0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07Their album, Soul Classics Volume One,
0:00:07 > 0:00:08is at number four. Congratulations.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Soul II Soul and Caron Wheeler, number one with Back To Life.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16# Back to life, back to reality
0:00:16 > 0:00:21# Back to life, back to reality... #
0:00:21 > 0:00:23'So that's me in Soul II Soul.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25'June 1989.'
0:00:25 > 0:00:28# Back to the here and now... #
0:00:28 > 0:00:30'Number one around the world.'
0:00:30 > 0:00:32# Show me how... #
0:00:32 > 0:00:35The 1980s were a wild time.
0:00:35 > 0:00:41A decade of confrontation, innovation and revolution.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42# However do you want me... #
0:00:42 > 0:00:45It was a real sense that something was happening.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47There was a movement.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52It was a big deal to be politicised and have something to say.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57And with political upheaval came economic transformation.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Loads of money!
0:00:59 > 0:01:04But while some sipped champagne and flaunted mobile phones,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06we pioneered another scene.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08OUR scene.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13And what an extraordinary moment for the new Princess of Wales.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Just a few miles from Buckingham Palace and the West End,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22we were partying illegally in amazing spaces to rare groove soul.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25There was an uprising of black talent.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28We were more brash, more confident.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31We were rocking our own fashion, our own identity.
0:01:33 > 0:01:34The '80s were not a shy decade.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37You had to walk down the street and someone would be able to go,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40"I know exactly what sort of music you like from the way you look."
0:01:40 > 0:01:43By the end of this decade of division and change,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48our underground scene was being embraced by the mainstream.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50There was this promise of multiculturalism,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53this promise of a vibe of us all being in the same boat.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00The '80s. The shift.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02# However do you need me
0:02:02 > 0:02:04# However do you want me
0:02:04 > 0:02:07# However do you need me
0:02:07 > 0:02:09# However do you want me
0:02:09 > 0:02:12# However do you need me... #
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Well, I guess the story starts here!
0:02:14 > 0:02:21MUSIC: Food For Thought by UB40
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Here we are, Hornsey Rise.
0:02:34 > 0:02:35It's where I grew up.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Hornsey Rise - N19, to be precise.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50This is my humble beginnings.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52This is where I grew up.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Right there, this wonderful cul-de-sac.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01And the cries ring out, "We want the Queen."
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Here's what they've been waiting for.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07The Queen and Prince Philip.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10The year was 1977.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12It was the Queen's Silver Jubilee,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16so as you can imagine, there was a lot of things going on.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Pandemonium, as we would call it back in those days.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24About eight people out there trying to move trestle tables!
0:03:27 > 0:03:30It all came down this cul-de-sac here.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35So from number one all the way through to number 12,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37we had a street party.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41I would have been about, I don't know, 13. 12, 13.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45And in those early days I was itching to get onto the map,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49as it were, so right here, outside of my front door...
0:03:51 > 0:03:57..I engaged in what was to become my biggest event ever.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01The Queen's Silver Jubilee, and I was the DJ!
0:04:01 > 0:04:03DUB REGGAE MUSIC
0:04:04 > 0:04:07I was super excited.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I practised and practised.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14And as I can recall, I think I got paid about 12 quid.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17And this is exactly where I stood.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22It was really one of the happiest days of my life.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I can remember playing records like Bob Marley
0:04:28 > 0:04:32and a lot of Augustus Pablo.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Some of the neighbours brought a record or two.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37I might even have spun an ABBA. Come on!
0:04:37 > 0:04:41# Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war... #
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Our community was a real mishmash of different nationalities.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47# I promise to love you for ever more... #
0:04:47 > 0:04:51A large Irish community, a large Greek community.
0:04:52 > 0:04:53A lot of young people,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56a lot of different people from all around the world,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58which made it even more interesting.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And I think, during that period,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04that was part and parcel of what made Britain great.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09# Finally facing my Waterloo. #
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Feeling a little emotional here.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14It's been a while since I've been back, actually.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Our immediate family would have been, like, nine, ten of us.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Although it might sound all squashed up, it was fantastic days.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Very happy, happy, happy days.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33But the sacrifice from my parents would have been immense.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37They sold everything to come to Britain from Antigua.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Well, in the earlies, when the West Indians first came here,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48they obviously had to rent rooms and stuff and there was
0:05:48 > 0:05:50a lot of ignorance going on at the time.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52We're talking about in the '50s, you know.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57In order for any of the West Indians to get anywhere
0:05:57 > 0:06:02they had to buy their own place, cos the renting was out of the question.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06'There's enough colour prejudice to make it difficult for a
0:06:06 > 0:06:10'West Indian to find a place in the ordinary home life of the city.'
