The Clash: New Year's Day '77


The Clash: New Year's Day '77

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Transcript


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This programme contains very strong language

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In a short while it will be 1977,

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Jubilee year and I'm sure all of you join with me in wishing Her Majesty

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a joyous and happy new year.

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Well, you can see why the druids have midsummer celebrations

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here at Stonehenge and not cold, New Year's Eve celebrations.

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Mind you, they did have the good nature to leave a glass here

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for me and a magnum of champers, so I'll get stoned on this.

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Happy new year.

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These people share Britain's most common surname.

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They're all called Smith and they've come here from all over the country.

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Together they make up a statistical cross section of the population.

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If you like, they're average British citizens

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and, because they are, it's likely they'll represent the hopes,

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the fears and the attitudes that may or may not help to

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make 1977 a happy new year,

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not only for them, but for the rest of us too.

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Not that there's much chance of it being a particularly

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prosperous new year if the merchants of doom are to be believed.

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We, the people of Britain, are all here, ready to grit our teeth

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and face whatever fate has in store for us in this year of 1977.

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BIG BEN CHIMES

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MUSIC: Two Sevens Clash by Culture

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# Wat a liiv an bambaie

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# When the two sevens clash

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# Wat a liiv an bambaie

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# When the two sevens clash.

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Ring out, wild bells to the wild sky.

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The year is going, let him go,

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Ring out the false,

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Ring in the true,

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Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,

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Ring out the thousand wars of old,

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Ring in the thousand years of peace,

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Ring in the valiant man and free,

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The larger heart, the kindlier hand,

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Ring out the darkness of the land.

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# It's only a housing scheme that divide

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# Wat a liiv an bambaie

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# When the two sevens clash, the dread

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# Wat a liiv an bambaie

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# When the two sevens clash. #

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As many of you probably know from the hangovers you are nursing

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right now, we really go for it in a big way on New Year's Eve.

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A kind of collective catharsis,

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blotting out all memories of the year gone by,

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to leave us with a blank slate to write on

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during the year ahead.

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# And it has been destroyed by lightning

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# Earthquake and thunder, I say, what?

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# Wat a liiv an bambaie

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# When the two sevens clash. #

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All years are special, some good, some bad...

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# When the two sevens clash. #

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..but in 1977, with the Labour Party leading us

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into another winter of discontent, and Mrs Thatcher

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waiting in the wings, more seemed at stake than usual.

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Perhaps even now, it's not too late for us all to learn something...

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..from what went down back then.

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1977 had more of a millennium feel than the millennium did.

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There was definitely something that you could see changing culturally.

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There was a lot of anticipation about 1977,

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not only because of the stir that punk rock had

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created across the country, and also in the Rasta circles.

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The prophet Marcus Garvey had prophesised that

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when the two sevens clashed, there would be chaos.

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As it turned out, there wasn't chaos in Jamaica,

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but there sure was a lot of chaos in the United Kingdom.

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The two sevens did clash.

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# Say what?

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# Wat a liiv an bambaie

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# When the two sevens clash

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# Marcus Garvey was inside of

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# Spanish Town District Prison

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# And when they were about to take him out. #

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Happy new year.

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On New Year's Day 1977, a few months before they released

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their first album, The Clash officially opened

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the Roxy Club in Covent Garden and kick-started the year of the punk.

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In the weeks leading up to that gig, a no-budget film was being made

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about The Clash by a bunch of clueless amateurs.

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Aborted, abandoned and banged up in a leaking shed for many decades,

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the film was destined never to see the light of day.

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Now, nearly 40 years later,

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in times not so different from those we lived through back then,

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the film has risen once more from the cold vapours of the vault,

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and again raised its ugly head for your viewing pleasure tonight.

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This is the first time we've ever been filmed, do you know what I mean?

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-I cringe a lot.

-Yeah.

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-Don't my nose look big?

-Yeah.

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Can I be so ugly?

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I think it's really good cos it, like,

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helps us as a group get our message across in another medium.

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It's evidence of life.

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Why don't you like doing things that are set up, then?

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Cos I think it's stupid.

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I don't go around doing things like that normally, right,

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so why should I do it when you're around?

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It's stupid.

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Makes me feel like a tit, you know?

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Do you think the film's any good, then?

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-Oh, yeah.

-It's fantastic.

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You can tell how a good a film is by when you leave the cinema.

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If you're acting like the person in the film, like a cowboy film,

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I always go down the street for a few hours.

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I do, you know, bow-legged and that.

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Taxi Driver was great cos everyone come out of Taxi Driver,

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they put their lapels up.

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-Yeah, and hands in pockets.

-Everyone was doing it.

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The whole cinema was walking down the street like this.

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It's like when you go to those Bruce Lee films,

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there's all people going down the street going...

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It's true, yeah.

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-You don't mind being filmed?

-No, I don't care. It's great.

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All kids want to be on television or something

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and see themselves on the screen.

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'You've got to remember, no-one had seen themselves on video before.'

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Ha ha, it's great!

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Spin, spin.

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It looks like those calendars you get in those old films.

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Joe, Joe, watch me on the telly.

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Hold on.

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No, you're in the way. You're in the way.

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OK, go.

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PLAYS PIANO

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You want to get it wider.

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Fucking hell.

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Use it as a mirror. Looks great.

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What, like a mirror on the wall?

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A telly thing. One of these.

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Look, look, can you see?

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Joe.

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Oh fuck!

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You look at it and you think,

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"Next time I go on stage, I'll do that more often"

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-and it helps make the show a lot better...

-It helps, yeah.

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..for the kids and all that.

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We don't get a chance to see ourselves as often as we get

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a chance to see other groups.

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You wouldn't like to act at all?

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We're not great actors.

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Oi, Strummer, that outfit needs sewing up.

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I can see myself on the big screen like a big star

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doing all the tough bits.

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I wouldn't mind to make a film that wasn't boring in any way at all,

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but I can't be bothered to think about it.

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Rising oil prices, a trade recession,

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failures in the money supply both here and abroad,

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nearly a million and a half out of work,

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standards of living dropping and, according to the

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worst of our Cassandras, democracy itself on the verge of collapse.

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I honestly don't know what's going to happen next year.

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The situation is going to, as far as I can see, get worse and worse.

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We rely upon the workers of this country and the trade unions

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and that is the way in which this country is going to get through

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if it gets through.

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Draw your sword on the fight.

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I'm going to fight on and I'm going to take this country through

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if I have half a chance.

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The Clash prepared for the Roxy gig

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holed up in the bollock-freezing cold of Rehearsals Rehearsals.

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A broken jukebox repair workshop in a British Rail goods yard

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behind the Roundhouse on the wrong sides of the tracks in Camden Town.

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One, two, three, four...

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MUSIC: What's My Name by The Clash

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# What the hell is wrong with you?

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# Do they know what to do?

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# But I tried spot cream an' I tried it all

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# Crawling up the wall

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# What's my name

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# Name

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# Name... #

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I like it, seeing it, when you can hear the music, you know?

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Before, I've only been able to see our group on a silent homemade,

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sort of, family Norfolk Broads-type camera, you know?

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You couldn't hear the music then.

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It just looked like a bunch of lunatics all going like...

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Do you know what I mean, and you can't hear the music?

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LYRICS UNDECIPHERABLE

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# Name

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# Name

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# Name... #

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To Geordie exiles in particular who can't get

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home for the New Year festivities,

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may I wish you a very happy time and indeed to everyone everywhere.

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From the North East, a very happy new year to you.

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I'm going to negotiate with the IMF

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and I need your support to do it.

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APPLAUSE

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It means sticking to the very painful cuts in public expenditure

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on which the government has already decided.

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That's what I'm going to negotiate for

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and I ask the Conference to support me in that task.

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APPLAUSE

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How serious do you think Britain's economic problems are at present?

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76% said very serious.

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18% said fairly serious.

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In other words, 94%, nearly all of us,

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feel that the situation is serious.

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We all agree that the crisis is indeed serious.

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Edward Smith of Cheshire,

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what do you think our solution in 1977 is to all our problems?

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Do you feel optimistic about the future?

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I don't feel at all optimistic about the future.

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SINGS: AULD LANG SYNE

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What are you, yourself, going to do?

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Well, if the situation doesn't improve,

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I would definitely think of going abroad and working abroad.

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Overnight snow up to five inches in places closed

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part of the M6 motorway in Staffordshire this morning.

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Police say icy conditions will make roads treacherous this evening.

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I think there's a whole general atmosphere in England that's

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getting everybody down.

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Everybody seems to spend all their time moaning and being unhappy.

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Mrs Margaret Smith, if I can come to you. How do you view 1977?

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Even more depressed about it than I was in 1976 or 1975.

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How about the visual image you've got, the way you dress?

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Yeah, this is something we really work on

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and something we really enjoy.

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We want to look special, we want to look new,

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we want to look different, right?

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It's all come from us. We don't go in the shop

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and get it cos there isn't any shop you can get it.

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If there was, we probably would go and get it cos we're lazy.

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It's so easy for them to go into the Jean Machine, right,

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get a new pair of jeans when the old ones get too stinky.

