0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains very strong language
0:00:06 > 0:00:11In a short while it will be 1977,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Jubilee year and I'm sure all of you join with me in wishing Her Majesty
0:00:15 > 0:00:18a joyous and happy new year.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Well, you can see why the druids have midsummer celebrations
0:00:22 > 0:00:26here at Stonehenge and not cold, New Year's Eve celebrations.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Mind you, they did have the good nature to leave a glass here
0:00:29 > 0:00:34for me and a magnum of champers, so I'll get stoned on this.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Happy new year.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44These people share Britain's most common surname.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48They're all called Smith and they've come here from all over the country.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Together they make up a statistical cross section of the population.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53If you like, they're average British citizens
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and, because they are, it's likely they'll represent the hopes,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59the fears and the attitudes that may or may not help to
0:00:59 > 0:01:02make 1977 a happy new year,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04not only for them, but for the rest of us too.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Not that there's much chance of it being a particularly
0:01:07 > 0:01:10prosperous new year if the merchants of doom are to be believed.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14We, the people of Britain, are all here, ready to grit our teeth
0:01:14 > 0:01:18and face whatever fate has in store for us in this year of 1977.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26BIG BEN CHIMES
0:01:28 > 0:01:31MUSIC: Two Sevens Clash by Culture
0:01:42 > 0:01:45# Wat a liiv an bambaie
0:01:45 > 0:01:49# When the two sevens clash
0:01:49 > 0:01:52# Wat a liiv an bambaie
0:01:52 > 0:01:54# When the two sevens clash.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Ring out, wild bells to the wild sky.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00The year is going, let him go,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Ring out the false,
0:02:02 > 0:02:03Ring in the true,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Ring out the thousand wars of old,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Ring in the thousand years of peace,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Ring in the valiant man and free,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17The larger heart, the kindlier hand,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Ring out the darkness of the land.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22# It's only a housing scheme that divide
0:02:22 > 0:02:25# Wat a liiv an bambaie
0:02:25 > 0:02:29# When the two sevens clash, the dread
0:02:29 > 0:02:33# Wat a liiv an bambaie
0:02:33 > 0:02:36# When the two sevens clash. #
0:02:39 > 0:02:41As many of you probably know from the hangovers you are nursing
0:02:41 > 0:02:46right now, we really go for it in a big way on New Year's Eve.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49A kind of collective catharsis,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53blotting out all memories of the year gone by,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56to leave us with a blank slate to write on
0:02:56 > 0:02:58during the year ahead.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01# And it has been destroyed by lightning
0:03:01 > 0:03:04# Earthquake and thunder, I say, what?
0:03:04 > 0:03:07# Wat a liiv an bambaie
0:03:07 > 0:03:10# When the two sevens clash. #
0:03:10 > 0:03:13All years are special, some good, some bad...
0:03:15 > 0:03:17# When the two sevens clash. #
0:03:18 > 0:03:21..but in 1977, with the Labour Party leading us
0:03:21 > 0:03:24into another winter of discontent, and Mrs Thatcher
0:03:24 > 0:03:28waiting in the wings, more seemed at stake than usual.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Perhaps even now, it's not too late for us all to learn something...
0:03:34 > 0:03:36..from what went down back then.
0:03:36 > 0:03:401977 had more of a millennium feel than the millennium did.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43There was definitely something that you could see changing culturally.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45There was a lot of anticipation about 1977,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48not only because of the stir that punk rock had
0:03:48 > 0:03:52created across the country, and also in the Rasta circles.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55The prophet Marcus Garvey had prophesised that
0:03:55 > 0:03:58when the two sevens clashed, there would be chaos.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01As it turned out, there wasn't chaos in Jamaica,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04but there sure was a lot of chaos in the United Kingdom.
0:04:15 > 0:04:16The two sevens did clash.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18# Say what?
0:04:18 > 0:04:22# Wat a liiv an bambaie
0:04:22 > 0:04:25# When the two sevens clash
0:04:27 > 0:04:30# Marcus Garvey was inside of
0:04:30 > 0:04:34# Spanish Town District Prison
0:04:34 > 0:04:38# And when they were about to take him out. #
0:04:38 > 0:04:40Happy new year.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43On New Year's Day 1977, a few months before they released
0:04:43 > 0:04:46their first album, The Clash officially opened
0:04:46 > 0:04:51the Roxy Club in Covent Garden and kick-started the year of the punk.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56In the weeks leading up to that gig, a no-budget film was being made
0:04:56 > 0:05:00about The Clash by a bunch of clueless amateurs.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Aborted, abandoned and banged up in a leaking shed for many decades,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09the film was destined never to see the light of day.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Now, nearly 40 years later,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18in times not so different from those we lived through back then,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22the film has risen once more from the cold vapours of the vault,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27and again raised its ugly head for your viewing pleasure tonight.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31This is the first time we've ever been filmed, do you know what I mean?
0:05:31 > 0:05:34- I cringe a lot.- Yeah.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36- Don't my nose look big?- Yeah.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Can I be so ugly?
0:05:41 > 0:05:43I think it's really good cos it, like,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46helps us as a group get our message across in another medium.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It's evidence of life.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54Why don't you like doing things that are set up, then?
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Cos I think it's stupid.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00I don't go around doing things like that normally, right,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03so why should I do it when you're around?
0:06:03 > 0:06:05It's stupid.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Makes me feel like a tit, you know?
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Do you think the film's any good, then?
0:06:10 > 0:06:13- Oh, yeah.- It's fantastic.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16You can tell how a good a film is by when you leave the cinema.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19If you're acting like the person in the film, like a cowboy film,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22I always go down the street for a few hours.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26I do, you know, bow-legged and that.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Taxi Driver was great cos everyone come out of Taxi Driver,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31they put their lapels up.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33- Yeah, and hands in pockets. - Everyone was doing it.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35The whole cinema was walking down the street like this.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38It's like when you go to those Bruce Lee films,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41there's all people going down the street going...
0:06:41 > 0:06:42It's true, yeah.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46- You don't mind being filmed? - No, I don't care. It's great.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49All kids want to be on television or something
0:06:49 > 0:06:51and see themselves on the screen.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55'You've got to remember, no-one had seen themselves on video before.'
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Ha ha, it's great!
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Spin, spin.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06It looks like those calendars you get in those old films.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Joe, Joe, watch me on the telly.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Hold on.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16No, you're in the way. You're in the way.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18OK, go.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24PLAYS PIANO
0:07:25 > 0:07:27You want to get it wider.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Fucking hell.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Use it as a mirror. Looks great.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34What, like a mirror on the wall?
0:07:34 > 0:07:36A telly thing. One of these.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Look, look, can you see?
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Joe.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Oh fuck!
0:07:54 > 0:07:55You look at it and you think,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58"Next time I go on stage, I'll do that more often"
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- and it helps make the show a lot better...- It helps, yeah.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03..for the kids and all that.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06We don't get a chance to see ourselves as often as we get
0:08:06 > 0:08:08a chance to see other groups.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13You wouldn't like to act at all?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15We're not great actors.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Oi, Strummer, that outfit needs sewing up.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22I can see myself on the big screen like a big star
0:08:22 > 0:08:24doing all the tough bits.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28I wouldn't mind to make a film that wasn't boring in any way at all,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31but I can't be bothered to think about it.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Rising oil prices, a trade recession,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35failures in the money supply both here and abroad,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37nearly a million and a half out of work,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40standards of living dropping and, according to the
0:08:40 > 0:08:44worst of our Cassandras, democracy itself on the verge of collapse.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46I honestly don't know what's going to happen next year.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50The situation is going to, as far as I can see, get worse and worse.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54We rely upon the workers of this country and the trade unions
0:08:54 > 0:08:56and that is the way in which this country is going to get through
0:08:56 > 0:08:58if it gets through.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59Draw your sword on the fight.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03I'm going to fight on and I'm going to take this country through
0:09:03 > 0:09:04if I have half a chance.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06The Clash prepared for the Roxy gig
0:09:06 > 0:09:10holed up in the bollock-freezing cold of Rehearsals Rehearsals.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14A broken jukebox repair workshop in a British Rail goods yard
0:09:14 > 0:09:19behind the Roundhouse on the wrong sides of the tracks in Camden Town.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21One, two, three, four...
0:09:21 > 0:09:25MUSIC: What's My Name by The Clash
0:09:32 > 0:09:35# What the hell is wrong with you?
0:09:35 > 0:09:38# Do they know what to do?
0:09:38 > 0:09:41# But I tried spot cream an' I tried it all
0:09:41 > 0:09:43# Crawling up the wall
0:09:43 > 0:09:46# What's my name
0:09:46 > 0:09:49# Name
0:09:49 > 0:09:52# Name... #
0:09:55 > 0:09:59I like it, seeing it, when you can hear the music, you know?
0:09:59 > 0:10:05Before, I've only been able to see our group on a silent homemade,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08sort of, family Norfolk Broads-type camera, you know?
0:10:08 > 0:10:10You couldn't hear the music then.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13It just looked like a bunch of lunatics all going like...
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Do you know what I mean, and you can't hear the music?