0:06:10 > 0:06:11'Sorry, no room. Full up.'
0:06:11 > 0:06:14'Sorry, the last room is gone. No more rooms.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'Have to try somewhere else.'
0:06:16 > 0:06:18'Sorry, we don't take niggers here.'
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Looking back, I can really see how hard, um,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24my parents and many other West Indian parents worked.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And now I'm really so proud of them,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32to understand that they would have saved so hard,
0:06:32 > 0:06:37in such difficult times, but owned their own house.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Which I could get emotional and that and all, but I won't.
0:06:40 > 0:06:41Promise I wouldn't!
0:06:45 > 0:06:47HE SNIFFS
0:06:55 > 0:07:00'Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a new administration.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02'And I have accepted.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04'It is, of course, the greatest honour
0:07:04 > 0:07:07'that can come to any citizen in a democracy.'
0:07:08 > 0:07:12'The Tories were a very polarising force in Britain.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14'After Margaret Thatcher came in,'
0:07:14 > 0:07:16you either won or you lost.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20What do we want? 20%. 20%!
0:07:20 > 0:07:21'In the early '80s,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24'it was like a war against the old working classes.'
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Bastards! Scabby bastards!
0:07:26 > 0:07:29'Fighting the unions, fighting the miners.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32'Closing down factories.'
0:07:36 > 0:07:44# I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord... #
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Margaret was Maggie Thatcher the milk snatcher.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48She had that nickname, didn't she?
0:07:48 > 0:07:50She took away our school milk and it was
0:07:50 > 0:07:54a really weird sensation to see her as the person that might be
0:07:54 > 0:07:57leading the country for the next God knows how long.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Funnily enough, I was too young and too blind
0:08:01 > 0:08:04to see the changes that were happening then.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07I was too busy doing my own thing.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09MUSIC: Pop Muzik by M
0:08:09 > 0:08:13After the Silver Jubilee, I got the bug for spinning records.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15# Pop, pop muzik... #
0:08:15 > 0:08:20But not just wanting to be a DJ - I wanted more than that.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I really wanted to have my OWN sound system.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25# Pop, pop muzik... #
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The idea of a sound system - you could almost look at it as,
0:08:29 > 0:08:36say, a mobile DJ Derek from the pub round the corner on steroids.
0:08:36 > 0:08:42A DJ on a massive PA system that you would have built all yourself.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46DUB REGGAE MUSIC
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Reggae sound systems came here from Jamaica.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55And with the sound system, everybody has a role.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58You would have the box boys, who were very important,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01cos if they dropped your speakers, they're fucked!
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Then you move to your selector,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08and that would be the person who selected the music.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14The DJ - now, let's not get this twisted with the MC and the DJ,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18cos the DJ is the one that controls the preamp and puts the records on
0:09:18 > 0:09:22and then you'd have your MC, or your mic man.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25HE TALKS IN PATOIS
0:09:25 > 0:09:28They'd be the people getting the party together.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35See, what else is important about a sound system, as big as it is,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37it feeds the whole community.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Jah Rico was our youth sound from when we was in school.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45As a young man, with my sound system,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49you could imagine me getting around was really difficult.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53My mode of transport - shopping trolley, number 14 bus.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54HE WHISTLES
0:09:54 > 0:09:56We're out there!
0:09:56 > 0:09:57HE GROANS
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Aah!
0:10:15 > 0:10:18And that'll be here when I get back, trust me!
0:10:22 > 0:10:23BELL RINGS
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Back in the old days as a kid growing up,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36obviously we couldn't drive, so we had to be slightly resourceful.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42The number 14 bus was used as our means of transport,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44like our van, as it were.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49It would take us from Hornsey all the way to the Green Man in
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Roehampton, via Putney Bridge,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Fulham, Kensington, Knightsbridge...
0:10:57 > 0:11:02I think the journey took almost about two hours altogether.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08I'm watching all the oldies look at the bus and almost go,
0:11:08 > 0:11:09"Is that the 14?"