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-What's this here?

-Hate & War. It's the title of our new hit.

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OK, right, let's do some painting.

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-Just lean it on the floor?

-Yeah, put it down.

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-Right, Joe, where do you want it? All over?

-All over, yeah.

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-Anything special?

-No, just blanket coverage.

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Any punks want their clothes grey, Joe?

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Yeah, I'll queue 'em up outside, right.

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It'll be Pete's Boutique.

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That's the authentic look,

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like you've been rolling about in grease for three weeks.

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Right, Joe. Really good thinking. That's it.

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-Look at that reacting.

-Yeah.

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I think it's some sort of weird paint, yeah.

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Just try and get it black as possible.

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I'm going to hammer something now.

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Give it a good hammering, Joe.

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Well, it's been a very tough year with industrial troubles and

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economic strife and we've all had to tighten our belts just a little,

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so, from Birmingham, a very happy new year.

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I don't think the outlook is so good.

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I think it's a rather depressing time to be having a baby.

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It's the state of the world at the moment.

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Mr Frank Smith from the Midlands, how do you see 1977?

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I don't really share the views of some of these people that

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it's as bad as we would have it believe.

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We flog on. We're employing 10% more people than we were last year.

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Can I ask you, what is your job?

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I make cups of tea.

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LAUGHTER

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You've always got to have some form of refreshment.

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What's your New Year's resolution?

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I might try and give up smoking, something like that.

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Giving up smoking.

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Joe, can you come forward a little bit?

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So where are you living now?

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Well, me and him sleep on that floor

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and he lives with his granny in a council flat.

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There's a whole generation arisen over the last three years,

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who probably in 1972 were 13, now are 17.

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All these kids in this country are out of work as is,

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with very little future ahead of them as they see it

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and they've had nothing.

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We haven't got a lot going for us.

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There ain't much future for us, just as people.

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Not talking about being a pop group.

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Just as people in the first instance, you know?

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Come out of school, do a bit of college if you're lucky.

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-Get bored of it.

-What did you all do before this?

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Where did you start out?

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The school I went to, right, it was a real depressing school and that.

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You don't learn nothing.

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All you're working for is just to go into the factory

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which is round the corner.

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Most of the mates I know are all working in the factory.

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What kind of jobs have you lot done?

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I was cleaning toilets in an opera house.

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I was a student.

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An arts student cos I read Pete Townsend, Keith Richards,

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John Lennon and all them people had gone.

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Cos arts school has become respectable, hasn't it?

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Turn to your right.

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That's your left.

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And I just realised I'd made a mistake

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and I just thought it was better than work.

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All you get there now is, like, vicar's daughters

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-and doctor's sons, you know?

-Yeah, I know.

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Get rich kids getting a lift in the Rolls to the end of the road, right,

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then walking up pretending to be poor all day.

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I'll go like this.

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The government paid for me to go there, a private art college.

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All you used to do all the time was go round nicking all their paint

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and going out with the birds and going up to their houses

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and getting fed.

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Fucking great. And on the way out, maybe borrow something for a time.

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Go and treat yourself to an Ilkley Moor cocktail for new year.

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Take a little ice.

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Firm to taste.

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Whisky and...

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They didn't say the whisky would freeze.

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Oh, well, happy new year.

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George Smith, you come from Strathclyde.

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How do they feel about things up in Scotland? Who do they blame there?

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I think actually the poor, the workers, the unions, the

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management and government have all got to take their share of the blame.

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I put it down to communism occupying very serious

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and senior positions in the country.

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If they want to go and live in Russia, a communist country,

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let them bloody well go and live there.

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If you just decided to work a little more,

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just decided to have a little more discipline,

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you could become the strongest country in Europe.

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MUSIC: A Glass Of Champagne by Sailor

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# I've got the music, I've got the lights

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# You've got a figure full of delights

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# Let's get together, the two of us, over a glass of champagne. #

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A situation has been created whereby

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boredom has set in amongst young kids

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without having, really, a musical expression of their own.

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If those kids have to watch Top of the Pops

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and see some old fart doing it, then what the hell is it to do with them?

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MUSIC: A Little Bit More by Doctor Hook

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# Look into my eyes and give me that smile

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# The one that always turns me on. #

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The explosion that's been caused in London has probably arisen

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out of seeing one band,

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I think the Sex Pistols, doing it.

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And, all of a sudden,

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it's like a little spark just sets everything alight

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and it set things alight.

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It gave people fantastic inspiration, young kids,

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and they all felt, well, yeah, if a young guy can get up there

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and play four-five chords, and make it meaningful

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because there's a guy up there saying something with it,

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then what the fuck, man?

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If we identify with that,

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then we can also find the same spirit to do likewise.

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'Punk rock is the most immediate art form.

0:18:560:19:00

'I can get whatever I've got to say across as quick as possible.'

0:19:000:19:04

'You get this whole explosion of, like, new groups

0:19:090:19:12

'and media saying, "Yeah, they're kicking out the rock establishment.

0:19:120:19:15

'"Let's call it New Wave. Let's call it punk rock."'

0:19:150:19:19

MUSIC: New Rose by the Damned

0:19:190:19:23

# I got a feeling inside of me

0:19:230:19:25

# It's kind of strange, like a stormy sea

0:19:250:19:28

# I dunno why, I dunno why... #

0:19:280:19:30

The whole idea of getting on a stage and asserting yourself

0:19:300:19:35

and announcing something is the criteria.

0:19:350:19:38

It was inevitable that it should happen.

0:19:380:19:41

Can you just hold it in between?

0:19:430:19:46

Yeah, like that.

0:19:460:19:48

You've got this rehearsal place here, right?

0:19:480:19:50

Subway Sect use it. Sid Vicious and his new group use it.

0:19:500:19:53

Keith Levene, who used to be our guitarist, he's going to use it.

0:19:530:19:59

The Slits are using it.

0:19:590:20:01

I'm used to, like, groups like The Kinks and that.

0:20:130:20:17

I like Mott The Hoople.

0:20:190:20:21

When we first saw The Who on Ready Steady Go

0:20:230:20:26

when we was, like, babies, right, I mean, like, it looked great.

0:20:260:20:31

We could dig it, you know.

0:20:310:20:33

But now, I mean... I couldn't understand even what Tommy was about.

0:20:330:20:36

Tommy went over my head, you know.

0:20:360:20:39

We want to make records. We want to be number one.

0:20:390:20:41

I mean, I think we're the greatest.

0:20:410:20:43

Obviously we want to be at number one.

0:20:430:20:45

So you want to blow out all those old bands,

0:20:450:20:47

but how radical a change do you want in the system itself?

0:20:470:20:49

As much change as we can get.

0:20:490:20:51

Total change. We think government is an old fashioned idea.

0:20:510:20:55

The whole of Britain was, like, a load of shit.

0:20:550:20:58

There was nothing interesting going on, right,

0:20:580:21:00

so we created our own interesting things, right?

0:21:000:21:04

Thank you. This is where we fit in.

0:21:040:21:07

We're out to encourage people to be creative and make people aware.

0:21:070:21:10

If that means we stuff it down their throat,

0:21:100:21:13

we will stuff it down their throat till they know.

0:21:130:21:16

Here from the magnificent Severn-Severn Bridge

0:21:190:21:21

spanning, as it does, a very cold River Severn-Severn,

0:21:210:21:24

we in the West region wish you a very, very happy new year

0:21:240:21:27

and we do it in the traditional way, as we should, with scrumpy.

0:21:270:21:31

Happy new year.

0:21:310:21:32

MUSIC: Save Your Kisses For Me by Brotherhood Of Man

0:21:320:21:34

# Save your kisses for me

0:21:340:21:36

# Save all your kisses for me

0:21:360:21:40

# Bye bye, baby, bye bye

0:21:400:21:43

# Don't cry, honey, don't cry. #

0:21:450:21:48

Dr Dennis Smith.

0:21:500:21:51

Politicians fundamentally are responsible for running the country.

0:21:510:21:55

Perhaps we get the politicians that we deserve, but unfortunately,

0:21:550:21:58

politicians don't seem to be very good on either side at doing

0:21:580:22:01

the job they're elected to do at the moment.

0:22:010:22:04

Oh, shut up! What a load of old rubbish!

0:22:040:22:07

-Happy new year.

-Happy new year.

0:22:070:22:10

I went to see my father the other day and he bought a copy of the

0:22:100:22:12

Melody Maker and he said, "What's all this punk rock then, son?"

0:22:120:22:17

The media provide you with cliches to fall back on

0:22:170:22:20

if you haven't got an idea in your head.

0:22:200:22:22

I was down the dole Friday morning. What a state this country's in.

0:22:220:22:25

These are the things that intelligent people know.

0:22:250:22:29

If you can't think your way out of a paper bag, read a paper, right?

0:22:290:22:34

"Baby Drama Of Knife Maniac."

0:22:340:22:36

Then you go, "Oh, yeah, he's a knife maniac!"

0:22:360:22:39

And he's, like, the knife maniac.

0:22:390:22:42

The dole queue rock, know what I mean?

0:22:420:22:44

Have you seen the News of the World?