0:10:16 > 0:10:20LYRICS UNDECIPHERABLE
0:10:26 > 0:10:29# Name
0:10:29 > 0:10:32# Name
0:10:32 > 0:10:34# Name... #
0:10:34 > 0:10:37To Geordie exiles in particular who can't get
0:10:37 > 0:10:38home for the New Year festivities,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42may I wish you a very happy time and indeed to everyone everywhere.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45From the North East, a very happy new year to you.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47I'm going to negotiate with the IMF
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and I need your support to do it.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52APPLAUSE
0:10:52 > 0:10:56It means sticking to the very painful cuts in public expenditure
0:10:56 > 0:11:00on which the government has already decided.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02That's what I'm going to negotiate for
0:11:02 > 0:11:06and I ask the Conference to support me in that task.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08APPLAUSE
0:11:11 > 0:11:15How serious do you think Britain's economic problems are at present?
0:11:15 > 0:11:1876% said very serious.
0:11:18 > 0:11:2118% said fairly serious.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23In other words, 94%, nearly all of us,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25feel that the situation is serious.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29We all agree that the crisis is indeed serious.
0:11:29 > 0:11:30Edward Smith of Cheshire,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34what do you think our solution in 1977 is to all our problems?
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Do you feel optimistic about the future?
0:11:36 > 0:11:39I don't feel at all optimistic about the future.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43SINGS: AULD LANG SYNE
0:11:45 > 0:11:47What are you, yourself, going to do?
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Well, if the situation doesn't improve,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52I would definitely think of going abroad and working abroad.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Overnight snow up to five inches in places closed
0:11:55 > 0:11:58part of the M6 motorway in Staffordshire this morning.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Police say icy conditions will make roads treacherous this evening.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I think there's a whole general atmosphere in England that's
0:12:04 > 0:12:06getting everybody down.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Everybody seems to spend all their time moaning and being unhappy.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Mrs Margaret Smith, if I can come to you. How do you view 1977?
0:12:13 > 0:12:19Even more depressed about it than I was in 1976 or 1975.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22How about the visual image you've got, the way you dress?
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Yeah, this is something we really work on
0:12:24 > 0:12:26and something we really enjoy.
0:12:26 > 0:12:27We want to look special, we want to look new,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29we want to look different, right?
0:12:29 > 0:12:31It's all come from us. We don't go in the shop
0:12:31 > 0:12:33and get it cos there isn't any shop you can get it.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36If there was, we probably would go and get it cos we're lazy.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40It's so easy for them to go into the Jean Machine, right,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44get a new pair of jeans when the old ones get too stinky.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48- What's this here?- Hate & War. It's the title of our new hit.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52OK, right, let's do some painting.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59- Just lean it on the floor? - Yeah, put it down.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03- Right, Joe, where do you want it? All over?- All over, yeah.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07- Anything special? - No, just blanket coverage.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Any punks want their clothes grey, Joe?
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Yeah, I'll queue 'em up outside, right.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16It'll be Pete's Boutique.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18That's the authentic look,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20like you've been rolling about in grease for three weeks.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Right, Joe. Really good thinking. That's it.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27- Look at that reacting.- Yeah.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30I think it's some sort of weird paint, yeah.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Just try and get it black as possible.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34I'm going to hammer something now.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Give it a good hammering, Joe.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Well, it's been a very tough year with industrial troubles and
0:13:53 > 0:13:56economic strife and we've all had to tighten our belts just a little,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59so, from Birmingham, a very happy new year.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04I don't think the outlook is so good.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08I think it's a rather depressing time to be having a baby.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11It's the state of the world at the moment.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Mr Frank Smith from the Midlands, how do you see 1977?
0:14:16 > 0:14:19I don't really share the views of some of these people that
0:14:19 > 0:14:22it's as bad as we would have it believe.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27We flog on. We're employing 10% more people than we were last year.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Can I ask you, what is your job?
0:14:29 > 0:14:30I make cups of tea.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32LAUGHTER
0:14:32 > 0:14:35You've always got to have some form of refreshment.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37What's your New Year's resolution?
0:14:37 > 0:14:40I might try and give up smoking, something like that.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Giving up smoking.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Joe, can you come forward a little bit?
0:14:47 > 0:14:49So where are you living now?
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Well, me and him sleep on that floor
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and he lives with his granny in a council flat.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57There's a whole generation arisen over the last three years,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01who probably in 1972 were 13, now are 17.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04All these kids in this country are out of work as is,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08with very little future ahead of them as they see it
0:15:08 > 0:15:09and they've had nothing.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11We haven't got a lot going for us.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14There ain't much future for us, just as people.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17Not talking about being a pop group.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Just as people in the first instance, you know?
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Come out of school, do a bit of college if you're lucky.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24- Get bored of it.- What did you all do before this?
0:15:24 > 0:15:25Where did you start out?
0:15:25 > 0:15:28The school I went to, right, it was a real depressing school and that.
0:15:28 > 0:15:29You don't learn nothing.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32All you're working for is just to go into the factory
0:15:32 > 0:15:33which is round the corner.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Most of the mates I know are all working in the factory.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38What kind of jobs have you lot done?
0:15:38 > 0:15:40I was cleaning toilets in an opera house.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42I was a student.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45An arts student cos I read Pete Townsend, Keith Richards,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48John Lennon and all them people had gone.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Cos arts school has become respectable, hasn't it?
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Turn to your right.
0:15:53 > 0:15:54That's your left.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56And I just realised I'd made a mistake
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and I just thought it was better than work.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01All you get there now is, like, vicar's daughters
0:16:01 > 0:16:02- and doctor's sons, you know? - Yeah, I know.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Get rich kids getting a lift in the Rolls to the end of the road, right,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09then walking up pretending to be poor all day.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12I'll go like this.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16The government paid for me to go there, a private art college.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19All you used to do all the time was go round nicking all their paint
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and going out with the birds and going up to their houses
0:16:22 > 0:16:24and getting fed.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Fucking great. And on the way out, maybe borrow something for a time.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41Go and treat yourself to an Ilkley Moor cocktail for new year.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Take a little ice.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Firm to taste.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Whisky and...
0:16:48 > 0:16:51They didn't say the whisky would freeze.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Oh, well, happy new year.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56George Smith, you come from Strathclyde.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59How do they feel about things up in Scotland? Who do they blame there?
0:16:59 > 0:17:03I think actually the poor, the workers, the unions, the
0:17:03 > 0:17:08management and government have all got to take their share of the blame.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12I put it down to communism occupying very serious
0:17:12 > 0:17:15and senior positions in the country.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18If they want to go and live in Russia, a communist country,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20let them bloody well go and live there.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25If you just decided to work a little more,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27just decided to have a little more discipline,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30you could become the strongest country in Europe.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34MUSIC: A Glass Of Champagne by Sailor
0:17:34 > 0:17:37# I've got the music, I've got the lights
0:17:37 > 0:17:41# You've got a figure full of delights
0:17:41 > 0:17:44# Let's get together, the two of us, over a glass of champagne. #
0:17:46 > 0:17:48A situation has been created whereby
0:17:48 > 0:17:50boredom has set in amongst young kids
0:17:50 > 0:17:53without having, really, a musical expression of their own.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56If those kids have to watch Top of the Pops
0:17:56 > 0:18:01and see some old fart doing it, then what the hell is it to do with them?
0:18:01 > 0:18:04MUSIC: A Little Bit More by Doctor Hook
0:18:04 > 0:18:06# Look into my eyes and give me that smile
0:18:06 > 0:18:11# The one that always turns me on. #
0:18:11 > 0:18:15The explosion that's been caused in London has probably arisen
0:18:15 > 0:18:19out of seeing one band,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23I think the Sex Pistols, doing it.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26And, all of a sudden,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29it's like a little spark just sets everything alight
0:18:29 > 0:18:31and it set things alight.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33It gave people fantastic inspiration, young kids,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36and they all felt, well, yeah, if a young guy can get up there
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and play four-five chords, and make it meaningful
0:18:39 > 0:18:43because there's a guy up there saying something with it,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45then what the fuck, man?
0:18:45 > 0:18:46If we identify with that,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50then we can also find the same spirit to do likewise.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00'Punk rock is the most immediate art form.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04'I can get whatever I've got to say across as quick as possible.'
0:19:09 > 0:19:12'You get this whole explosion of, like, new groups
0:19:12 > 0:19:15'and media saying, "Yeah, they're kicking out the rock establishment.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19'"Let's call it New Wave. Let's call it punk rock."'
0:19:19 > 0:19:23MUSIC: New Rose by the Damned
0:19:23 > 0:19:25# I got a feeling inside of me
0:19:25 > 0:19:28# It's kind of strange, like a stormy sea
0:19:28 > 0:19:30# I dunno why, I dunno why... #
0:19:30 > 0:19:35The whole idea of getting on a stage and asserting yourself
0:19:35 > 0:19:38and announcing something is the criteria.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41It was inevitable that it should happen.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Can you just hold it in between?
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Yeah, like that.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50You've got this rehearsal place here, right?
0:19:50 > 0:19:53Subway Sect use it. Sid Vicious and his new group use it.