0:11:11 > 0:11:12HE CHUCKLES
0:11:18 > 0:11:22With Jah Rico, we were really trying to cut our teeth here as
0:11:22 > 0:11:24a young sound system, growing up.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Being the second generation born and raised in Britain,
0:11:30 > 0:11:35for us, it was all about British music and our British identity,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39and what went hand-in-hand with that was this genre of
0:11:39 > 0:11:42British reggae we called lovers' rock.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Here's some of my faves.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49And as you can see, they are all lovers' rock,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and there's somebody in this picture, actually,
0:11:52 > 0:11:57two members of this band in my left hand sleeve, that you may recognise.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01One is Caron Wheeler and the other is Kofi.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05And both of these young ladies ended up singing with Soul II Soul,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09and that's how much of a fan I was as a kid growing up,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11it was so important to me.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15# Black is the colour of my skin... #
0:12:18 > 0:12:21# Black is the life that I live
0:12:21 > 0:12:24# And I'm so proud to be
0:12:24 > 0:12:28# The colour that God made me
0:12:28 > 0:12:32# And I just have to know
0:12:32 > 0:12:37# That black is my colour, yeah... #
0:12:46 > 0:12:50This is music that you ate to, you slept with,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54it was part of your everyday life.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56Cos I loved it, it felt like our own music,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59finally we were making our own mark.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Welcome to the sound of the '80s.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03It's a new year and a new chart,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and as young as ever, it's Top Of The Pops!
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Top Of The Pops was great, because it seemed like
0:13:10 > 0:13:14a democratic version of what was in the charts that week.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19# A new royal family, a wild nobility, we are the family! #
0:13:19 > 0:13:21There weren't many other programmes that said, look,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24here's a smorgasbord of what's in the charts this week,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27dip your bread in that and have a good time.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30So, you'd get a country or a middle-of-the-road singer
0:13:30 > 0:13:33that the mums and dads were buying...
0:13:33 > 0:13:38# One day at a time, sweet Jesus... #
0:13:38 > 0:13:42You'd have crooners, you'd have rock, you'd have electronica...
0:13:42 > 0:13:45# Run away, I've got to
0:13:45 > 0:13:47# Get away... #
0:13:47 > 0:13:48There was still heavy metal,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50there was still disco on Top Of The Pops...
0:13:50 > 0:13:53# Dance yourself dizzy
0:13:53 > 0:13:56# When they boogaloo... #
0:13:56 > 0:14:00You'd have funk, you'd have comedy records...
0:14:00 > 0:14:02MUSIC: The Can-Can by Bad Manners
0:14:06 > 0:14:08But then there were all the new things -
0:14:08 > 0:14:12there was New Wave, there was New Pop,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14there were New Romantics...
0:14:14 > 0:14:15# And to cut a long story short... #
0:14:15 > 0:14:18And there were all these different genres coexisting,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21and it felt like a time when everything was up for grabs.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24# Standing in the dark, oh, I was waiting... #
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Although there was this whole New Romantic scene going on,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30it didn't actually dominate the whole top 40.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33It was completely diverse.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37# To be taken by someone... #
0:14:37 > 0:14:40People wanted to find something to be excited about, and also,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43as a band or a musical movement, you could package yourself
0:14:43 > 0:14:46and become that next big thing quite easily.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Early '80s, things changed.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58We weren't just playing reggae, we were playing soul.
0:14:58 > 0:15:04We changed the name from Jah Rico to Soul To Soul,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07I guess because we grew up.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12The whole culture of sound system was going through a bit of
0:15:12 > 0:15:15a change then, because the soul music kind of creeping in and
0:15:15 > 0:15:19I guess, to certain factions, that was almost, like, sacrilegious,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21playing soul music on a sound system.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Brit soul was a huge thing, like, a massive thing at the time,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and here's a band that some of you might be familiar with.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36Here's one from Hi Tension.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39MUSIC: Hi Tension by Hi Tension
0:15:45 > 0:15:49As I grew up, my tastes changed from reggae to soul music.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52I'd grown up amongst the reggae blues dances.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55It was quite an aggressive attitude, you know,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57you step on someone's shoes, it was a problem.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59# Hi tension
0:15:59 > 0:16:01# That's what we got... #
0:16:01 > 0:16:03But then when you went to those different soul clubs,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06it was more inclusive, there's different races and colours,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08everyone was there and it just felt better.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10# That's what we got, superstar... #
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Soul boys notoriously mixed more.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Reggae boys would keep it to their own culture, soul boys were like...