0:22:520:22:54

The punk goddesses, punkesses,

0:22:540:22:55

and they make the Sex Pistols look like choirboys.

0:22:550:22:59

They saw the Pistols on TV and that was a bit scandalous

0:22:590:23:01

because they said fuck.

0:23:010:23:03

Everyone says fuck.

0:23:030:23:04

You know, so one man kicks at his TV

0:23:040:23:06

and the whole thing has been completely blown apart.

0:23:060:23:10

They showed us all up to look really stupid.

0:23:120:23:16

We looked like we were all really mindless

0:23:160:23:18

and we went around saying fucking hell

0:23:180:23:20

and we had safety pins in our ears and through our jaws and things.

0:23:200:23:23

It didn't make us look like a force to be reckoned with.

0:23:230:23:26

It just made us look like a load of stupid kids.

0:23:260:23:29

We're kids but, you know, we're not stupid.

0:23:290:23:31

There's a lot of kids from out of town

0:23:310:23:33

coming in with their safety pins and all the business.

0:23:330:23:36

The media pick up on the really weird things in the scene,

0:23:360:23:39

safety pins, plastic trousers, spitting,

0:23:390:23:42

but that's just a fashion thing, you know?

0:23:420:23:45

I think a lot of people realise it's not a fashion anymore.

0:23:450:23:48

I think it's too serious musically.

0:23:480:23:51

Well, you know, some people drink to get high.

0:23:520:23:55

I've come up high to our side of the Severn Bridge to have a drink

0:23:550:23:58

and to wish all of you a very happy new year from us in Wales.

0:23:580:24:01

Blwyddyn newydd dda I chi I gyd.

0:24:010:24:05

SINGING IN WELSH

0:24:070:24:11

We are worried because I wouldn't like to see the bread going up.

0:24:210:24:25

-Oh, no.

-No.

0:24:250:24:27

-The meat, oh, that's terrible, isn't it?

-I don't get much meat.

0:24:270:24:30

I haven't seen beef for a very long, long time.

0:24:300:24:33

It was never spoken.

0:24:370:24:39

It was never like, we're going to consciously attempt to smash

0:24:390:24:42

the musical establishment, but, like, that's what it is.

0:24:420:24:47

We said, "Let's get a band together that's better than them bands."

0:24:490:24:52

Otherwise, what we do is we maybe go and shoot them.

0:24:520:24:55

Plot an assassination.

0:24:550:24:57

You've got to have destruction before you can start anything new.

0:24:580:25:03

I think the Pistols are destroying everything really fine,

0:25:030:25:06

in a really good way.

0:25:060:25:07

After that, you've got to have something coming up.

0:25:070:25:10

The Sex Pistols are an idea.

0:25:110:25:14

The idea is to threaten, the idea is to not allow conformity

0:25:140:25:19

and to not allow boredom to take place within your act.

0:25:190:25:22

The idea is to say something that will change kids'

0:25:220:25:25

actual outlook on their lives.

0:25:250:25:28

The Sex Pistols Anarchy tour.

0:25:280:25:29

I mean, fucking hell, talk about overreaction, you know?

0:25:300:25:35

If it was 30 dates, 26 of them got cancelled.

0:25:350:25:38

Anything new, they don't understand.

0:25:390:25:42

It threatens their whole existence, doesn't it?

0:25:420:25:45

As soon as the Sex Pistols don't become threatening,

0:25:450:25:48

they ain't no longer the Sex Pistols.

0:25:480:25:49

Fuck off!

0:25:490:25:51

They must threaten the culture and change it, make it something else.

0:25:510:25:56

Then we have a whole new scene on our hands.

0:25:560:26:00

The Pistols decided not to play to the old stiffs.

0:26:000:26:04

I thought it was quite good, like, why the fuck should they?

0:26:040:26:08

Yeah, you don't do that sort of thing.

0:26:080:26:10

Right, then they'd want it all over the country, wouldn't they?

0:26:100:26:13

'So we had to go out and find places to play.

0:26:160:26:18

'We were really trying to get new places to go

0:26:180:26:20

'and there's some guy opening up

0:26:200:26:22

'a new club down in Deal Street in Covent Garden, Roxy Club.'

0:26:220:26:24

-Neal Street.

-In Covent Garden.

0:26:240:26:27

OPERATIC SINGING

0:26:270:26:29

MUSIC: Primavera from Vivaldi's Four Seasons

0:26:290:26:35

Covent Garden. Epicentre of Cockney London.

0:26:550:26:58

The first neighbourhood to succumb to the dread

0:27:010:27:04

tentacles of gentrification.

0:27:040:27:05

Home to the infamous Roxy Club, heart of libertine London,

0:27:120:27:16

where high and low culture have always famously collided,

0:27:160:27:20

cavorted and clashed.

0:27:200:27:22

-Morning, Patsy. How are you?

-All right. What do you want?

0:27:250:27:29

-Got any good sprouts?

-Yeah, just in the shop, there.

0:27:290:27:33

-Hello, Vicky, what are you doing here?

-What are you?

0:27:330:27:35

Having lunch with Boris Lermontov, the fellow who runs the ballet.

0:27:350:27:38

Here, for centuries, opera,

0:27:420:27:44

theatre and ballet cohabited with the fruit and veg market next door.

0:27:440:27:50

Ballerinas and baritones...

0:27:500:27:52

# I love you... #

0:27:520:27:54

Divas, primadonnas and matinee idols, all rubbing elbows with the

0:27:540:28:00

Cockney costermongers and porters in the Garden's boozers and caffs.

0:28:000:28:04

-How much?

-Fiver.

-Five quid?

-Five.

-Leave it out!

0:28:080:28:13

How much is this, Tom?

0:28:130:28:15

A royal pleasure ground, where princes,

0:28:260:28:28

punks and wicked earls shared beds with the whores of Harris's List

0:28:280:28:33

and Mother Creswell's brothel.

0:28:330:28:35

-She's in the King's arms already!

-Pouring the beer!

0:28:350:28:38

Here Charles met Nell, Sid met Nancy and Eliza Doolittle

0:28:400:28:46

and Henry Higgins first misconstrued each other beneath the great

0:28:460:28:49

portico of the Actor's Church, as depicted in My Fair Lady.

0:28:490:28:54

# Oh, wouldn't it be lovely? #

0:28:540:28:56

-Want a few melons?

-Could do, what you got?

0:28:560:28:59

These are what I had the other day, good melons, as it happens.

0:28:590:29:02

MUSIC: Monkey Man by the Rolling Stones

0:29:050:29:09

"What a coil do I make for the loss of my punk

0:29:120:29:15

"I storm and I roar and I fall in a rage

0:29:150:29:18

"And missing my whore I bugger my page."

0:29:180:29:21

-What's your favourite food?

-A pint of bitter!

0:29:240:29:27

-Then what keeps you going?

-Beer.

0:29:290:29:31

Birthplace of Punch and Judy, Turner

0:29:360:29:38

and the muffin man who lived on Drury Lane.

0:29:380:29:42

Filching pitch of Fagin and the Artful Dodger, host to the

0:29:440:29:48

infamous trials of Oscar Wilde, Dr Crippen and the brothers Kray.

0:29:480:29:54

A topsy-turvy place where rhubarbs and turnips were traded in the dead

0:29:540:29:58

of night and the market pubs opened their doors at four in the morning.

0:29:580:30:03

Film-star type people, they like to come here and slum,

0:30:050:30:08

you might say, and see the boys, you know.

0:30:080:30:11

Three rum and coffees.

0:30:110:30:12

I remember a time once when Elizabeth Taylor

0:30:120:30:15

and Michael Wilding was in this very pub, dancing and singing,

0:30:150:30:19

really enjoying themselves with the boys.

0:30:190:30:21

This is streets where anybody could come. Wonderful atmosphere.

0:30:210:30:25

For over 300 years, Covent Garden had all this and more

0:30:250:30:31

until the over-congested market was finally closed down in 1974.

0:30:310:30:37

Right up until New Year's Eve, The Clash frantically auditioned

0:30:470:30:50

drummers in their Rehearsals Rehearsals redoubt in Camden Town.

0:30:500:30:54

Their regular drummer Terry Chimes, or Tory Crimes as Joe fondly

0:30:560:31:00

nicknamed him, had had enough of Bernie's Clash course re-education

0:31:000:31:04

programme and was refusing to commit to play the Roxy gig.

0:31:040:31:09

Everything we do, we try and be honest, right?

0:31:100:31:13

Sometimes we don't make it, sometimes we do.

0:31:130:31:15

-How hard do you work at what you're doing?

-Very hard.

0:31:150:31:18

I don't think about anything else. I don't have time to.

0:31:180:31:22

They went through 20 drummers, including Jon Moss,

0:31:330:31:36

who went on to drum for Culture Club, still half hoping that Terry

0:31:360:31:40

would change his mind before settling on a temporary replacement

0:31:400:31:44

in Rob Harper, who was reportedly scarred for life by the experience.

0:31:440:31:49

Let's do that again, just rhythm, no singing, right?

0:31:490:31:53

The drums are a bit clumsy, or something.

