There’s probably going to be a glut of events, exhibitions and publications to mark the 50th anniversary of punk, or at least the UK’s naming and acceleration of the scene through 1976.
The film is very interesting. I particularly noted the way people seemed to be confined by their clothes and their situations. How I remember 1976 as a 14 year old - stasis, confinement. I note that [absent from the film] "punk" is contrasted to the general culture and popular music rather than to "prog rock" which I was a bit too young to be interested in. As someone who was born in Margate in 1962 but moved to Broadstairs in 1964, the mechanics of the Bank Holiday were less my concern than the reality of living in a seaside resort - an entirely different experience to visiting one - but I did have a Saturday and holiday job at Morelli's ice cream parlour in Broadstairs from 1978 to 1983 (I worked two Easter and one Summer holidays while at university in London from 1981 to 1984 before poor performance in my second year exams necessitated revision rather than work in vacations). In summer we worked [illegally] six nine-hour days, with the illegal additional hours paid without tax or National Insurance. Therefore, I know some of the work that goes into the visitors' experience. As well as mopping floors late at night in high summer, with Sham 69's "Sunday morning nightmare" blaring out from the jukebox in contrast to the manageress' preference for Vegas Elvis. The Pistols were banned, someone persuaded the management to accept Pretty Vacant, but that only lasted until the b-side was played and the word "fuckology" was heard. A lost world unmorned.
The Berlin Wall…I’m looking over it and at a past that I recognise so well, Ian.
You’ve made me homesick and nostalgic for that past that was, as it turned out, so much better than the future yet to come.
With apologies to Pete Shelley.
The film is very interesting. I particularly noted the way people seemed to be confined by their clothes and their situations. How I remember 1976 as a 14 year old - stasis, confinement. I note that [absent from the film] "punk" is contrasted to the general culture and popular music rather than to "prog rock" which I was a bit too young to be interested in. As someone who was born in Margate in 1962 but moved to Broadstairs in 1964, the mechanics of the Bank Holiday were less my concern than the reality of living in a seaside resort - an entirely different experience to visiting one - but I did have a Saturday and holiday job at Morelli's ice cream parlour in Broadstairs from 1978 to 1983 (I worked two Easter and one Summer holidays while at university in London from 1981 to 1984 before poor performance in my second year exams necessitated revision rather than work in vacations). In summer we worked [illegally] six nine-hour days, with the illegal additional hours paid without tax or National Insurance. Therefore, I know some of the work that goes into the visitors' experience. As well as mopping floors late at night in high summer, with Sham 69's "Sunday morning nightmare" blaring out from the jukebox in contrast to the manageress' preference for Vegas Elvis. The Pistols were banned, someone persuaded the management to accept Pretty Vacant, but that only lasted until the b-side was played and the word "fuckology" was heard. A lost world unmorned.
I really enjoyed this Ian. Great idea. I also like that pink jacket.