0:16:23 > 0:16:27But what Brit funk was was a second generation of people saying,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29look, this is our identity.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32We identify with Jamaican music, of course we do,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34we identify with American music...
0:16:34 > 0:16:36# Hi tension... #
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Brit funk was our interpretation of what we were feeling,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42filtered through our environment.
0:16:42 > 0:16:43# Hi tension... #
0:16:43 > 0:16:48I can remember Beggar and Co, Light of the World and Junior,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50we owe them so much.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53They came through, they were actual pioneers.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57# Said a small boy once asked, when will I grow up?
0:16:57 > 0:17:01# When will I see what grown-ups do see? #
0:17:01 > 0:17:04But all of that generation of musicians really suffered,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06because the record companies didn't know how to market them.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10They dressed them up in clothes that they simply didn't wear.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12# And Mama used to say
0:17:12 > 0:17:14# Take your time, young man... #
0:17:14 > 0:17:16I can remember looking at Junior
0:17:16 > 0:17:19in the early days, thinking, "That's not Junior."
0:17:19 > 0:17:20# And Mama used to say... #
0:17:20 > 0:17:23They were being told what to wear, how to perform,
0:17:23 > 0:17:29in order to fit a very strict template in how to sell them
0:17:29 > 0:17:32to what the record companies perceived then was, you know,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34a huge mass white market.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39# As a boy my family thought that I'd be their ruin
0:17:42 > 0:17:47# But when I was back, my mum knew what I was doing... #
0:17:47 > 0:17:50There was a feeling for a moment like,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52this was our music and we were presenting our music
0:17:52 > 0:17:54to the world, then suddenly,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58our music was actually being copied and duplicated...
0:17:58 > 0:18:00# Intuition... #
0:18:02 > 0:18:04Either you could have Linx or you could have Modern Romance,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07and it was, "Oh, we'll have Modern Romance."
0:18:07 > 0:18:09You could have Light of the World, or you could have Spandau -
0:18:09 > 0:18:11"Oh, we'll have Spandau, please."
0:18:11 > 0:18:13# I don't need this pressure on
0:18:13 > 0:18:15# I don't need this pressure on... #
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Chant No 1 was specifically written, I think,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21as a white soul funk record.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24In complete contrast to a few months earlier,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26where we really were a synth band.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31# Oh, I should question, not ignore
0:18:31 > 0:18:33# Oh, I should question, not ignore... #
0:18:33 > 0:18:36We were clearly New Romantics, we were in the frilly gear,
0:18:36 > 0:18:37and then all of a sudden
0:18:37 > 0:18:40we'd reinvented ourselves as this Brit funk band.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44# Songs are always buried deep... #
0:18:44 > 0:18:46We worked with the horn section of Beggar and Co,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48who were a Brit funk band.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51# There is motion in my arm
0:18:51 > 0:18:55# Oh, I should question, not ignore... #
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Yeah, we were a bunch of white guys working with
0:18:58 > 0:19:00a bunch of black guys on the horns and stuff...
0:19:04 > 0:19:06There's always been a record company attitude that
0:19:06 > 0:19:12a black singer doing black music would only have a limited appeal,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16whereas a white singer doing the same music,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19because they came from a larger demographic of the population,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21would have a greater appeal.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30We managed to go on and do incredible things around the world.
0:19:30 > 0:19:31But unfortunately,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34a lot of the sort of Brit funk bands didn't really quite make it.