0:31:530:31:57

One, two, three, four!

0:31:570:31:58

BAND STARTS PLAYING "Cheat"

0:31:580:32:02

Newcomers to Norfolk have been

0:32:110:32:13

perplexed on New Year's Eve to find their new-found neighbours

0:32:130:32:16

hurling chunks of coal at their front doors.

0:32:160:32:19

But it's not East Anglian vandalism, it's just our way of saying

0:32:210:32:25

happiness and good luck for the coming year.

0:32:250:32:27

This country has been sitting on its laurels a bit too long.

0:32:270:32:30

It wants a jolt to pull the people together.

0:32:300:32:33

Nobody thinks about anybody else today,

0:32:330:32:35

everybody thinks just of themselves,

0:32:350:32:37

the I'm-all-right-Jack attitude which is all wrong.

0:32:370:32:41

Leonard Smith, what's the cause of the crisis?

0:32:410:32:44

I think, small things that happen at school, perhaps.

0:32:440:32:48

A child will perhaps cheek his teacher

0:32:480:32:50

and then it goes up from that.

0:32:500:32:52

A man then becomes insulting to his boss, his boss sacks him

0:32:520:32:57

and then he's got problems there.

0:32:570:32:58

Tom, how many pubs will you get through in a night?

0:33:010:33:03

Four pubs and about 18 pints, I suppose.

0:33:030:33:05

PHONE RINGS

0:33:120:33:15

Yeah?

0:33:180:33:20

Yeah, we are.

0:33:240:33:26

Left? No.

0:33:260:33:27

There's me and there's Mick and there's Paul.

0:33:310:33:33

And there's a guy with a camera and a guy with a pair of earphones.

0:33:360:33:39

Sorry, what? Because we're filming.

0:33:410:33:46

Yeah, of course he is. What about, er, the guy in Hackney?

0:33:480:33:54

Oh, yeah. Have you?

0:33:580:34:01

Good news, boys.

0:34:010:34:02

But you won't tell it to me.

0:34:070:34:08

Tell him, tell him! Come on, it's really important.

0:34:080:34:11

OK, yeah. We'll go down there and then come back, all right?

0:34:170:34:21

That's what I mean, we'll go down and do it and then come back.

0:34:210:34:24

Right.

0:34:270:34:28

When the punk rock business was starting up and groups

0:34:310:34:35

wanted to play, they were rejected by everybody and everywhere.

0:34:350:34:38

So the obvious thing was to try and find a place yourself.

0:34:380:34:43

This I did by finding a club called the Roxy Club.

0:34:440:34:47

Bernie Rhodes and The Clash came down and I said, "How about playing?"

0:34:470:34:51

So we booked them in for January 1st '77.

0:34:510:34:54

At the time that we took it on, it was called Shaggarama's.

0:34:560:34:59

And the name says everything about the gayness of it.

0:34:590:35:03

It was a pretty hardcore cruising place.

0:35:030:35:06

You know who used to go to Shaggarama? Sid used to go there.

0:35:060:35:09

He was John Beverley, then.

0:35:090:35:11

MUSIC: You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) By Sylvester

0:35:110:35:14

They really couldn't care less who they rented it to,

0:35:170:35:21

especially a bunch of noisy young people.

0:35:210:35:23

They just said, "We'll rent to you for a year and see what happens."

0:35:230:35:26

They were planning to knock it down.

0:35:260:35:28

Covent Garden was shut down and it was derelict.

0:35:420:35:45

It hadn't been used for two or three years.

0:35:450:35:48

It had become a kind of wasteland, an inner-city wasteland,

0:35:530:35:56

where all these subterranean characters would emerge.

0:35:560:35:59

We're talking about gangsters and hookers and drug dealers

0:35:590:36:02

and things like that.

0:36:020:36:03

So it was a pretty scary place in the late '70s.

0:36:030:36:06

There is no domestic atmosphere around here now.

0:36:060:36:09

All the residents have been gradually hived off

0:36:090:36:12

and drifted away.

0:36:120:36:14

At one time, you used to see many more people about.

0:36:140:36:16

We're the first area on the block.

0:36:180:36:20

This is going to happen in Shoreditch, in Lewisham,

0:36:200:36:23

in other parts of Camden. They've got no interest in us.

0:36:230:36:26

The almighty dollar, let's call it the pound, is going

0:36:260:36:29

to just throw us off, we're going to be nothing, brushed aside.

0:36:290:36:33

When the Roxy opened on January 1st, 1977,

0:36:330:36:36

for 100 days, it really was the centre of the punk rock universe.

0:36:360:36:41

I could go to the Roxy on the Piccadilly line, which is

0:36:410:36:43

quite a way out, so it took me nearly an hour.

0:36:430:36:46

I'd just get off at Covent Garden or Leicester Square

0:36:460:36:48

if I was meeting my boys there.

0:36:480:36:50

Covent Garden at the time was quite gloomy, Dickensian,

0:36:500:36:53

there were lots of lonely cobbled side streets and things,

0:36:530:36:56

so I actually found it a bit spooky.

0:36:560:36:58

I actually found it quite scary to walk around on your own or

0:36:580:37:00

if there was just two of you.

0:37:000:37:02

It was a much more seedy, dirty place than it is now.

0:37:020:37:07

Possibly we can eat, when we get back there,

0:37:200:37:23

we can send out for stuff, right?

0:37:230:37:25

-We can get some food sent over.

-Well, if you like.

0:37:250:37:29

When the Roxy opened, it was a dingy basement, low ceilings,

0:37:300:37:33

bench seats around the outside.

0:37:330:37:35

To be honest, it was pretty much a shit hole.

0:37:350:37:37

One, two. Can I hear myself? Course I can.

0:37:370:37:40

Why do I get the dodgy stand?

0:37:430:37:45

They had a mirror at the Roxy, at the back.

0:37:450:37:48

I didn't notice, I wish I had! I was watching a girl in front of it!

0:37:480:37:54

-Are these supposed to fall down all the time?

-Mick, see these boxes?

0:37:540:38:00

-What are they?

-They're the monitors, you stupid cunt!

0:38:000:38:04

Can't we stuff them somewhere else?

0:38:040:38:07

BAND STARTS PLAYING "Remote Control"

0:38:070:38:10

When the Clash finally got to the Roxy,

0:38:110:38:14

they found the PA they had hired was up the spout,

0:38:140:38:17

but it was New Year's Day and it was too late to find a replacement.

0:38:170:38:22

The show had to go on.

0:38:220:38:24

-How much money do you make from your gigs?

-We don't really get any.

0:38:250:38:29

Most of it goes on PA. Work it out for yourself.

0:38:290:38:33

60 quid for a booking, right?

0:38:330:38:36

PA hire, good PA, we are a loud group, we need a good PA - 55 quid.

0:38:360:38:40

So you've got five quid left.

0:38:400:38:43

I use a set of strings a night, cos I'm a vicious guitar player.

0:38:430:38:46

You want a drink, something to eat, there you are,

0:38:460:38:49

you're in the red.

0:38:490:38:50

-We're making a loss.

-Where does the rest come from?

0:38:500:38:52

Well, it's being provided by our generous manager.

0:38:520:38:56

Every time we do a gig, he has to reach in his pocket.

0:38:560:38:59

If we were in Devon,

0:39:010:39:02

like most other places in Britain, we would wish you a very happy New Year.

0:39:020:39:07

But here in Cornwall, we'd say bledhen Nowyth Da.

0:39:090:39:13

Roy Smith from Bodmin.

0:39:130:39:15

They say down in Cornwall,

0:39:150:39:16

the average wage is far below the standard of people

0:39:160:39:20

here in London and if you become unemployed you get more through

0:39:200:39:24

being unemployed than what you do

0:39:240:39:26

if you're actually earning your living.

0:39:260:39:28

So where's the incentive to work?

0:39:280:39:30

-Any resolutions?

-Do less work.

0:39:300:39:32

Anybody who was around at that time was there. You had everybody there.

0:39:370:39:41

The only person who never came down was Malcolm, because I think

0:39:410:39:44

he sometimes felt that he had some sort of right to this punk thing.

0:39:440:39:48

I was the DJ from the minute The Roxy opened to the minute it closed.

0:39:500:39:53

I'd do my dub heavy reggae sets

0:39:530:39:55

in between the fast and furious punk sets.

0:39:550:39:58

There was no real punk records around.

0:39:580:40:01

It was Don diving into his collection and magically, it worked.

0:40:010:40:05

I'm playing hardcore dub reggae,

0:40:050:40:07

which seemed to strike a chord with the white youth.

0:40:070:40:11

Oh, some decent fucking music at last!

0:40:110:40:14

Oh, Richie!

0:40:140:40:16

Most punks couldn't roll their own spliffs,

0:40:160:40:18

so my dread bredren came up with the spliff factory

0:40:180:40:22

and they'd sell ready-rolled spliffs from behind the Roxy bar.

0:40:220:40:25

I'm a raging queen, really. Don't tell anyone though.

0:40:340:40:37

We're doing something that we want to do.

0:40:370:40:41

By playing, I'm doing everything I want to do.

0:40:410:40:43

That's why I started playing.