0:19:53 > 0:19:59Keith Levene, who used to be our guitarist, he's going to use it.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01The Slits are using it.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17I'm used to, like, groups like The Kinks and that.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21I like Mott The Hoople.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26When we first saw The Who on Ready Steady Go
0:20:26 > 0:20:31when we was, like, babies, right, I mean, like, it looked great.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33We could dig it, you know.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36But now, I mean... I couldn't understand even what Tommy was about.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Tommy went over my head, you know.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41We want to make records. We want to be number one.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43I mean, I think we're the greatest.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Obviously we want to be at number one.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47So you want to blow out all those old bands,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49but how radical a change do you want in the system itself?
0:20:49 > 0:20:51As much change as we can get.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Total change. We think government is an old fashioned idea.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The whole of Britain was, like, a load of shit.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00There was nothing interesting going on, right,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04so we created our own interesting things, right?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Thank you. This is where we fit in.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10We're out to encourage people to be creative and make people aware.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13If that means we stuff it down their throat,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16we will stuff it down their throat till they know.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Here from the magnificent Severn-Severn Bridge
0:21:21 > 0:21:24spanning, as it does, a very cold River Severn-Severn,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27we in the West region wish you a very, very happy new year
0:21:27 > 0:21:31and we do it in the traditional way, as we should, with scrumpy.
0:21:31 > 0:21:32Happy new year.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34MUSIC: Save Your Kisses For Me by Brotherhood Of Man
0:21:34 > 0:21:36# Save your kisses for me
0:21:36 > 0:21:40# Save all your kisses for me
0:21:40 > 0:21:43# Bye bye, baby, bye bye
0:21:45 > 0:21:48# Don't cry, honey, don't cry. #
0:21:50 > 0:21:51Dr Dennis Smith.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Politicians fundamentally are responsible for running the country.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Perhaps we get the politicians that we deserve, but unfortunately,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01politicians don't seem to be very good on either side at doing
0:22:01 > 0:22:04the job they're elected to do at the moment.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Oh, shut up! What a load of old rubbish!
0:22:07 > 0:22:10- Happy new year.- Happy new year.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12I went to see my father the other day and he bought a copy of the
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Melody Maker and he said, "What's all this punk rock then, son?"
0:22:17 > 0:22:20The media provide you with cliches to fall back on
0:22:20 > 0:22:22if you haven't got an idea in your head.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25I was down the dole Friday morning. What a state this country's in.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29These are the things that intelligent people know.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34If you can't think your way out of a paper bag, read a paper, right?
0:22:34 > 0:22:36"Baby Drama Of Knife Maniac."
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Then you go, "Oh, yeah, he's a knife maniac!"
0:22:39 > 0:22:42And he's, like, the knife maniac.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44The dole queue rock, know what I mean?
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Have you seen the News of the World?
0:22:54 > 0:22:55The punk goddesses, punkesses,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59and they make the Sex Pistols look like choirboys.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01They saw the Pistols on TV and that was a bit scandalous
0:23:01 > 0:23:03because they said fuck.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04Everyone says fuck.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06You know, so one man kicks at his TV
0:23:06 > 0:23:10and the whole thing has been completely blown apart.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16They showed us all up to look really stupid.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18We looked like we were all really mindless
0:23:18 > 0:23:20and we went around saying fucking hell
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and we had safety pins in our ears and through our jaws and things.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26It didn't make us look like a force to be reckoned with.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29It just made us look like a load of stupid kids.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31We're kids but, you know, we're not stupid.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33There's a lot of kids from out of town
0:23:33 > 0:23:36coming in with their safety pins and all the business.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39The media pick up on the really weird things in the scene,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42safety pins, plastic trousers, spitting,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45but that's just a fashion thing, you know?
0:23:45 > 0:23:48I think a lot of people realise it's not a fashion anymore.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51I think it's too serious musically.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Well, you know, some people drink to get high.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58I've come up high to our side of the Severn Bridge to have a drink
0:23:58 > 0:24:01and to wish all of you a very happy new year from us in Wales.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Blwyddyn newydd dda I chi I gyd.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11SINGING IN WELSH
0:24:21 > 0:24:25We are worried because I wouldn't like to see the bread going up.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27- Oh, no.- No.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30- The meat, oh, that's terrible, isn't it?- I don't get much meat.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33I haven't seen beef for a very long, long time.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39It was never spoken.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42It was never like, we're going to consciously attempt to smash
0:24:42 > 0:24:47the musical establishment, but, like, that's what it is.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52We said, "Let's get a band together that's better than them bands."
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Otherwise, what we do is we maybe go and shoot them.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Plot an assassination.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03You've got to have destruction before you can start anything new.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06I think the Pistols are destroying everything really fine,
0:25:06 > 0:25:07in a really good way.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10After that, you've got to have something coming up.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14The Sex Pistols are an idea.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19The idea is to threaten, the idea is to not allow conformity
0:25:19 > 0:25:22and to not allow boredom to take place within your act.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25The idea is to say something that will change kids'
0:25:25 > 0:25:28actual outlook on their lives.
0:25:28 > 0:25:29The Sex Pistols Anarchy tour.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35I mean, fucking hell, talk about overreaction, you know?
0:25:35 > 0:25:38If it was 30 dates, 26 of them got cancelled.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Anything new, they don't understand.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45It threatens their whole existence, doesn't it?
0:25:45 > 0:25:48As soon as the Sex Pistols don't become threatening,
0:25:48 > 0:25:49they ain't no longer the Sex Pistols.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51Fuck off!
0:25:51 > 0:25:56They must threaten the culture and change it, make it something else.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Then we have a whole new scene on our hands.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04The Pistols decided not to play to the old stiffs.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08I thought it was quite good, like, why the fuck should they?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Yeah, you don't do that sort of thing.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Right, then they'd want it all over the country, wouldn't they?
0:26:16 > 0:26:18'So we had to go out and find places to play.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20'We were really trying to get new places to go
0:26:20 > 0:26:22'and there's some guy opening up
0:26:22 > 0:26:24'a new club down in Deal Street in Covent Garden, Roxy Club.'
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- Neal Street.- In Covent Garden.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29OPERATIC SINGING
0:26:29 > 0:26:35MUSIC: Primavera from Vivaldi's Four Seasons
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Covent Garden. Epicentre of Cockney London.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04The first neighbourhood to succumb to the dread
0:27:04 > 0:27:05tentacles of gentrification.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Home to the infamous Roxy Club, heart of libertine London,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20where high and low culture have always famously collided,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22cavorted and clashed.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29- Morning, Patsy. How are you? - All right. What do you want?
0:27:29 > 0:27:33- Got any good sprouts? - Yeah, just in the shop, there.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35- Hello, Vicky, what are you doing here?- What are you?
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Having lunch with Boris Lermontov, the fellow who runs the ballet.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Here, for centuries, opera,
0:27:44 > 0:27:50theatre and ballet cohabited with the fruit and veg market next door.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52Ballerinas and baritones...
0:27:52 > 0:27:54# I love you... #
0:27:54 > 0:28:00Divas, primadonnas and matinee idols, all rubbing elbows with the
0:28:00 > 0:28:04Cockney costermongers and porters in the Garden's boozers and caffs.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13- How much?- Fiver.- Five quid?- Five. - Leave it out!
0:28:13 > 0:28:15How much is this, Tom?
0:28:26 > 0:28:28A royal pleasure ground, where princes,
0:28:28 > 0:28:33punks and wicked earls shared beds with the whores of Harris's List
0:28:33 > 0:28:35and Mother Creswell's brothel.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38- She's in the King's arms already! - Pouring the beer!
0:28:40 > 0:28:46Here Charles met Nell, Sid met Nancy and Eliza Doolittle
0:28:46 > 0:28:49and Henry Higgins first misconstrued each other beneath the great
0:28:49 > 0:28:54portico of the Actor's Church, as depicted in My Fair Lady.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56# Oh, wouldn't it be lovely? #
0:28:56 > 0:28:59- Want a few melons? - Could do, what you got?
0:28:59 > 0:29:02These are what I had the other day, good melons, as it happens.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09MUSIC: Monkey Man by the Rolling Stones
0:29:12 > 0:29:15"What a coil do I make for the loss of my punk
0:29:15 > 0:29:18"I storm and I roar and I fall in a rage
0:29:18 > 0:29:21"And missing my whore I bugger my page."
0:29:24 > 0:29:27- What's your favourite food? - A pint of bitter!
0:29:29 > 0:29:31- Then what keeps you going?- Beer.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Birthplace of Punch and Judy, Turner
0:29:38 > 0:29:42and the muffin man who lived on Drury Lane.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Filching pitch of Fagin and the Artful Dodger, host to the
0:29:48 > 0:29:54infamous trials of Oscar Wilde, Dr Crippen and the brothers Kray.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58A topsy-turvy place where rhubarbs and turnips were traded in the dead
0:29:58 > 0:30:03of night and the market pubs opened their doors at four in the morning.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Film-star type people, they like to come here and slum,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11you might say, and see the boys, you know.
0:30:11 > 0:30:12Three rum and coffees.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15I remember a time once when Elizabeth Taylor
0:30:15 > 0:30:19and Michael Wilding was in this very pub, dancing and singing,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21really enjoying themselves with the boys.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25This is streets where anybody could come. Wonderful atmosphere.