0:19:36 > 0:19:42And so, once again, the party was going on with our music,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44but we were sort of standing at the door again,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46trying to get back into the room.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48In a moment, our thriller, One Deadly Owner,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51but first, a little later than advertised, Shaw Taylor asks
0:19:51 > 0:19:55for your help in the fight against crime in Police 5.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58High Street, Waltham Cross, Friday, 5th February.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Wage carrier abducted, reward on offer.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03Good evening.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08# Police and thieves in the street... #
0:20:08 > 0:20:11- MARGARET THATCHER:- We were elected to strengthen the forces
0:20:11 > 0:20:14of law and order, and thanks to Willie Whitelaw
0:20:14 > 0:20:16there are now more policemen, better paid,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21better equipped than ever before, and more of them back on the beat.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25I think in the 1980s
0:20:25 > 0:20:29you kind of grew up with an understanding or an acknowledgement,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33certainly from your own community, that you were different,
0:20:33 > 0:20:34you were going to be treated as different,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and it was entirely down to the colour of your skin.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43Places like Brixton and others, there was an awful lot of crime.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48It became almost inevitable that if the police were to pursue
0:20:48 > 0:20:50some of those street crimes,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55the places they would pursue them would not be the nice middle-class
0:20:55 > 0:21:00districts, but it would be in the black working-class districts.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Inevitably, a young black man was far more likely to be stopped
0:21:04 > 0:21:08and searched by the police than a young white man.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14A lot of us were getting stopped by the police on this thing called Sus.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16Sus, short for suspicion,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20is an offence under an act passed 156 years ago,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23which says that anybody loitering with intent to commit
0:21:23 > 0:21:27an offence be deemed a rogue and a vagabond and can be convicted
0:21:27 > 0:21:30on the evidence of one or more credible witnesses.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33MUSIC: A Forest by The Cure
0:21:33 > 0:21:36The Sus laws were scary laws.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Basically, they could just stop and search you for no reason at all,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and they were abused and it's a fact.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45'Of the 3,000 or so cases tried each year, more than half are in London.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'Sus has become a symbol of the fraught relationship between
0:21:48 > 0:21:50'young blacks and the police.'
0:21:50 > 0:21:56On one occasion I was standing at a bus stop, panda car pulls up,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59the blond-haired, blue-eyed cop wound down the window,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04and he was going, "Come here, you effing N-word."
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Couldn't believe what I was hearing.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09So I naturally kept back.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12I had done nothing, I'm standing waiting for a bus.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17"Come here!" He gets out, grabs me, puts me in a headlock,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19sticks me in the back of the car
0:22:19 > 0:22:23and drives towards the local police station.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26I used to get stopped all the time.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28I would get stopped if I was walking down the road with a bag,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31a holdall, after a certain time of night.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34They would try to wind you up, to get a reaction,
0:22:34 > 0:22:39and, you know, I'm not one of these anti-police people, I'm not about
0:22:39 > 0:22:43that, it's a job, someone's got to do it, it's a very difficult job.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46But in those days, they literally took the piss.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49They really did, they took the piss out of us.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Don't you recognise that they have a job to do?
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Yes, we know that, we know that.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56If you break the law, we expect to be prosecuted and everything.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59- But...- How long can you suppress the feeling inside you?
0:22:59 > 0:23:02How long can you suppress a feeling?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05How long can you suppress a feeling, man? How long?
0:23:05 > 0:23:07It got to a point where certain people
0:23:07 > 0:23:09weren't accepting it any more.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12'The looting came first -
0:23:12 > 0:23:16'scores of shops were attacked and their stock stolen or destroyed.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19'Cars were overturned and used to barricade the streets into
0:23:19 > 0:23:21'an early no-go area.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25'Part of Brixton was being drawn into battle lines.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29'Then in late evening, the rioting entered a deadlier phase.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32'The police scattered as the first petrol bombs were thrown.'
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Come on, then!
0:23:34 > 0:23:37# When justice is gone
0:23:37 > 0:23:40# There's always force... #
0:23:45 > 0:23:49During the era of the riots and the Sus laws, some of us took to
0:23:49 > 0:23:54bricks and bottles, some of us just got on with our own lives.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01The media painted us all with the same brush,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04but we were all different strands of that brush.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10Not everybody in South London and Brixton enjoyed West Indian food,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12no, we didn't.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14We were sick of chicken and rice and dumpling and all
0:24:14 > 0:24:18the hard food and stuff, cos that's what we were raised on.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21We aspired to the Wimpy bar.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23We wanted to eat chips!
0:24:23 > 0:24:27You know, I was born and raised in England,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29I wanted to be like my mate at school.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34I wanted to go fishing down on the River Lee, you know?
0:24:34 > 0:24:38I wanted to play Subbuteo, you know?
0:24:38 > 0:24:39I wanted to roller-skate.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42I wanted to have those kind of experiences.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I played ice hockey, for Christ's sake!
0:24:45 > 0:24:47- CRICKET COMMENTARY ON RADIO: - 'Up comes Roberts.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49'That's well outside the off stump, and he's caught!