0:40:430:40:45

One day, I didn't play and the next day, I did play.

0:40:450:40:47

When I'm playing in a group and things are going on,

0:40:470:40:50

I feel as if I'm doing something good, you know?

0:40:500:40:53

I mean, it goes up and down, but so does everything.

0:40:530:40:56

Hey, Steve!

0:40:570:40:59

Hey, Steve, the guitars, chuck them in.

0:41:030:41:06

If your life is like a group, you play with the guys you dig,

0:41:060:41:10

and you forget about the blokes who are arseholes.

0:41:100:41:13

If you're a bozo and an arsehole,

0:41:130:41:14

you're an arsehole, know what I mean?

0:41:140:41:16

You come on like an arsehole.

0:41:160:41:17

You say hello, and they don't say hello, they say I'm an arsehole.

0:41:170:41:21

I just happen to be meeting more of them at the moment.

0:41:210:41:24

Please! I try so hard to be nice.

0:41:240:41:28

A lot of the punks didn't walk the streets like that

0:41:350:41:38

because they actually had to go to work.

0:41:380:41:40

If you're finishing work at five or six or whatever,

0:41:420:41:45

get a bag full of clothes, queueing up at seven o'clock to get in,

0:41:450:41:49

straight into the toilets, and the whole of the toilets just

0:41:490:41:52

changed into this massive girls' changing room.

0:41:520:41:55

So they're in there for like an hour or two, making up, gossiping

0:41:550:41:58

and just generally having a laugh.

0:41:580:42:01

Invariably, the walls would be dripping with sweat,

0:42:010:42:04

the place would be stinking with ganja fumes.

0:42:040:42:08

I always remember the old punks were always jacking speed.

0:42:080:42:10

-Do you have any resolutions?

-Simply to stop spending money.

0:42:240:42:27

Mrs Christine Smith.

0:42:310:42:33

I think we're capable of the economic miracle, certainly we are.

0:42:370:42:41

We must believe that.

0:42:410:42:42

Duncan Smith from Knightsbridge. How bad is it?

0:42:420:42:45

There is, at this moment, I would say, blind panic.

0:42:450:42:48

Everybody is trying to get every spare ha'penny they can

0:42:480:42:50

out of the country by one method or another.

0:42:500:42:53

-Is this happening on a big scale?

-A massive scale. Absolutely enormous.

0:42:530:42:58

And Nigel Smith from Surbiton.

0:42:580:43:00

Have you ever been tempted to change your sterling into some other currency?

0:43:000:43:04

Very much so.

0:43:040:43:06

Anyone who's in the position to do so,

0:43:060:43:08

they're very foolish not to be able to do so.

0:43:080:43:11

Lionel Smith from Finchley.

0:43:110:43:12

How do you feel about people who move their money

0:43:120:43:15

abroad against the regulations of exchange control?

0:43:150:43:17

Criminal.

0:43:170:43:19

Despite their PA being on the blink, The Clash had committed to

0:43:360:43:40

playing two sets that night as the New Year was ushered in.

0:43:400:43:43

On one big fiery flying roll,

0:43:450:43:46

The Clash roared through all the key songs that would

0:43:460:43:49

feature on their breakthrough first album a few months later.

0:43:490:43:53

As the clock ticked down to midnight, they tossed them out

0:43:530:43:56

like firecrackers into the crowd, kick-starting the year of The Clash.

0:43:560:44:01

Hey, Mickey, the Ampeg don't work.

0:44:010:44:04

What do you feel like when you go onstage?

0:44:040:44:09

A pair of tits.

0:44:090:44:11

No, I feel good, you know? That's what we're supposed to do, you know.

0:44:110:44:17

I mean, that's when we like it best. You can't get bored onstage, really.

0:44:170:44:23

We're The Clash!

0:44:250:44:26

# London's burning!

0:44:260:44:29

# London's burning!

0:44:290:44:31

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:44:330:44:36

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:44:360:44:40

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:44:400:44:43

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:44:430:44:46

# I'm up and down the Westway in and out the lights

0:44:460:44:49

# Great traffic system it's so bright

0:44:490:44:53

# Can't think of a better way to spend the night

0:44:530:44:56

# Than speeding around underneath the yellow lights

0:44:560:45:00

# London's burning with boredom now

0:45:000:45:03

# London's burning, oi, oi, oi!

0:45:030:45:07

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:45:070:45:10

# London's burning, oi, oi, oi! #

0:45:100:45:14

I wrote it in an old, sort of disused house near the Westway

0:45:140:45:19

and then I went up to see Mick Jones in the block

0:45:190:45:22

and we kind of whipped it into shape up in his flat.

0:45:220:45:26

It was kind of like a quick one, you know?

0:45:280:45:31

You think of it, write it, finish it. It was all over quick.

0:45:310:45:34

It's just like, not having anything to do,

0:45:360:45:38

like, not having no place to go.

0:45:380:45:41

And you just think of a desert.

0:45:430:45:44

The only activity I could see was the moving lights going up and down

0:45:440:45:47

the motorway and like, going down the subways and looking at the writing.

0:45:470:45:51

And it's like Wednesday night

0:45:510:45:53

is the same as Thursday night or Friday night.

0:45:530:45:56

I just felt the whole place was bored as hell, driving about

0:45:560:45:59

and watching TV and stuff,

0:45:590:46:00

so it was like London was burning with boredom.

0:46:000:46:03

I wrote it to get rid of that feeling.

0:46:050:46:06

# I run through the empty stone

0:46:060:46:08

# Cos I'm all alone

0:46:080:46:10

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:46:100:46:13

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:46:130:46:17

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:46:170:46:20

# London's burning with boredom now... #

0:46:200:46:24

-Do you think it could be any different?

-Of course it could.

0:46:240:46:27

It could get better, it could get worse.

0:46:270:46:30

What's going to make it get better?

0:46:300:46:32

More lunatic personalities actually doing things.

0:46:320:46:36

More people doing honest things

0:46:360:46:38

and not, like, trying to pose or ponce about.

0:46:380:46:42

What do you mean by honest?

0:46:420:46:44

Just to do with something, mean something,

0:46:440:46:47

to feel so bad about something that you do something about it.

0:46:470:46:50

# Dial 99999

0:46:500:46:52

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:46:520:46:55

# London's burning, dial 99999

0:46:580:47:02

-# London's burning, dial 99999

-Oi! #

0:47:020:47:06

The group writes the songs. Joe is better at lyrics and he is great.

0:47:060:47:10

Fantastic turn of phrase. He's always taking notes.

0:47:100:47:15

When it comes down to the tunes, I nick 'em.

0:47:150:47:17

# London's burning! #

0:47:330:47:34

How about the audience?

0:47:490:47:51

What effect do you want to have on them emotionally?

0:47:510:47:54

We want to make them, like, vomit, or something.

0:47:540:47:56

-Move them in some way, so that they can, like...

-Get a reaction.

0:47:580:48:01

Yeah, so that they can perhaps move themselves.

0:48:030:48:08

I think it hits them the next morning.

0:48:090:48:12

They get their moment to think about it.

0:48:120:48:14

It will last them till at least lunchtime that day, I should think.

0:48:140:48:19

I've got to say, the PA don't sound so hot, you know?

0:48:190:48:21

We got to test these things out, you know?

0:48:210:48:23

-We can't just stand and look at it.

-Use your imagination.

0:48:230:48:26

We've got to bring it to some gig and try it out.

0:48:260:48:30

If it don't work, what the fuck can you do but get on with it?

0:48:300:48:33

MUSIC: I'm So Bored With The USA

0:48:350:48:38

# You think I care where you buy your shirt?

0:48:500:48:55

# I don't wanna use American dirt

0:48:550:48:59

# Oh yeah, you look so cool

0:48:590:49:03

# In your cowboy boots

0:49:030:49:05

# Seen 'em on James Dean

0:49:050:49:08

# They looked so cute

0:49:080:49:10

# I'm so bored with the U...S...A

0:49:100:49:15

# I'm so bored with the USA

0:49:150:49:20

# But what can I do...? #

0:49:200:49:22

It's like how London belongs to Arabs and Yanks, you know what I mean?

0:49:240:49:28

Hamburgers and whatever Arabs do, I don't know.

0:49:280:49:30

The things that go on in American politics,

0:49:300:49:32

like everyone buying everybody else up. The Watergate tapes just keep on happening.

0:49:320:49:35

-I'm not a crook.

-Exposing more and more and more.

0:49:350:49:39

The further you dig down in America, the more poxy it gets.

0:49:390:49:43

I'm dead sure it's a veneer on top of the whole thing.

0:49:430:49:46

The whole thing, there's like filthy things going on down there.

0:49:460:49:50

Just disgusting.

0:49:500:49:51

# I'm so bored with the

0:49:510:49:54

# CIA

0:49:540:49:56

# What can I do? #

0:49:560:49:57

Who wants to wait an hour for King Kong to appear?

0:50:020:50:05

They should have called it King Turkey.