0:30:25 > 0:30:31For over 300 years, Covent Garden had all this and more
0:30:31 > 0:30:37until the over-congested market was finally closed down in 1974.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Right up until New Year's Eve, The Clash frantically auditioned
0:30:50 > 0:30:54drummers in their Rehearsals Rehearsals redoubt in Camden Town.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Their regular drummer Terry Chimes, or Tory Crimes as Joe fondly
0:31:00 > 0:31:04nicknamed him, had had enough of Bernie's Clash course re-education
0:31:04 > 0:31:09programme and was refusing to commit to play the Roxy gig.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Everything we do, we try and be honest, right?
0:31:13 > 0:31:15Sometimes we don't make it, sometimes we do.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18- How hard do you work at what you're doing?- Very hard.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22I don't think about anything else. I don't have time to.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36They went through 20 drummers, including Jon Moss,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40who went on to drum for Culture Club, still half hoping that Terry
0:31:40 > 0:31:44would change his mind before settling on a temporary replacement
0:31:44 > 0:31:49in Rob Harper, who was reportedly scarred for life by the experience.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53Let's do that again, just rhythm, no singing, right?
0:31:53 > 0:31:57The drums are a bit clumsy, or something.
0:31:57 > 0:31:58One, two, three, four!
0:31:58 > 0:32:02BAND STARTS PLAYING "Cheat"
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Newcomers to Norfolk have been
0:32:13 > 0:32:16perplexed on New Year's Eve to find their new-found neighbours
0:32:16 > 0:32:19hurling chunks of coal at their front doors.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25But it's not East Anglian vandalism, it's just our way of saying
0:32:25 > 0:32:27happiness and good luck for the coming year.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30This country has been sitting on its laurels a bit too long.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33It wants a jolt to pull the people together.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Nobody thinks about anybody else today,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37everybody thinks just of themselves,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41the I'm-all-right-Jack attitude which is all wrong.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Leonard Smith, what's the cause of the crisis?
0:32:44 > 0:32:48I think, small things that happen at school, perhaps.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50A child will perhaps cheek his teacher
0:32:50 > 0:32:52and then it goes up from that.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57A man then becomes insulting to his boss, his boss sacks him
0:32:57 > 0:32:58and then he's got problems there.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Tom, how many pubs will you get through in a night?
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Four pubs and about 18 pints, I suppose.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15PHONE RINGS
0:33:18 > 0:33:20Yeah?
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Yeah, we are.
0:33:26 > 0:33:27Left? No.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33There's me and there's Mick and there's Paul.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39And there's a guy with a camera and a guy with a pair of earphones.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46Sorry, what? Because we're filming.
0:33:48 > 0:33:54Yeah, of course he is. What about, er, the guy in Hackney?
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Oh, yeah. Have you?
0:34:01 > 0:34:02Good news, boys.
0:34:07 > 0:34:08But you won't tell it to me.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Tell him, tell him! Come on, it's really important.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21OK, yeah. We'll go down there and then come back, all right?
0:34:21 > 0:34:24That's what I mean, we'll go down and do it and then come back.
0:34:27 > 0:34:28Right.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35When the punk rock business was starting up and groups
0:34:35 > 0:34:38wanted to play, they were rejected by everybody and everywhere.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43So the obvious thing was to try and find a place yourself.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47This I did by finding a club called the Roxy Club.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Bernie Rhodes and The Clash came down and I said, "How about playing?"
0:34:51 > 0:34:54So we booked them in for January 1st '77.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59At the time that we took it on, it was called Shaggarama's.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03And the name says everything about the gayness of it.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06It was a pretty hardcore cruising place.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09You know who used to go to Shaggarama? Sid used to go there.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11He was John Beverley, then.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14MUSIC: You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) By Sylvester
0:35:17 > 0:35:21They really couldn't care less who they rented it to,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23especially a bunch of noisy young people.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26They just said, "We'll rent to you for a year and see what happens."
0:35:26 > 0:35:28They were planning to knock it down.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Covent Garden was shut down and it was derelict.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48It hadn't been used for two or three years.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56It had become a kind of wasteland, an inner-city wasteland,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59where all these subterranean characters would emerge.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02We're talking about gangsters and hookers and drug dealers
0:36:02 > 0:36:03and things like that.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06So it was a pretty scary place in the late '70s.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09There is no domestic atmosphere around here now.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12All the residents have been gradually hived off
0:36:12 > 0:36:14and drifted away.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16At one time, you used to see many more people about.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20We're the first area on the block.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23This is going to happen in Shoreditch, in Lewisham,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26in other parts of Camden. They've got no interest in us.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29The almighty dollar, let's call it the pound, is going
0:36:29 > 0:36:33to just throw us off, we're going to be nothing, brushed aside.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36When the Roxy opened on January 1st, 1977,
0:36:36 > 0:36:41for 100 days, it really was the centre of the punk rock universe.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43I could go to the Roxy on the Piccadilly line, which is
0:36:43 > 0:36:46quite a way out, so it took me nearly an hour.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48I'd just get off at Covent Garden or Leicester Square
0:36:48 > 0:36:50if I was meeting my boys there.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Covent Garden at the time was quite gloomy, Dickensian,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56there were lots of lonely cobbled side streets and things,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58so I actually found it a bit spooky.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00I actually found it quite scary to walk around on your own or
0:37:00 > 0:37:02if there was just two of you.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07It was a much more seedy, dirty place than it is now.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Possibly we can eat, when we get back there,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25we can send out for stuff, right?
0:37:25 > 0:37:29- We can get some food sent over. - Well, if you like.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33When the Roxy opened, it was a dingy basement, low ceilings,
0:37:33 > 0:37:35bench seats around the outside.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37To be honest, it was pretty much a shit hole.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40One, two. Can I hear myself? Course I can.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45Why do I get the dodgy stand?
0:37:45 > 0:37:48They had a mirror at the Roxy, at the back.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54I didn't notice, I wish I had! I was watching a girl in front of it!
0:37:54 > 0:38:00- Are these supposed to fall down all the time?- Mick, see these boxes?
0:38:00 > 0:38:04- What are they?- They're the monitors, you stupid cunt!
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Can't we stuff them somewhere else?
0:38:07 > 0:38:10BAND STARTS PLAYING "Remote Control"
0:38:11 > 0:38:14When the Clash finally got to the Roxy,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17they found the PA they had hired was up the spout,
0:38:17 > 0:38:22but it was New Year's Day and it was too late to find a replacement.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24The show had to go on.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29- How much money do you make from your gigs?- We don't really get any.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Most of it goes on PA. Work it out for yourself.
0:38:33 > 0:38:3660 quid for a booking, right?
0:38:36 > 0:38:40PA hire, good PA, we are a loud group, we need a good PA - 55 quid.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43So you've got five quid left.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46I use a set of strings a night, cos I'm a vicious guitar player.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49You want a drink, something to eat, there you are,
0:38:49 > 0:38:50you're in the red.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52- We're making a loss. - Where does the rest come from?
0:38:52 > 0:38:56Well, it's being provided by our generous manager.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Every time we do a gig, he has to reach in his pocket.
0:39:01 > 0:39:02If we were in Devon,
0:39:02 > 0:39:07like most other places in Britain, we would wish you a very happy New Year.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13But here in Cornwall, we'd say bledhen Nowyth Da.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Roy Smith from Bodmin.
0:39:15 > 0:39:16They say down in Cornwall,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20the average wage is far below the standard of people
0:39:20 > 0:39:24here in London and if you become unemployed you get more through
0:39:24 > 0:39:26being unemployed than what you do
0:39:26 > 0:39:28if you're actually earning your living.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30So where's the incentive to work?
0:39:30 > 0:39:32- Any resolutions?- Do less work.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Anybody who was around at that time was there. You had everybody there.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44The only person who never came down was Malcolm, because I think
0:39:44 > 0:39:48he sometimes felt that he had some sort of right to this punk thing.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53I was the DJ from the minute The Roxy opened to the minute it closed.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55I'd do my dub heavy reggae sets
0:39:55 > 0:39:58in between the fast and furious punk sets.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01There was no real punk records around.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05It was Don diving into his collection and magically, it worked.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07I'm playing hardcore dub reggae,
0:40:07 > 0:40:11which seemed to strike a chord with the white youth.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Oh, some decent fucking music at last!
0:40:14 > 0:40:16Oh, Richie!
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Most punks couldn't roll their own spliffs,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22so my dread bredren came up with the spliff factory
0:40:22 > 0:40:25and they'd sell ready-rolled spliffs from behind the Roxy bar.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37I'm a raging queen, really. Don't tell anyone though.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41We're doing something that we want to do.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43By playing, I'm doing everything I want to do.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45That's why I started playing.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47One day, I didn't play and the next day, I did play.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50When I'm playing in a group and things are going on,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53I feel as if I'm doing something good, you know?
0:40:53 > 0:40:56I mean, it goes up and down, but so does everything.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Hey, Steve!
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Hey, Steve, the guitars, chuck them in.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10If your life is like a group, you play with the guys you dig,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13and you forget about the blokes who are arseholes.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14If you're a bozo and an arsehole,
0:41:14 > 0:41:16you're an arsehole, know what I mean?