0:24:49 > 0:24:52'Caught by Murray, down low in front of first slip.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54'He didn't even wait for an appeal.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57'Emburey turns round, England are all out for 150...'
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Back in the day when I was growing up, I mean,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01every time someone black came on the telly,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03you literally ran outside -
0:25:03 > 0:25:06"There's a black person on the telly!"
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and everybody would go in and have a look.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13'At start of play at the Oval, even the glorious sunshine seemed more
0:25:13 > 0:25:15'Caribbean than British,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17'but the West Indian fans were taking no risks.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21'They wanted their heroes to feel right at home.'
0:25:21 > 0:25:22All the way, all the way!
0:25:22 > 0:25:26WHISTLES AND HORNS BLOWING
0:25:26 > 0:25:28The West Indian cricket team
0:25:28 > 0:25:31was a massive part of all of us growing up.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34For people like my mum and dad,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38they could walk around and be so proud of, and maybe not even
0:25:38 > 0:25:42say anything other than, "Did you see the cricket?"
0:25:42 > 0:25:44The West Indies were fortunate enough to have the best
0:25:44 > 0:25:46fast bowlers in the world,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49arguably some of the best batsmen in the world.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51They were unbeatable.
0:25:51 > 0:25:52It was beach cricket -
0:25:52 > 0:25:55hitting the ball with a lot of flair, bowling bouncers
0:25:55 > 0:25:59as fast as you can. It was all the extremities of cricket.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02'West Indies have won by 172 runs,
0:26:02 > 0:26:04'and for the first time in this country,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07'England have lost the series 5-0.'
0:26:08 > 0:26:12To lose every single Test at home was not a good look for England.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15It was a low point of English cricket.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17And that famous guy holding that banner up, I'll never forget,
0:26:17 > 0:26:22with "black wash" on it, was a little embarrassing for everybody!
0:26:22 > 0:26:25It was at freefall, it was amazing.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29At the time, that was the one bit of sort of black pride that we
0:26:29 > 0:26:31really, really witnessed.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33'He bowls, Richards drives
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'a beautiful off-drive through mid-off.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39'So, Richards is now 4, and the West Indies 9-1.'
0:26:39 > 0:26:42If you did well in that part of the world,
0:26:42 > 0:26:43those folks, for a year or two,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46they are going to have some bragging rights, you know?
0:26:46 > 0:26:48And that's what it's all about,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51there is something that...
0:26:51 > 0:26:53that's, um, pretty proud about them
0:26:53 > 0:26:55at that particular time,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57and they are going to show it.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00You guys were truly our heroes because you were coming from
0:27:00 > 0:27:04our mother country. It was such a huge thing for us.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07To be fair, I guess the supporters did a good job,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10in terms of the vibrancy that we brought, the energy
0:27:10 > 0:27:13that we brought, the passion, you know, believing,
0:27:13 > 0:27:16the same way you get those folks who support their soccer teams
0:27:16 > 0:27:19in England, that same sort of stuff, you know?
0:27:21 > 0:27:23And through the '80s,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27we did start to see a few more black British faces on TV.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34# When I was young, I didn't like my face
0:27:34 > 0:27:36# So they moved my nose to a different place... #
0:27:38 > 0:27:39# I once was black
0:27:39 > 0:27:41# But now I'm white
0:27:41 > 0:27:43# Can't sing too loud
0:27:43 > 0:27:45# Cos my mouth's too tight... #
0:27:45 > 0:27:49'There were no black people with their own show, at all.'
0:27:50 > 0:27:53I wanted to give my perspective of what it was like to be
0:27:53 > 0:27:56a young person in Britain and a young person of colour in Britain.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58# In my nursery
0:27:58 > 0:28:00# When I'm at home... #
0:28:00 > 0:28:01'Cos I felt it was important,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03'and you never saw anybody else doing that.'
0:28:03 > 0:28:07# In my Wendy house or my oxygen tent... #
0:28:07 > 0:28:10When I got my show, I had a really long run, I just thought,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13"My God, how come I'm still the only guy with my own TV series?
0:28:13 > 0:28:16"There's got to be more than one black person doing this."
0:28:16 > 0:28:18# I'm mad... #
0:28:20 > 0:28:22But it did trigger a lot of things.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26So I'm proud of that.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30# I'm mad, I'm mad
0:28:30 > 0:28:33# Got no slates on my roof... #
0:28:33 > 0:28:36But while comedy moved on a bit in the '80s...