0:50:050:50:07

Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

0:50:080:50:10

# You think I care about your latest record?

0:50:120:50:17

# Must be by the Grateful Dead - I don't want 'em...! #

0:50:170:50:22

I used to listen, when I first started playing the guitar,

0:50:220:50:24

to American music, blues music and Chuck Berry music

0:50:240:50:30

and Bo Diddley music and then you listen to people from the '60s,

0:50:300:50:34

copying their accent,

0:50:340:50:35

dead centre, like Mick Jagger sounds just like Bo Diddley.

0:50:350:50:39

What a cornball thing it is to do, to go on about my automobile,

0:50:400:50:45

doing 95, bump-de-bump, side to side... And all that shit.

0:50:450:50:50

You just think how corny it is. It don't get you anywhere.

0:50:500:50:53

You just think it's stupid, so you get bored with it.

0:50:530:50:55

# ...CIA, what can I do?

0:50:550:50:58

# I'm bored with the USA

0:51:080:51:12

# I'm bored with the USA But what can I do? #

0:51:120:51:18

With that song, I've been coming up with loads and loads of new verses for it.

0:51:200:51:25

I can only take four verses, but I keep coming up with loads

0:51:250:51:28

and loads of new verses. I just get closer every time.

0:51:280:51:32

Sooner or later, it will stop, and that will be dead centre.

0:51:320:51:35

And then you leave it.

0:51:350:51:37

When they're written down, they don't have any life.

0:51:370:51:39

That's a replica of what it is, right?

0:51:390:51:42

What it is is when you hear it. That's the it.

0:51:420:51:45

It ain't a poem or anything. I want to hear them in the air.

0:51:450:51:48

On the dole since leaving school,

0:51:510:51:53

Carol Donnelly had nothing to do but go blackberrying with her boyfriend.

0:51:530:51:57

It just seems a waste of time,

0:51:570:51:59

to have spent four years in this place,

0:51:590:52:01

for the government to have pumped in so many

0:52:010:52:04

thousands of pounds in actually training me

0:52:040:52:07

to supposedly be somebody who can go out and do a specific

0:52:070:52:10

sort of job, it seems a waste of money at the end of it just

0:52:100:52:13

to put me on the dole queue.

0:52:130:52:15

Teaching, local government, hospital administration,

0:52:150:52:19

public services and industry have all had to cut their intakes

0:52:190:52:23

and I know how much harder it is to get your first job.

0:52:230:52:27

How much extra unemployment will your additional and immediate

0:52:300:52:34

cuts in public expenditure add to the already rising total of unemployed?

0:52:340:52:38

Very, very little indeed. Very small indeed.

0:52:380:52:43

What do you call a very little unemployment?

0:52:430:52:46

Are we talking about another 100,000?

0:52:460:52:48

Oh, no, less than that, less than that.

0:52:480:52:50

One, two, three, four!

0:52:580:52:59

MUSIC: Career Opportunities

0:52:590:53:02

# Offered me the office Offered me the shop

0:53:040:53:07

# They said I'd better take anything they'd got

0:53:090:53:12

# Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?

0:53:140:53:17

# Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

0:53:170:53:20

# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock

0:53:220:53:25

# Every job they offer is to keep you out the dock

0:53:250:53:28

# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock

0:53:280:53:32

# I hate the army and I hate the RAF

0:53:330:53:36

# I don't wanna go fighting in the tropical heat

0:53:380:53:41

# I hate civil service rules

0:53:430:53:46

# I won't open letter bombs for you

0:53:460:53:49

# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock

0:53:510:53:53

# Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock

0:53:530:53:56

# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock... #

0:53:560:54:01

I think it's a comedy number.

0:54:030:54:05

"Career opportunities, the one that never knocks". It's a great line.

0:54:050:54:09

Get a job, you know? We thought it was a great subject,

0:54:090:54:12

just cos of all the time we spend in them offices,

0:54:120:54:14

going in and out of those boards, plastered with jobs

0:54:140:54:18

like evening work, tailors' work, toilet work, shift work, part work.

0:54:180:54:23

A poster at the end saying, "Come and join us."

0:54:230:54:27

Traffic warden, or something.

0:54:270:54:28

"Come and join us, be a man with the police."

0:54:280:54:30

It kind of has an effect on you, you know what I mean?

0:54:320:54:35

You just realise that if people are working and have got

0:54:350:54:37

their nose in the factory for 40 hours of the week,

0:54:370:54:40

they're going to be less harmless than someone who doesn't

0:54:400:54:43

have his nose in the factory 40 hours a week, right?

0:54:430:54:45

So that's what jobs is for.

0:54:450:54:47

# We won't shut up

0:54:580:55:01

# Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?

0:55:080:55:11

# Do you wanna be a cop?

0:55:110:55:15

# Career opportunities, the ones that never knock

0:55:160:55:19

# Every job they offer is to keep you out the dock

0:55:190:55:21

# Career opportunities never gonna knock

0:55:210:55:24

# Careers

0:55:260:55:28

# Careers

0:55:280:55:31

# Careers

0:55:310:55:34

# Ain't never gonna knock. #

0:55:340:55:36

I was on the dole. I hadn't been on there long, say six months.

0:55:380:55:41

I'm quite happy, really getting something going with this group,

0:55:410:55:45

really writing a load of stuff and playing the guitar.

0:55:450:55:49

I'm quite happy and they called me in there and said,

0:55:490:55:51

"You haven't got a job," and I said, "No,"

0:55:510:55:53

and they said, "Are you looking?" And I said, "Yeah, sure,

0:55:530:55:55

"I look in all the papers." So I've just got to sit there and he's got to say,

0:55:550:55:59

"Well, in four weeks, we'll send you to the rehabilitation centre."

0:55:590:56:02

I said, "The what?" He said, "Here you are, here's a pamphlet."

0:56:020:56:05

It says you get up at seven in the morning, make your bed, shave,

0:56:050:56:08

you've got your own cubicle, you go out

0:56:080:56:10

and you have first work period and then you have a lunch period

0:56:100:56:13

when you play snooker and darts and then you have a second work period

0:56:130:56:16

and then you and then you can watch TV.

0:56:160:56:17

And it's to get you back to the working routine.

0:56:170:56:20

It's not teaching you a trade.

0:56:200:56:22

I said, "I don't want to go." He said, "You haven't got any choice."

0:56:220:56:24

I just thought, this is like robot school, you know what I mean?

0:56:240:56:28

Like programming. So I had to cut out.

0:56:280:56:30

You go round the job centre,

0:56:300:56:32

they take out a job and you go down there, see three, four, five,

0:56:320:56:35

six people in front of you and they come round and say,

0:56:350:56:38

"Sorry, son, there's no vacancy." It's depressing.

0:56:380:56:41

Something's got to happen, you know what I mean?

0:56:410:56:43

Otherwise you're liable to do something which you'll regret.

0:56:430:56:47

We all know why it's called rock music!

0:56:480:56:52

Cos you're supposed to rock to it!

0:56:520:56:55

To me, it's about breaking old rules.

0:56:580:57:01

All this "you should" - you should do this, you should go to work.

0:57:010:57:04

It's about finally saying, no, we shouldn't do this,

0:57:040:57:07

because Britain is fucked up, it's going down the drain,

0:57:070:57:10

yet still people are saying you should have a good job.

0:57:100:57:13

If Britain is going down the drain, I don't care.

0:57:130:57:16

These people make me sick.

0:57:160:57:18

You know what I'm talking about? Sounds, you know?

0:57:180:57:22

SHOUTING What?

0:57:220:57:24

# He's in love with rock'n'roll whoa

0:57:330:57:35

# He's in love with gettin' stoned whoa

0:57:350:57:38

# He's in love with Janie Jones

0:57:380:57:40

# But he don't like his boring job, no

0:57:400:57:42

# He's in love with rock'n'roll whoa

0:57:420:57:45

# He's in love with gettin' stoned whoa

0:57:450:57:47

# He's in love with Janie Jones

0:57:470:57:49

# But he don't like his boring job, no

0:57:490:57:52

# And he knows what he's got to do

0:57:520:57:54

# So he knows he's gonna have fun with you

0:57:540:57:58

# But he's just like everyone

0:58:010:58:03

# He's got a Ford Cortina That just won't run without fuel... #

0:58:030:58:07

It's like a pop tune, cos it's got good rhythm.

0:58:100:58:13

It's just five minutes on a Wednesday night in the mind of some

0:58:130:58:16

skull-brained idiot working in the City.

0:58:160:58:19

A quick flash in his dopey bucket head, with stuff like cars

0:58:200:58:25

and girlfriends and Janie Jones and payola and their jobs

0:58:250:58:29

and their boss and what he feels,

0:58:290:58:32

but he daren't say it, you know what I mean?

0:58:320:58:35

He feels he's got a grudge, but he daren't say it.

0:58:350:58:38

# He's in love with rock'n'roll whoa

0:58:380:58:40

# He's in love with gettin' stoned whoa

0:58:400:58:42

# He's in love with Janie Jones whoa

0:58:420:58:44

# But he don't like his boring job, no

0:58:440:58:47

# And in the in-tray lots of work

0:58:470:58:49

# But the boss at the firm always thinks he shirks

0:58:490:58:53

# But he's just like everyone he's got a Ford Cortina

0:58:560:58:59

# That just won't run without fuel Oh, no, it won't... #

0:58:590:59:04

I look at everybody. I see everybody.