0:41:16 > 0:41:17You come on like an arsehole.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21You say hello, and they don't say hello, they say I'm an arsehole.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24I just happen to be meeting more of them at the moment.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Please! I try so hard to be nice.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38A lot of the punks didn't walk the streets like that
0:41:38 > 0:41:40because they actually had to go to work.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45If you're finishing work at five or six or whatever,
0:41:45 > 0:41:49get a bag full of clothes, queueing up at seven o'clock to get in,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52straight into the toilets, and the whole of the toilets just
0:41:52 > 0:41:55changed into this massive girls' changing room.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58So they're in there for like an hour or two, making up, gossiping
0:41:58 > 0:42:01and just generally having a laugh.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Invariably, the walls would be dripping with sweat,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08the place would be stinking with ganja fumes.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10I always remember the old punks were always jacking speed.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27- Do you have any resolutions? - Simply to stop spending money.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Mrs Christine Smith.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41I think we're capable of the economic miracle, certainly we are.
0:42:41 > 0:42:42We must believe that.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Duncan Smith from Knightsbridge. How bad is it?
0:42:45 > 0:42:48There is, at this moment, I would say, blind panic.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Everybody is trying to get every spare ha'penny they can
0:42:50 > 0:42:53out of the country by one method or another.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58- Is this happening on a big scale?- A massive scale. Absolutely enormous.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00And Nigel Smith from Surbiton.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04Have you ever been tempted to change your sterling into some other currency?
0:43:04 > 0:43:06Very much so.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Anyone who's in the position to do so,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11they're very foolish not to be able to do so.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12Lionel Smith from Finchley.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15How do you feel about people who move their money
0:43:15 > 0:43:17abroad against the regulations of exchange control?
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Criminal.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Despite their PA being on the blink, The Clash had committed to
0:43:40 > 0:43:43playing two sets that night as the New Year was ushered in.
0:43:45 > 0:43:46On one big fiery flying roll,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49The Clash roared through all the key songs that would
0:43:49 > 0:43:53feature on their breakthrough first album a few months later.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56As the clock ticked down to midnight, they tossed them out
0:43:56 > 0:44:01like firecrackers into the crowd, kick-starting the year of The Clash.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Hey, Mickey, the Ampeg don't work.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09What do you feel like when you go onstage?
0:44:09 > 0:44:11A pair of tits.
0:44:11 > 0:44:17No, I feel good, you know? That's what we're supposed to do, you know.
0:44:17 > 0:44:23I mean, that's when we like it best. You can't get bored onstage, really.
0:44:25 > 0:44:26We're The Clash!
0:44:26 > 0:44:29# London's burning!
0:44:29 > 0:44:31# London's burning!
0:44:33 > 0:44:36# London's burning, dial 99999
0:44:36 > 0:44:40# London's burning, dial 99999
0:44:40 > 0:44:43# London's burning, dial 99999
0:44:43 > 0:44:46# London's burning, dial 99999
0:44:46 > 0:44:49# I'm up and down the Westway in and out the lights
0:44:49 > 0:44:53# Great traffic system it's so bright
0:44:53 > 0:44:56# Can't think of a better way to spend the night
0:44:56 > 0:45:00# Than speeding around underneath the yellow lights
0:45:00 > 0:45:03# London's burning with boredom now
0:45:03 > 0:45:07# London's burning, oi, oi, oi!
0:45:07 > 0:45:10# London's burning, dial 99999
0:45:10 > 0:45:14# London's burning, oi, oi, oi! #
0:45:14 > 0:45:19I wrote it in an old, sort of disused house near the Westway
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and then I went up to see Mick Jones in the block
0:45:22 > 0:45:26and we kind of whipped it into shape up in his flat.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31It was kind of like a quick one, you know?
0:45:31 > 0:45:34You think of it, write it, finish it. It was all over quick.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38It's just like, not having anything to do,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41like, not having no place to go.
0:45:43 > 0:45:44And you just think of a desert.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47The only activity I could see was the moving lights going up and down
0:45:47 > 0:45:51the motorway and like, going down the subways and looking at the writing.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53And it's like Wednesday night
0:45:53 > 0:45:56is the same as Thursday night or Friday night.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59I just felt the whole place was bored as hell, driving about
0:45:59 > 0:46:00and watching TV and stuff,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03so it was like London was burning with boredom.
0:46:05 > 0:46:06I wrote it to get rid of that feeling.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08# I run through the empty stone
0:46:08 > 0:46:10# Cos I'm all alone
0:46:10 > 0:46:13# London's burning, dial 99999
0:46:13 > 0:46:17# London's burning, dial 99999
0:46:17 > 0:46:20# London's burning, dial 99999
0:46:20 > 0:46:24# London's burning with boredom now... #
0:46:24 > 0:46:27- Do you think it could be any different?- Of course it could.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30It could get better, it could get worse.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32What's going to make it get better?
0:46:32 > 0:46:36More lunatic personalities actually doing things.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38More people doing honest things
0:46:38 > 0:46:42and not, like, trying to pose or ponce about.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44What do you mean by honest?
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Just to do with something, mean something,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50to feel so bad about something that you do something about it.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52# Dial 99999
0:46:52 > 0:46:55# London's burning, dial 99999
0:46:58 > 0:47:02# London's burning, dial 99999
0:47:02 > 0:47:06- # London's burning, dial 99999- Oi! #
0:47:06 > 0:47:10The group writes the songs. Joe is better at lyrics and he is great.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15Fantastic turn of phrase. He's always taking notes.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17When it comes down to the tunes, I nick 'em.
0:47:33 > 0:47:34# London's burning! #
0:47:49 > 0:47:51How about the audience?
0:47:51 > 0:47:54What effect do you want to have on them emotionally?
0:47:54 > 0:47:56We want to make them, like, vomit, or something.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01- Move them in some way, so that they can, like...- Get a reaction.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08Yeah, so that they can perhaps move themselves.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12I think it hits them the next morning.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14They get their moment to think about it.
0:48:14 > 0:48:19It will last them till at least lunchtime that day, I should think.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21I've got to say, the PA don't sound so hot, you know?
0:48:21 > 0:48:23We got to test these things out, you know?
0:48:23 > 0:48:26- We can't just stand and look at it. - Use your imagination.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30We've got to bring it to some gig and try it out.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33If it don't work, what the fuck can you do but get on with it?
0:48:35 > 0:48:38MUSIC: I'm So Bored With The USA
0:48:50 > 0:48:55# You think I care where you buy your shirt?
0:48:55 > 0:48:59# I don't wanna use American dirt
0:48:59 > 0:49:03# Oh yeah, you look so cool
0:49:03 > 0:49:05# In your cowboy boots
0:49:05 > 0:49:08# Seen 'em on James Dean
0:49:08 > 0:49:10# They looked so cute
0:49:10 > 0:49:15# I'm so bored with the U...S...A
0:49:15 > 0:49:20# I'm so bored with the USA
0:49:20 > 0:49:22# But what can I do...? #
0:49:24 > 0:49:28It's like how London belongs to Arabs and Yanks, you know what I mean?
0:49:28 > 0:49:30Hamburgers and whatever Arabs do, I don't know.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32The things that go on in American politics,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35like everyone buying everybody else up. The Watergate tapes just keep on happening.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39- I'm not a crook. - Exposing more and more and more.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43The further you dig down in America, the more poxy it gets.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46I'm dead sure it's a veneer on top of the whole thing.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50The whole thing, there's like filthy things going on down there.
0:49:50 > 0:49:51Just disgusting.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54# I'm so bored with the
0:49:54 > 0:49:56# CIA
0:49:56 > 0:49:57# What can I do? #
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Who wants to wait an hour for King Kong to appear?
0:50:05 > 0:50:07They should have called it King Turkey.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17# You think I care about your latest record?
0:50:17 > 0:50:22# Must be by the Grateful Dead - I don't want 'em...! #
0:50:22 > 0:50:24I used to listen, when I first started playing the guitar,
0:50:24 > 0:50:30to American music, blues music and Chuck Berry music
0:50:30 > 0:50:34and Bo Diddley music and then you listen to people from the '60s,
0:50:34 > 0:50:35copying their accent,
0:50:35 > 0:50:39dead centre, like Mick Jagger sounds just like Bo Diddley.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45What a cornball thing it is to do, to go on about my automobile,
0:50:45 > 0:50:50doing 95, bump-de-bump, side to side... And all that shit.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53You just think how corny it is. It don't get you anywhere.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55You just think it's stupid, so you get bored with it.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58# ...CIA, what can I do?
0:51:08 > 0:51:12# I'm bored with the USA
0:51:12 > 0:51:18# I'm bored with the USA But what can I do? #
0:51:20 > 0:51:25With that song, I've been coming up with loads and loads of new verses for it.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28I can only take four verses, but I keep coming up with loads
0:51:28 > 0:51:32and loads of new verses. I just get closer every time.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35Sooner or later, it will stop, and that will be dead centre.
0:51:35 > 0:51:37And then you leave it.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39When they're written down, they don't have any life.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42That's a replica of what it is, right?