0:28:38 > 0:28:40..there was one thing that just got worse.
0:28:42 > 0:28:43Gissa job.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Go on, giss it. Go 'ead.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Tonight, 3,070,621 people are out of work.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53The number of people without jobs has risen to the worst figure ever,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55just short of 3.25 million.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59And in Brixton, it's estimated that more than half the number of
0:28:59 > 0:29:01young blacks are without work.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04In the early '80s there was mass unemployment,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07benefits were being cut, life was quite difficult for the young.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11But you never felt that you were going to shine particularly,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14you never felt you were going to go and stroll into
0:29:14 > 0:29:17a fantastic job that would be better than the job your parents had.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20# Money's too tight to mention
0:29:20 > 0:29:24# I can't get an unemployment extension... #
0:29:24 > 0:29:27The unemployment was difficult for everybody.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30Being working-class and black,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33it was...interesting.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37Coming from a background of "life is what you make it",
0:29:37 > 0:29:41I looked for opportunities that would work for me.
0:29:41 > 0:29:4490% of the sound systems were all a hobby.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48My idea was to be the biggest sound system in the world,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51almost by any means necessary.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56'Norman Tebbit is Mrs Thatcher's new Secretary of State for Employment.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59'No minister in the Cabinet evokes stronger emotions
0:29:59 > 0:30:02'than the former airline pilot with the abrasive tongue
0:30:02 > 0:30:06'and the saturnine looks of a stage villain.'
0:30:06 > 0:30:10I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father.
0:30:10 > 0:30:11He didn't riot.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13He got on his bike and looked for work,
0:30:13 > 0:30:15and he kept looking till he found it.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17APPLAUSE
0:30:17 > 0:30:20When I became Secretary of State for Employment,
0:30:20 > 0:30:22unemployment was soaring -
0:30:22 > 0:30:25particularly amongst the very young people.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28We conceived of the Enterprise Allowance,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32which allowed people to continue to draw unemployment benefit -
0:30:32 > 0:30:35about £40 a week - for a year
0:30:35 > 0:30:41whilst they got stuck into building themselves into self-employment.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44The enterprise allowance scheme was just another opportunity
0:30:44 > 0:30:47that the government were handing out,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50and we saw fit to take advantage of that.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57I had this opportunity, a space had become available
0:30:57 > 0:31:00in the biggest market in North London - Camden.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03MUSIC: Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag by Pigbag
0:31:08 > 0:31:10- And then you had a stall, selling stuff.- Yeah.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Music, a bit of clothing - I'd never seen anything like that,
0:31:13 > 0:31:15you know what I mean, to be honest.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17I didn't think sound systems expanded that way,
0:31:17 > 0:31:19and it was a bit new to me. I liked it.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23That was all part and parcel, but everybody else did it part-time.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27- Yeah.- So I had to find a way of subsidising myself regularly,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31and then I decided that the only way to really make this work
0:31:31 > 0:31:33is to do it professionally.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Everybody was a wideboy in those days.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39MUSIC: It Ain't What You by Bananarama
0:31:39 > 0:31:43I'm knocking these out at three quid a bottle. Is that about right?
0:31:43 > 0:31:45We sold everything from T-shirts to bric-a-brac
0:31:45 > 0:31:47to whatever we could punt.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51There weren't no other black sellers in Camden.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56There was a lot of young people, and it was ten times more vibrant.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58There was an energy about Camden.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01# It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it
0:32:01 > 0:32:03# And that's what gets results. #
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Camden market was a hotbed of creativity.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10It was one of the places where young designers set up
0:32:10 > 0:32:14because, in the '80s, there was just a huge proliferation
0:32:14 > 0:32:16of young design businesses
0:32:16 > 0:32:19where they would sell from market stalls.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24It was all about personal identity.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27It was all about saying something about yourself,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31and an attitude of innovations.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36When I came here, it was the first time I really felt...
0:32:36 > 0:32:39- That this is it.- ..a sort of United Nations - music bonded us,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42and fashion bonded us, you know? And it opened my eyes a lot.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44It didn't matter whether you were rich or poor,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46which has always been cool about this area -
0:32:46 > 0:32:48it's more about being innovative and creative,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51so I felt that we just really fitted in here.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53I loved it, mate, and that was the thing about it. I loved it.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56MUSIC: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) By Eurythmics
0:32:56 > 0:32:59# Sweet dreams are made of this
0:32:59 > 0:33:03# Who am I to disagree?