0:59:060:59:09

What else is there to look at?

0:59:090:59:10

It's really great, looking at the audience,

0:59:100:59:13

looking at their faces and that.

0:59:130:59:14

And they sort of look at you and you think, great, we are all, like, one.

0:59:140:59:20

# But he's just like everyone

0:59:240:59:26

# He's got a Ford Cortina

0:59:260:59:28

# That just won't run without fuel... #

0:59:280:59:30

You don't look at your instrument that much, do you?

0:59:300:59:33

That's the trick,

0:59:330:59:34

you've got to learn to play it without looking at it, cos nothing

0:59:340:59:37

looks worse than some bunch of wankers and everybody's going...

0:59:370:59:40

-You know what I mean?

-Standing there, going...

-It's terrible.

0:59:420:59:45

You cunt, that's me!

0:59:450:59:47

No, you can do it pretty good, I have to look every 10 seconds

0:59:470:59:51

or so, quick look to see that you're on target.

0:59:510:59:55

# He's in love with rock'n'roll, whoa

0:59:550:59:57

# He's in love with getting stoned, whoa

0:59:571:00:00

# He's in love with Janie Jones, whoa

1:00:001:00:02

# He don't like his boring job, no

1:00:021:00:06

# No

1:00:061:00:08

# No

1:00:081:00:10

# Let them know

1:00:101:00:13

# Let them know. #

1:00:131:00:15

CHEERING

1:00:181:00:20

-AUDIENCE:

-More! More!

1:00:201:00:23

Suddenly you were getting an awful lot of energy that you might get

1:00:251:00:28

from a Led Zeppelin or from a heavy metal band

1:00:281:00:30

that was coming across the footlights from this little stage,

1:00:301:00:33

tucked away in The Roxy.

1:00:331:00:35

The money merchants are here,

1:00:351:00:37

the guys who are flashing the green backs are here

1:00:371:00:39

and they want a piece of the action which is the only reason why

1:00:391:00:43

I seem to be meeting BLEEP BLEEP, the guys who, like, know nothing.

1:00:431:00:47

I think the rock'n'roll world is a fucking waste of time,

1:00:471:00:50

I have no interest in it, right? I think it's over.

1:00:501:00:54

# I started going places where the youngsters shouldn't go

1:00:541:01:00

# I got to know the kind of girl that's better not to know... #

1:01:001:01:04

I think the industry took over a long time ago.

1:01:041:01:09

I don't know who they're speaking for.

1:01:091:01:12

Certainly don't think they're speaking for the kids in the street.

1:01:121:01:15

Every rebel always says he doesn't want to become

1:01:151:01:17

part of the establishment and this is nothing new.

1:01:171:01:20

On the other hand, there are bands that recognise that what

1:01:201:01:23

they're in the business for is the music that they're making

1:01:231:01:27

and the place for them to get the widest audience

1:01:271:01:31

is with a record company that can merchandise, market

1:01:311:01:33

expose them to the widest public.

1:01:331:01:35

All of a sudden all the groups are sunshine breakfasts.

1:01:351:01:38

Their main objective is to sell cornflakes, ours is to move forward.

1:01:381:01:44

We have nothing in common.

1:01:441:01:46

No question, we had to rethink whether we were capable as people

1:01:461:01:50

to judge what our audience who buy our records wanted.

1:01:501:01:54

Isn't it possible that just by signing,

1:01:541:01:56

you get incorporated into the system?

1:01:561:01:58

You watch what you're saying.

1:01:581:02:00

Obviously got to do it on our own terms, like,

1:02:001:02:02

I wouldn't sign a record contract

1:02:021:02:03

that said that you've got to sing old hits by Jonathan King.

1:02:031:02:07

And appear on the Lulu show in white wellington boots.

1:02:071:02:09

Yeah, I mean, we just wouldn't do it.

1:02:091:02:11

Selling out, it's just what the record companies want.

1:02:111:02:14

That's all it is, there's still revolution

1:02:141:02:17

and that's what I'm all about.

1:02:171:02:18

There's still trouble in this country,

1:02:181:02:20

there's still fucking a lot to shout about.

1:02:201:02:23

How do you see your future in this society?

1:02:231:02:26

Not a bright and shining future, not as I am

1:02:261:02:30

because I am black to the point of being offensive.

1:02:301:02:33

It's as simple as that.

1:02:331:02:34

Times were tough on the street. I mean, they were tough for me

1:02:341:02:37

because I was black but it was also tough for my white mates.

1:02:371:02:40

There was this feeling that something had to change

1:02:431:02:45

and I think one of the first signposts

1:02:451:02:47

were the riots of 1976 in Notting Hill Carnival

1:02:471:02:50

where the black people said, "OK, you know, we've had enough."

1:02:501:02:53

It was a wrong and right thing

1:02:531:02:54

and it was black kids and white kids against the cops.

1:02:541:02:57

Me and Bernie and Paul went down the carnival,

1:03:051:03:07

right in the middle of it.

1:03:071:03:10

Suddenly, this conga line of policemen moved right in front of us

1:03:161:03:20

and then someone slung a Coke can out of them

1:03:201:03:22

and then the whole thing flared up right in front of our noses.

1:03:221:03:25

The side we were on really was anti status quo,

1:03:251:03:27

-we were on the black guys' side.

-Gate-crashing their riot.

1:03:271:03:31

One, two, three, four!

1:03:311:03:32

MUSIC: White Riot

1:03:321:03:34

# White riot, I wanna riot

1:03:511:03:53

# White riot, a riot of my own

1:03:531:03:56

# White riot, I wanna riot

1:03:561:03:58

# White riot, a riot of my own

1:03:581:04:01

# Black people gotta lot of problems

1:04:011:04:03

# They don't mind throwing a brick

1:04:031:04:05

# White people go to school

1:04:051:04:07

# Where they teach you how to be thick

1:04:071:04:10

# Everybody's doing just what they're told to

1:04:101:04:15

# Nobody wants to go to jail

1:04:151:04:19

# White riot, I wanna riot

1:04:191:04:22

# White riot, a riot of my own... #

1:04:221:04:24

Coke cans started coming over until it was, like, rain, you know,

1:04:241:04:27

and, like, Bernie got clumped round the head

1:04:271:04:30

by some sort of nasty policeman and lost his glasses

1:04:301:04:33

and it was getting really heavy.

1:04:331:04:37

Night fell and there wasn't hardly any white people left,

1:04:371:04:39

just the ring of troops round the edge of the Grove

1:04:391:04:42

and all these blacks in the middle.

1:04:421:04:44

Guy came up to me and I had a transistor radio in my pocket

1:04:451:04:49

and he slapped it, "What you got there, man?" Right?

1:04:491:04:52

And then suddenly there was a ring of about 20 of them round me

1:04:521:04:55

and Paul and I told them to leave it out.

1:04:551:04:56

The police were getting ready to charge down the other

1:04:561:04:59

end of the street and I had a bottle in my other pocket

1:04:591:05:01

so I brought it out and I said, "You should be picking these up

1:05:011:05:04

"and not bothering about what I've got in my pocket."

1:05:041:05:06

# While we walk the street

1:05:101:05:13

# Too chicken to even try it

1:05:131:05:15

# Everybody's doing just what they're told to

1:05:151:05:19

# Nobody wants to go to jail

1:05:191:05:24

# Poor little white boy

1:05:291:05:31

# Poor little white boy

1:05:311:05:34

# White riot, I wanna riot

1:05:341:05:36

# White riot, a riot of my own

1:05:361:05:39

# White riot, I wanna riot

1:05:391:05:41

# White riot, a riot of my own

1:05:411:05:43

# Hey what's the matter?

1:05:431:05:45

# Got no money

1:05:451:05:47

# Hey what's the matter?

1:05:471:05:49

# White riot...

1:05:521:05:55

# White riot

1:05:561:05:59

# White riot. #

1:05:591:06:01

SIRENS WAIL

1:06:011:06:04

Me and Paul kind of after that, we trudged home, like, dejected.

1:06:111:06:15

Like, we got home and we had a cup of tea

1:06:151:06:17

and we weren't saying anything, right, and it kind of felt bad

1:06:171:06:19

somehow to get done by both sides of a riot, you know what I mean?

1:06:191:06:23

Like, I just realised that that was other man's business

1:06:231:06:27

so I sort of wrote about a riot because I feel that bad really

1:06:271:06:31

but, like, no-one feels bad enough to have a white type of riot

1:06:311:06:35

about what we've got to beef about.

1:06:351:06:38

It's kind of like a dig at white people cos everyone's like got

1:06:381:06:41

a nice paycheck or got enough dope, you know what I mean?

1:06:411:06:44

Like, everyone's just piddling about, really.

1:06:441:06:46

White Riot, yeah.

1:06:461:06:47

The lyrics were definitely misinterpreted by those

1:06:471:06:50

that were keen to misinterpret it.