0:51:42 > 0:51:45What it is is when you hear it. That's the it.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48It ain't a poem or anything. I want to hear them in the air.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53On the dole since leaving school,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57Carol Donnelly had nothing to do but go blackberrying with her boyfriend.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59It just seems a waste of time,
0:51:59 > 0:52:01to have spent four years in this place,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04for the government to have pumped in so many
0:52:04 > 0:52:07thousands of pounds in actually training me
0:52:07 > 0:52:10to supposedly be somebody who can go out and do a specific
0:52:10 > 0:52:13sort of job, it seems a waste of money at the end of it just
0:52:13 > 0:52:15to put me on the dole queue.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Teaching, local government, hospital administration,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23public services and industry have all had to cut their intakes
0:52:23 > 0:52:27and I know how much harder it is to get your first job.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34How much extra unemployment will your additional and immediate
0:52:34 > 0:52:38cuts in public expenditure add to the already rising total of unemployed?
0:52:38 > 0:52:43Very, very little indeed. Very small indeed.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46What do you call a very little unemployment?
0:52:46 > 0:52:48Are we talking about another 100,000?
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Oh, no, less than that, less than that.
0:52:58 > 0:52:59One, two, three, four!
0:52:59 > 0:53:02MUSIC: Career Opportunities
0:53:04 > 0:53:07# Offered me the office Offered me the shop
0:53:09 > 0:53:12# They said I'd better take anything they'd got
0:53:14 > 0:53:17# Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
0:53:17 > 0:53:20# Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?
0:53:22 > 0:53:25# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock
0:53:25 > 0:53:28# Every job they offer is to keep you out the dock
0:53:28 > 0:53:32# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock
0:53:33 > 0:53:36# I hate the army and I hate the RAF
0:53:38 > 0:53:41# I don't wanna go fighting in the tropical heat
0:53:43 > 0:53:46# I hate civil service rules
0:53:46 > 0:53:49# I won't open letter bombs for you
0:53:51 > 0:53:53# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock
0:53:53 > 0:53:56# Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
0:53:56 > 0:54:01# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock... #
0:54:03 > 0:54:05I think it's a comedy number.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09"Career opportunities, the one that never knocks". It's a great line.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12Get a job, you know? We thought it was a great subject,
0:54:12 > 0:54:14just cos of all the time we spend in them offices,
0:54:14 > 0:54:18going in and out of those boards, plastered with jobs
0:54:18 > 0:54:23like evening work, tailors' work, toilet work, shift work, part work.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27A poster at the end saying, "Come and join us."
0:54:27 > 0:54:28Traffic warden, or something.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30"Come and join us, be a man with the police."
0:54:32 > 0:54:35It kind of has an effect on you, you know what I mean?
0:54:35 > 0:54:37You just realise that if people are working and have got
0:54:37 > 0:54:40their nose in the factory for 40 hours of the week,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43they're going to be less harmless than someone who doesn't
0:54:43 > 0:54:45have his nose in the factory 40 hours a week, right?
0:54:45 > 0:54:47So that's what jobs is for.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01# We won't shut up
0:55:08 > 0:55:11# Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
0:55:11 > 0:55:15# Do you wanna be a cop?
0:55:16 > 0:55:19# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock
0:55:19 > 0:55:21# Every job they offer is to keep you out the dock
0:55:21 > 0:55:24# Career opportunities never gonna knock
0:55:26 > 0:55:28# Careers
0:55:28 > 0:55:31# Careers
0:55:31 > 0:55:34# Careers
0:55:34 > 0:55:36# Ain't never gonna knock. #
0:55:38 > 0:55:41I was on the dole. I hadn't been on there long, say six months.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45I'm quite happy, really getting something going with this group,
0:55:45 > 0:55:49really writing a load of stuff and playing the guitar.
0:55:49 > 0:55:51I'm quite happy and they called me in there and said,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53"You haven't got a job," and I said, "No,"
0:55:53 > 0:55:55and they said, "Are you looking?" And I said, "Yeah, sure,
0:55:55 > 0:55:59"I look in all the papers." So I've just got to sit there and he's got to say,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02"Well, in four weeks, we'll send you to the rehabilitation centre."
0:56:02 > 0:56:05I said, "The what?" He said, "Here you are, here's a pamphlet."
0:56:05 > 0:56:08It says you get up at seven in the morning, make your bed, shave,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10you've got your own cubicle, you go out
0:56:10 > 0:56:13and you have first work period and then you have a lunch period
0:56:13 > 0:56:16when you play snooker and darts and then you have a second work period
0:56:16 > 0:56:17and then you and then you can watch TV.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20And it's to get you back to the working routine.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22It's not teaching you a trade.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24I said, "I don't want to go." He said, "You haven't got any choice."
0:56:24 > 0:56:28I just thought, this is like robot school, you know what I mean?
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Like programming. So I had to cut out.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32You go round the job centre,
0:56:32 > 0:56:35they take out a job and you go down there, see three, four, five,
0:56:35 > 0:56:38six people in front of you and they come round and say,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41"Sorry, son, there's no vacancy." It's depressing.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43Something's got to happen, you know what I mean?
0:56:43 > 0:56:47Otherwise you're liable to do something which you'll regret.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52We all know why it's called rock music!
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Cos you're supposed to rock to it!
0:56:58 > 0:57:01To me, it's about breaking old rules.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04All this "you should" - you should do this, you should go to work.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07It's about finally saying, no, we shouldn't do this,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10because Britain is fucked up, it's going down the drain,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13yet still people are saying you should have a good job.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16If Britain is going down the drain, I don't care.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18These people make me sick.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22You know what I'm talking about? Sounds, you know?
0:57:22 > 0:57:24SHOUTING What?
0:57:33 > 0:57:35# He's in love with rock'n'roll whoa
0:57:35 > 0:57:38# He's in love with gettin' stoned whoa
0:57:38 > 0:57:40# He's in love with Janie Jones
0:57:40 > 0:57:42# But he don't like his boring job, no
0:57:42 > 0:57:45# He's in love with rock'n'roll whoa
0:57:45 > 0:57:47# He's in love with gettin' stoned whoa
0:57:47 > 0:57:49# He's in love with Janie Jones
0:57:49 > 0:57:52# But he don't like his boring job, no
0:57:52 > 0:57:54# And he knows what he's got to do
0:57:54 > 0:57:58# So he knows he's gonna have fun with you
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# But he's just like everyone
0:58:03 > 0:58:07# He's got a Ford Cortina That just won't run without fuel... #
0:58:10 > 0:58:13It's like a pop tune, cos it's got good rhythm.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16It's just five minutes on a Wednesday night in the mind of some
0:58:16 > 0:58:19skull-brained idiot working in the City.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25A quick flash in his dopey bucket head, with stuff like cars
0:58:25 > 0:58:29and girlfriends and Janie Jones and payola and their jobs
0:58:29 > 0:58:32and their boss and what he feels,
0:58:32 > 0:58:35but he daren't say it, you know what I mean?
0:58:35 > 0:58:38He feels he's got a grudge, but he daren't say it.
0:58:38 > 0:58:40# He's in love with rock'n'roll whoa
0:58:40 > 0:58:42# He's in love with gettin' stoned whoa
0:58:42 > 0:58:44# He's in love with Janie Jones whoa
0:58:44 > 0:58:47# But he don't like his boring job, no
0:58:47 > 0:58:49# And in the in-tray lots of work
0:58:49 > 0:58:53# But the boss at the firm always thinks he shirks
0:58:56 > 0:58:59# But he's just like everyone he's got a Ford Cortina
0:58:59 > 0:59:04# That just won't run without fuel Oh, no, it won't... #
0:59:06 > 0:59:09I look at everybody. I see everybody.
0:59:09 > 0:59:10What else is there to look at?
0:59:10 > 0:59:13It's really great, looking at the audience,
0:59:13 > 0:59:14looking at their faces and that.
0:59:14 > 0:59:20And they sort of look at you and you think, great, we are all, like, one.
0:59:24 > 0:59:26# But he's just like everyone
0:59:26 > 0:59:28# He's got a Ford Cortina
0:59:28 > 0:59:30# That just won't run without fuel... #
0:59:30 > 0:59:33You don't look at your instrument that much, do you?
0:59:33 > 0:59:34That's the trick,
0:59:34 > 0:59:37you've got to learn to play it without looking at it, cos nothing
0:59:37 > 0:59:40looks worse than some bunch of wankers and everybody's going...
0:59:42 > 0:59:45- You know what I mean?- Standing there, going...- It's terrible.
0:59:45 > 0:59:47You cunt, that's me!
0:59:47 > 0:59:51No, you can do it pretty good, I have to look every 10 seconds
0:59:51 > 0:59:55or so, quick look to see that you're on target.
0:59:55 > 0:59:57# He's in love with rock'n'roll, whoa
0:59:57 > 1:00:00# He's in love with getting stoned, whoa
1:00:00 > 1:00:02# He's in love with Janie Jones, whoa
1:00:02 > 1:00:06# He don't like his boring job, no
1:00:06 > 1:00:08# No
1:00:08 > 1:00:10# No
1:00:10 > 1:00:13# Let them know
1:00:13 > 1:00:15# Let them know. #
1:00:18 > 1:00:20CHEERING
1:00:20 > 1:00:23- AUDIENCE:- More! More!
