band now just thank god this died out !

Mutilate Me.
Back in the days of 76 it was hard to believe that just wearing an earring could mean one of two things; you were either gay or a rebel. So when punks decided to pierce themselves with safety pins in unheard of places people were to say the least repulsed.

You had two options. Pain ? " Nah, there was ways of getting round that. You can get a safety pin and by bending the hook piece back on itself you can make it appear to go through your cheek and out the other side."

Pain ? Don Letts Roxy clubDJ " ...they would have a safety pin in their cheek or their nose. It was all sore and infected. The more they spoke, the more it hurt, and they would suffer."

Thank god for modern piercing !!

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Sources used in this page are personal recollections and Rotten The Autobiography, and You'll never be 16 again - Peter Perrett. B&W safety pin girl Erica Echenberg.