1:06:501:06:52

It was almost stolen by the National Front

1:06:521:06:54

but in truth what Joe's saying,

1:06:541:06:55

"Look, black people have got a lot of problems but they deal with it,

1:06:551:06:58

"you know, they'll pick up a brick and get involved

1:06:581:07:01

"and it's about time we get involved as well."

1:07:011:07:03

That's what he was on about.

1:07:031:07:04

Everyone thinks we're a fascist group, right,

1:07:041:07:06

and we're supposed to be anti-fascism, right,

1:07:061:07:09

and even the fucking National Front are going to turn out to support us,

1:07:091:07:12

right, so I don't care to fucking sign anti-fascist things

1:07:121:07:15

as long as it clarifies the issue.

1:07:151:07:17

I think there's a lot of confusion, people that wear Nazi armbands

1:07:171:07:20

and that, they don't know what it means.

1:07:201:07:23

It don't mean anything to the kids who wear it

1:07:231:07:26

but I think there's a danger there that National Front

1:07:261:07:29

could move in there and have all them kids, like, "Vote for us,"

1:07:291:07:32

you know? Just sort of an ignorant situation.

1:07:321:07:34

So how do you define yourselves politically?

1:07:341:07:37

'Anti-fascist.'

1:07:371:07:39

Now listen, I want you to go out there

1:07:391:07:41

and give this fella some stick.

1:07:411:07:44

Ooh, you do smell lovely.

1:07:441:07:46

-IN GERMAN ACCENT:

-You will tell me where you get the smelly stuff from.

1:07:491:07:53

It's the '70s, you know, everything is so bad in the '70s.

1:07:541:07:58

It is ironic, really.

1:07:581:07:59

The music's here because of that sort of crap what's going on.

1:07:591:08:03

It's so sick, Britain now, anywhere. It's all business.

1:08:031:08:07

It's all tied up, just like the EMI thing,

1:08:071:08:09

just like the media thing on punk. It's just ridiculous.

1:08:091:08:13

There's no honesty anywhere, you can't trust anyone, you know,

1:08:131:08:16

and that's why, to me, the music is happening.

1:08:161:08:19

It's the attitude of saying, "Look, we're going to forget everything

1:08:191:08:22

"because we want to get back to honesty."

1:08:221:08:24

# Help me make it through the night... #

1:08:241:08:30

Big businesses and, like,

1:08:321:08:34

the government are, like, stacked against anyone.

1:08:341:08:36

Every time you'd go into a cafe, the prices would up a bit

1:08:361:08:40

so it just gets tighter and tighter. I kind of repress those things.

1:08:401:08:44

And you know in the next couple of months, this country's going

1:08:441:08:48

to have it really hard, the next couple of years maybe.

1:08:481:08:50

But I do believe that if you do it in your own way,

1:08:501:08:53

you have two years of hardship and I really mean hardship,

1:08:531:08:56

you might get out of it.

1:08:561:08:57

We ain't started yet, right?

1:08:571:08:59

One, two, three, four.

1:08:591:09:01

# In 1977

1:09:011:09:04

# I hope I go to heaven

1:09:041:09:06

# Cos I've been too long on the dole

1:09:061:09:09

# I don't want to work at all

1:09:091:09:12

# Danger stranger

1:09:121:09:16

# You better paint your face

1:09:161:09:18

# No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones

1:09:181:09:21

# In 1977

1:09:211:09:24

# Knives in West 11

1:09:241:09:27

# Ain't so lucky to be rich

1:09:271:09:30

# Sten guns in Knightsbridge... #

1:09:301:09:34

Well, 1977, we wrote it in the middle of last year,

1:09:341:09:37

it was kind of like, we just went on about the next year.

1:09:371:09:40

You know, like, "In 1977, there's knives in West 11."

1:09:401:09:44

Like, people trying to rip you off, right, like, "Lend me £2, man."

1:09:441:09:48

And then they was like, "But it ain't so lucky to be rich cos

1:09:481:09:51

"there's sten guns in Knightsbridge." You know, like...

1:09:511:09:54

-Excuse me.

-We've got a right to film on these streets.

1:09:541:09:58

If I was going to Knightsbridge to rip off someone,

1:09:581:10:00

I'd take a sten gun. Whereas I could probably rip someone off

1:10:001:10:03

in Notting Hill Gate with a knife.

1:10:031:10:06

# In 1977

1:10:201:10:22

# You're on the never-never

1:10:221:10:25

# You think it can't go forever

1:10:251:10:28

# The papers say it's better

1:10:281:10:32

# I don't care

1:10:321:10:34

# Cos I'm not all there

1:10:341:10:38

# No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones

1:10:381:10:41

# 1977

1:10:411:10:44

# 1978

1:10:441:10:48

# 1979

1:10:481:10:50

# 1980

1:10:501:10:53

# 1981

1:10:531:10:56

# 1982

1:10:561:10:59

# 1983

1:10:591:11:02

# 1984. #

1:11:021:11:04

APPLAUSE

1:11:081:11:10

-AUDIENCE:

-More! More!

1:11:101:11:13

APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH

1:11:131:11:15

More! More!

1:11:191:11:22

-Joe, we've got to play another set...

-I can't sing any more!

1:11:231:11:27

'A lot of the kids who come to see us,

1:11:271:11:30

'right, they all get the suburban blues, don't they?

1:11:301:11:33

'You talk to them after a gig,

1:11:331:11:34

'they've got to go back to Crawley New Town.'

1:11:341:11:37

-'Basildon.'

-'Basildon, yeah.

1:11:371:11:39

'And crawl in a bathroom window or something like that.

1:11:391:11:42

'The whole purpose of communication is to, like,

1:11:421:11:45

'move other people into action.

1:11:451:11:48

'I mean, if I've moved one person then that's enough.'

1:11:481:11:53

Suppose we make albums and we sell them,

1:11:531:11:56

right, we get loads of money, that's just going to fuck us up completely.

1:11:561:12:00

You've got to know when it's time to give up.

1:12:001:12:02

'Only time will tell, you just can't tell if bands will withstand.

1:12:051:12:09

'If still in four years' time, The Clash are playing gigs

1:12:091:12:12

'that wipe you out, they're writing songs that are really honest,

1:12:121:12:16

'if they can do that then the music will stay fresh.'

1:12:161:12:20

From now on, right, watch our development

1:12:201:12:23

and you'll be able to see who owns what

1:12:231:12:26

and what happens to a group of people when they provoke.

1:12:261:12:28

You can either get bought by the Americans,

1:12:281:12:31

taken by the English back to the 19th century

1:12:311:12:34

or left in oblivion as an anecdote.

1:12:341:12:37

And that's what people are going to learn from what we do next.

1:12:411:12:44

That's 1977 for me.

1:12:441:12:46

Covent Garden in the rain.

1:12:461:12:48

The garden lies in a strange limbo nowadays,

1:12:481:12:52

half astride its past, half stepping into its future.

1:12:521:12:56

But it's not all that it seems.

1:12:561:12:58

A whole new exotic community is moving into the Garden,

1:12:581:13:02

generating its own very special climate.

1:13:021:13:05

Instant Tropicana in a banana warehouse.

1:13:071:13:10

It's a sanctuary because no man is allowed in here.

1:13:111:13:15

-PARROT WHISTLES

-Hello!

1:13:151:13:18

We're walking an economic high wire and if somebody jerks the rope

1:13:181:13:21

then it makes it that much more difficult

1:13:211:13:23

but you're still going to get to the other side of the chasm.

1:13:231:13:26

What happens if we fall off that rope?

1:13:261:13:27

Well, if we fall off then we're in trouble.

1:13:271:13:29

Just a final word of reassurance,

1:13:291:13:31

when we do leave here we're going to be revitalised,

1:13:311:13:34

our batteries recharged and really we'll be ready for anything.

1:13:341:13:38

# And when they were about to take him out...

1:13:411:13:45

Got a whole array of young men finding rock'n'roll meaningful

1:13:451:13:50

now in this country either by being in a band

1:13:501:13:53

or by participating in a club

1:13:531:13:57

and really feeling that they actually are part of something

1:13:571:14:00

that they hope will transcend the music scene

1:14:001:14:02

and give the power back to the kids.

1:14:021:14:05

-Does someone want to cut the cake?

-I'll cut it.

1:14:061:14:09

You cut it and I'll eat it.

1:14:091:14:11

# Yankee

1:14:171:14:19

# Ya...

1:14:231:14:25

# Yankee detectives are always on the TV

1:14:261:14:31

# Five seconds there's a murder

1:14:311:14:34

# About every ten seconds

1:14:341:14:36

# And you think I care about your poxy baseball shirt

1:14:361:14:40

# I'd rather wear nothing than look like I'm ready to bat

1:14:401:14:45

# I'm so bored with U... # USA

1:14:451:14:50

# I'm so bored with U...

1:14:501:14:53

# USA

1:14:531:14:55

# What can I do?

1:14:551:14:57

-# Wah...

-#

1:14:571:14:59

Ah! No, no!

1:15:011:15:04

Oi, do you want us to just carry on?

1:15:041:15:07

-I'm bored with this, are we finished?

-That's it.

1:15:071:15:09

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