1:00:25 > 1:00:28Suddenly you were getting an awful lot of energy that you might get
1:00:28 > 1:00:30from a Led Zeppelin or from a heavy metal band
1:00:30 > 1:00:33that was coming across the footlights from this little stage,
1:00:33 > 1:00:35tucked away in The Roxy.
1:00:35 > 1:00:37The money merchants are here,
1:00:37 > 1:00:39the guys who are flashing the green backs are here
1:00:39 > 1:00:43and they want a piece of the action which is the only reason why
1:00:43 > 1:00:47I seem to be meeting BLEEP BLEEP, the guys who, like, know nothing.
1:00:47 > 1:00:50I think the rock'n'roll world is a fucking waste of time,
1:00:50 > 1:00:54I have no interest in it, right? I think it's over.
1:00:54 > 1:01:00# I started going places where the youngsters shouldn't go
1:01:00 > 1:01:04# I got to know the kind of girl that's better not to know... #
1:01:04 > 1:01:09I think the industry took over a long time ago.
1:01:09 > 1:01:12I don't know who they're speaking for.
1:01:12 > 1:01:15Certainly don't think they're speaking for the kids in the street.
1:01:15 > 1:01:17Every rebel always says he doesn't want to become
1:01:17 > 1:01:20part of the establishment and this is nothing new.
1:01:20 > 1:01:23On the other hand, there are bands that recognise that what
1:01:23 > 1:01:27they're in the business for is the music that they're making
1:01:27 > 1:01:31and the place for them to get the widest audience
1:01:31 > 1:01:33is with a record company that can merchandise, market
1:01:33 > 1:01:35expose them to the widest public.
1:01:35 > 1:01:38All of a sudden all the groups are sunshine breakfasts.
1:01:38 > 1:01:44Their main objective is to sell cornflakes, ours is to move forward.
1:01:44 > 1:01:46We have nothing in common.
1:01:46 > 1:01:50No question, we had to rethink whether we were capable as people
1:01:50 > 1:01:54to judge what our audience who buy our records wanted.
1:01:54 > 1:01:56Isn't it possible that just by signing,
1:01:56 > 1:01:58you get incorporated into the system?
1:01:58 > 1:02:00You watch what you're saying.
1:02:00 > 1:02:02Obviously got to do it on our own terms, like,
1:02:02 > 1:02:03I wouldn't sign a record contract
1:02:03 > 1:02:07that said that you've got to sing old hits by Jonathan King.
1:02:07 > 1:02:09And appear on the Lulu show in white wellington boots.
1:02:09 > 1:02:11Yeah, I mean, we just wouldn't do it.
1:02:11 > 1:02:14Selling out, it's just what the record companies want.
1:02:14 > 1:02:17That's all it is, there's still revolution
1:02:17 > 1:02:18and that's what I'm all about.
1:02:18 > 1:02:20There's still trouble in this country,
1:02:20 > 1:02:23there's still fucking a lot to shout about.
1:02:23 > 1:02:26How do you see your future in this society?
1:02:26 > 1:02:30Not a bright and shining future, not as I am
1:02:30 > 1:02:33because I am black to the point of being offensive.
1:02:33 > 1:02:34It's as simple as that.
1:02:34 > 1:02:37Times were tough on the street. I mean, they were tough for me
1:02:37 > 1:02:40because I was black but it was also tough for my white mates.
1:02:43 > 1:02:45There was this feeling that something had to change
1:02:45 > 1:02:47and I think one of the first signposts
1:02:47 > 1:02:50were the riots of 1976 in Notting Hill Carnival
1:02:50 > 1:02:53where the black people said, "OK, you know, we've had enough."
1:02:53 > 1:02:54It was a wrong and right thing
1:02:54 > 1:02:57and it was black kids and white kids against the cops.
1:03:05 > 1:03:07Me and Bernie and Paul went down the carnival,
1:03:07 > 1:03:10right in the middle of it.
1:03:16 > 1:03:20Suddenly, this conga line of policemen moved right in front of us
1:03:20 > 1:03:22and then someone slung a Coke can out of them
1:03:22 > 1:03:25and then the whole thing flared up right in front of our noses.
1:03:25 > 1:03:27The side we were on really was anti status quo,
1:03:27 > 1:03:31- we were on the black guys' side. - Gate-crashing their riot.
1:03:31 > 1:03:32One, two, three, four!
1:03:32 > 1:03:34MUSIC: White Riot
1:03:51 > 1:03:53# White riot, I wanna riot
1:03:53 > 1:03:56# White riot, a riot of my own
1:03:56 > 1:03:58# White riot, I wanna riot
1:03:58 > 1:04:01# White riot, a riot of my own
1:04:01 > 1:04:03# Black people gotta lot of problems
1:04:03 > 1:04:05# They don't mind throwing a brick
1:04:05 > 1:04:07# White people go to school
1:04:07 > 1:04:10# Where they teach you how to be thick
1:04:10 > 1:04:15# Everybody's doing just what they're told to
1:04:15 > 1:04:19# Nobody wants to go to jail
1:04:19 > 1:04:22# White riot, I wanna riot
1:04:22 > 1:04:24# White riot, a riot of my own... #
1:04:24 > 1:04:27Coke cans started coming over until it was, like, rain, you know,
1:04:27 > 1:04:30and, like, Bernie got clumped round the head
1:04:30 > 1:04:33by some sort of nasty policeman and lost his glasses
1:04:33 > 1:04:37and it was getting really heavy.
1:04:37 > 1:04:39Night fell and there wasn't hardly any white people left,
1:04:39 > 1:04:42just the ring of troops round the edge of the Grove
1:04:42 > 1:04:44and all these blacks in the middle.
1:04:45 > 1:04:49Guy came up to me and I had a transistor radio in my pocket
1:04:49 > 1:04:52and he slapped it, "What you got there, man?" Right?
1:04:52 > 1:04:55And then suddenly there was a ring of about 20 of them round me
1:04:55 > 1:04:56and Paul and I told them to leave it out.
1:04:56 > 1:04:59The police were getting ready to charge down the other
1:04:59 > 1:05:01end of the street and I had a bottle in my other pocket
1:05:01 > 1:05:04so I brought it out and I said, "You should be picking these up
1:05:04 > 1:05:06"and not bothering about what I've got in my pocket."
1:05:10 > 1:05:13# While we walk the street
1:05:13 > 1:05:15# Too chicken to even try it
1:05:15 > 1:05:19# Everybody's doing just what they're told to
1:05:19 > 1:05:24# Nobody wants to go to jail
1:05:29 > 1:05:31# Poor little white boy
1:05:31 > 1:05:34# Poor little white boy
1:05:34 > 1:05:36# White riot, I wanna riot
1:05:36 > 1:05:39# White riot, a riot of my own
1:05:39 > 1:05:41# White riot, I wanna riot
1:05:41 > 1:05:43# White riot, a riot of my own
1:05:43 > 1:05:45# Hey what's the matter?
1:05:45 > 1:05:47# Got no money
1:05:47 > 1:05:49# Hey what's the matter?
1:05:52 > 1:05:55# White riot...
1:05:56 > 1:05:59# White riot
1:05:59 > 1:06:01# White riot. #
1:06:01 > 1:06:04SIRENS WAIL
1:06:11 > 1:06:15Me and Paul kind of after that, we trudged home, like, dejected.
1:06:15 > 1:06:17Like, we got home and we had a cup of tea
1:06:17 > 1:06:19and we weren't saying anything, right, and it kind of felt bad
1:06:19 > 1:06:23somehow to get done by both sides of a riot, you know what I mean?
1:06:23 > 1:06:27Like, I just realised that that was other man's business
1:06:27 > 1:06:31so I sort of wrote about a riot because I feel that bad really
1:06:31 > 1:06:35but, like, no-one feels bad enough to have a white type of riot
1:06:35 > 1:06:38about what we've got to beef about.
1:06:38 > 1:06:41It's kind of like a dig at white people cos everyone's like got
1:06:41 > 1:06:44a nice paycheck or got enough dope, you know what I mean?
1:06:44 > 1:06:46Like, everyone's just piddling about, really.
1:06:46 > 1:06:47White Riot, yeah.
1:06:47 > 1:06:50The lyrics were definitely misinterpreted by those
1:06:50 > 1:06:52that were keen to misinterpret it.
1:06:52 > 1:06:54It was almost stolen by the National Front
1:06:54 > 1:06:55but in truth what Joe's saying,
1:06:55 > 1:06:58"Look, black people have got a lot of problems but they deal with it,
1:06:58 > 1:07:01"you know, they'll pick up a brick and get involved
1:07:01 > 1:07:03"and it's about time we get involved as well."
1:07:03 > 1:07:04That's what he was on about.
1:07:04 > 1:07:06Everyone thinks we're a fascist group, right,
1:07:06 > 1:07:09and we're supposed to be anti-fascism, right,
1:07:09 > 1:07:12and even the fucking National Front are going to turn out to support us,
1:07:12 > 1:07:15right, so I don't care to fucking sign anti-fascist things
1:07:15 > 1:07:17as long as it clarifies the issue.
1:07:17 > 1:07:20I think there's a lot of confusion, people that wear Nazi armbands
1:07:20 > 1:07:23and that, they don't know what it means.
1:07:23 > 1:07:26It don't mean anything to the kids who wear it
1:07:26 > 1:07:29but I think there's a danger there that National Front
1:07:29 > 1:07:32could move in there and have all them kids, like, "Vote for us,"
1:07:32 > 1:07:34you know? Just sort of an ignorant situation.
1:07:34 > 1:07:37So how do you define yourselves politically?
1:07:37 > 1:07:39'Anti-fascist.'
1:07:39 > 1:07:41Now listen, I want you to go out there
1:07:41 > 1:07:44and give this fella some stick.
1:07:44 > 1:07:46Ooh, you do smell lovely.
1:07:49 > 1:07:53- IN GERMAN ACCENT:- You will tell me where you get the smelly stuff from.
1:07:54 > 1:07:58It's the '70s, you know, everything is so bad in the '70s.
1:07:58 > 1:07:59It is ironic, really.
1:07:59 > 1:08:03The music's here because of that sort of crap what's going on.
1:08:03 > 1:08:07It's so sick, Britain now, anywhere. It's all business.
1:08:07 > 1:08:09It's all tied up, just like the EMI thing,
1:08:09 > 1:08:13just like the media thing on punk. It's just ridiculous.
1:08:13 > 1:08:16There's no honesty anywhere, you can't trust anyone, you know,
1:08:16 > 1:08:19and that's why, to me, the music is happening.
1:08:19 > 1:08:22It's the attitude of saying, "Look, we're going to forget everything
1:08:22 > 1:08:24"because we want to get back to honesty."
1:08:24 > 1:08:30# Help me make it through the night... #
1:08:32 > 1:08:34Big businesses and, like,
1:08:34 > 1:08:36the government are, like, stacked against anyone.
1:08:36 > 1:08:40Every time you'd go into a cafe, the prices would up a bit
1:08:40 > 1:08:44so it just gets tighter and tighter. I kind of repress those things.
1:08:44 > 1:08:48And you know in the next couple of months, this country's going
1:08:48 > 1:08:50to have it really hard, the next couple of years maybe.
1:08:50 > 1:08:53But I do believe that if you do it in your own way,
1:08:53 > 1:08:56you have two years of hardship and I really mean hardship,
1:08:56 > 1:08:57you might get out of it.
1:08:57 > 1:08:59We ain't started yet, right?
1:08:59 > 1:09:01One, two, three, four.
1:09:01 > 1:09:04# In 1977
1:09:04 > 1:09:06# I hope I go to heaven
1:09:06 > 1:09:09# Cos I've been too long on the dole
1:09:09 > 1:09:12# I don't want to work at all
1:09:12 > 1:09:16# Danger stranger
1:09:16 > 1:09:18# You better paint your face
1:09:18 > 1:09:21# No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones
1:09:21 > 1:09:24# In 1977
1:09:24 > 1:09:27# Knives in West 11
1:09:27 > 1:09:30# Ain't so lucky to be rich
1:09:30 > 1:09:34# Sten guns in Knightsbridge... #
1:09:34 > 1:09:37Well, 1977, we wrote it in the middle of last year,
1:09:37 > 1:09:40it was kind of like, we just went on about the next year.
1:09:40 > 1:09:44You know, like, "In 1977, there's knives in West 11."
1:09:44 > 1:09:48Like, people trying to rip you off, right, like, "Lend me £2, man."
1:09:48 > 1:09:51And then they was like, "But it ain't so lucky to be rich cos
1:09:51 > 1:09:54"there's sten guns in Knightsbridge." You know, like...
1:09:54 > 1:09:58- Excuse me.- We've got a right to film on these streets.
1:09:58 > 1:10:00If I was going to Knightsbridge to rip off someone,
1:10:00 > 1:10:03I'd take a sten gun. Whereas I could probably rip someone off
1:10:03 > 1:10:06in Notting Hill Gate with a knife.
1:10:20 > 1:10:22# In 1977
1:10:22 > 1:10:25# You're on the never-never
1:10:25 > 1:10:28# You think it can't go forever
1:10:28 > 1:10:32# The papers say it's better
1:10:32 > 1:10:34# I don't care
1:10:34 > 1:10:38# Cos I'm not all there
1:10:38 > 1:10:41# No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones
1:10:41 > 1:10:44# 1977
1:10:44 > 1:10:48# 1978
1:10:48 > 1:10:50# 1979
1:10:50 > 1:10:53# 1980
1:10:53 > 1:10:56# 1981
1:10:56 > 1:10:59# 1982
1:10:59 > 1:11:02# 1983
1:11:02 > 1:11:04# 1984. #
1:11:08 > 1:11:10APPLAUSE
1:11:10 > 1:11:13- AUDIENCE:- More! More!
1:11:13 > 1:11:15APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH
1:11:19 > 1:11:22More! More!
1:11:23 > 1:11:27- Joe, we've got to play another set...- I can't sing any more!
1:11:27 > 1:11:30'A lot of the kids who come to see us,
1:11:30 > 1:11:33'right, they all get the suburban blues, don't they?
1:11:33 > 1:11:34'You talk to them after a gig,
1:11:34 > 1:11:37'they've got to go back to Crawley New Town.'
1:11:37 > 1:11:39- 'Basildon.' - 'Basildon, yeah.
1:11:39 > 1:11:42'And crawl in a bathroom window or something like that.
1:11:42 > 1:11:45'The whole purpose of communication is to, like,
1:11:45 > 1:11:48'move other people into action.
1:11:48 > 1:11:53'I mean, if I've moved one person then that's enough.'
1:11:53 > 1:11:56Suppose we make albums and we sell them,
1:11:56 > 1:12:00right, we get loads of money, that's just going to fuck us up completely.
1:12:00 > 1:12:02You've got to know when it's time to give up.
1:12:05 > 1:12:09'Only time will tell, you just can't tell if bands will withstand.
1:12:09 > 1:12:12'If still in four years' time, The Clash are playing gigs
1:12:12 > 1:12:16'that wipe you out, they're writing songs that are really honest,
1:12:16 > 1:12:20'if they can do that then the music will stay fresh.'
1:12:20 > 1:12:23From now on, right, watch our development
1:12:23 > 1:12:26and you'll be able to see who owns what
1:12:26 > 1:12:28and what happens to a group of people when they provoke.
1:12:28 > 1:12:31You can either get bought by the Americans,
1:12:31 > 1:12:34taken by the English back to the 19th century
1:12:34 > 1:12:37or left in oblivion as an anecdote.
1:12:41 > 1:12:44And that's what people are going to learn from what we do next.
1:12:44 > 1:12:46That's 1977 for me.
1:12:46 > 1:12:48Covent Garden in the rain.
1:12:48 > 1:12:52The garden lies in a strange limbo nowadays,
1:12:52 > 1:12:56half astride its past, half stepping into its future.
1:12:56 > 1:12:58But it's not all that it seems.
1:12:58 > 1:13:02A whole new exotic community is moving into the Garden,
1:13:02 > 1:13:05generating its own very special climate.
1:13:07 > 1:13:10Instant Tropicana in a banana warehouse.
1:13:11 > 1:13:15It's a sanctuary because no man is allowed in here.
1:13:15 > 1:13:18- PARROT WHISTLES - Hello!
1:13:18 > 1:13:21We're walking an economic high wire and if somebody jerks the rope
1:13:21 > 1:13:23then it makes it that much more difficult
1:13:23 > 1:13:26but you're still going to get to the other side of the chasm.
1:13:26 > 1:13:27What happens if we fall off that rope?
1:13:27 > 1:13:29Well, if we fall off then we're in trouble.
1:13:29 > 1:13:31Just a final word of reassurance,
1:13:31 > 1:13:34when we do leave here we're going to be revitalised,
1:13:34 > 1:13:38our batteries recharged and really we'll be ready for anything.
1:13:41 > 1:13:45# And when they were about to take him out...
1:13:45 > 1:13:50Got a whole array of young men finding rock'n'roll meaningful
1:13:50 > 1:13:53now in this country either by being in a band
1:13:53 > 1:13:57or by participating in a club
1:13:57 > 1:14:00and really feeling that they actually are part of something
1:14:00 > 1:14:02that they hope will transcend the music scene
1:14:02 > 1:14:05and give the power back to the kids.
1:14:06 > 1:14:09- Does someone want to cut the cake? - I'll cut it.
1:14:09 > 1:14:11You cut it and I'll eat it.
1:14:17 > 1:14:19# Yankee
1:14:23 > 1:14:25# Ya...
1:14:26 > 1:14:31# Yankee detectives are always on the TV
1:14:31 > 1:14:34# Five seconds there's a murder
1:14:34 > 1:14:36# About every ten seconds
1:14:36 > 1:14:40# And you think I care about your poxy baseball shirt
1:14:40 > 1:14:45# I'd rather wear nothing than look like I'm ready to bat
1:14:45 > 1:14:50# I'm so bored with U... # USA
1:14:50 > 1:14:53# I'm so bored with U...
1:14:53 > 1:14:55# USA
1:14:55 > 1:14:57# What can I do?
1:14:57 > 1:14:59- # Wah...- #
1:15:01 > 1:15:04Ah! No, no!
1:15:04 > 1:15:07Oi, do you want us to just carry on?
1:15:07 > 1:15:09- I'm bored with this, are we finished? - That's it.