0:33:03 > 0:33:07# I travel the world and the seven seas
0:33:07 > 0:33:11# Everybody's looking for something
0:33:11 > 0:33:12# Some of them... #
0:33:12 > 0:33:15I think that the '80s, it's the last decade where,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19really, music and fashion were completely linked.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21# Some of them want to abuse you... #
0:33:21 > 0:33:25You had people like Bowie sort of changing image
0:33:25 > 0:33:26so fast by then,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30and you had figures like Annie Lennox looking like a boy,
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Boy George looking like a girl,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36who really stuck out in what was a very kind of grey, uniform time.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40You had to walk down the street, and someone would be able to go,
0:33:40 > 0:33:44"I know exactly what sort of music you like from the way you look."
0:33:44 > 0:33:47There were still mods, there were still skinheads,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50there were soul boys, there were New Romantics...
0:33:50 > 0:33:53# Everybody's looking for something... #
0:33:53 > 0:33:57..but hair was the key, hair was the key thing to your identity -
0:33:57 > 0:33:58hair was massive.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03New Romantics were, like, just hairspray everything, you know?
0:34:04 > 0:34:07With black hair there weren't that many things you could do,
0:34:07 > 0:34:08if you were a bloke.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11A lot of black soul boys went through the James Brown look -
0:34:11 > 0:34:12a sort of quiff.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17The reggae boys were always natural or locks.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20There was a Jheri curl era, as well. That was disgusting.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Everybody wanted to be noticed.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25And, you know, Jazzie...
0:34:25 > 0:34:27HE CLICKS
0:34:27 > 0:34:28..set London alight.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35The Funki Dred haircut was shaved round the side and our locks
0:34:35 > 0:34:39was up at the top, and the reason why we have that style
0:34:39 > 0:34:44was because my mum would not deal with a Rasta living in the house.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45My mum was a Christian.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Being a Rasta in the black community was very scorned upon.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56In order for me to keep my place in the house,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00I couldn't show that I had locks, so I used to wear, like, a fez type hat
0:35:00 > 0:35:02so that they couldn't see it.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Job done.
0:35:05 > 0:35:06Looking at the Funki Dred,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09it had elements of the Rastafarians
0:35:09 > 0:35:14and it had elements of the smart, acceptable British chap
0:35:14 > 0:35:16who is black.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19And, looking at it now, it still has that kind of bang to it,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22when you look at it now.
0:35:22 > 0:35:23You used to tell me, I'm sure you used to tell me,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26that some dreads would come up to you and give you a hard time.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28- Like, proper dreads.- Yeah.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31A dread actually held me at knife-point
0:35:31 > 0:35:35and had me in a headlock and said if I couldn't make up my mind
0:35:35 > 0:35:38whether I was a dread or a ballhead, he'd do it for me.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41And you know what, Trev?
0:35:41 > 0:35:43From that day...
0:35:43 > 0:35:46This is going to sound a bit weird, but from that day,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48I knew I'd made a difference.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53We all had a look, which was the Funki Dred.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56People were taking pictures of us.
0:35:56 > 0:36:01The name, or the brand of the sound, now, was now moving.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08We were playing in places like Bristol, Leeds,
0:36:08 > 0:36:13and we travelled as a set, like, as a posse, like, as a tribe,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16and we all started to look the same,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18and then people would see us as a tribe
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and want to emulate us.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24The fact that Soul II Soul had a look
0:36:24 > 0:36:28and could create a whole identity for themselves
0:36:28 > 0:36:30was incredibly important,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34in the same way as when the Beatles brushed their hair forward,
0:36:34 > 0:36:37it's created something that made people talk about it.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40MUSIC: Black Water Gold by African Music Machine
0:36:46 > 0:36:50I first met Jazzie when he ran a party in my flats,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53and we just got introduced, you know?
0:36:53 > 0:36:56And he frightened the life out of me.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59I was introduced to him as a kid who could draw,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03and they needed some T-shirts designed.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06"We need something that we can put on T-shirts
0:37:06 > 0:37:08"that we can sell at Carnival."
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Because if you sell T-shirts at Carnival,
0:37:10 > 0:37:11people put the T-shirts on -
0:37:11 > 0:37:15you know, it was about establishing a visual presence.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18MUSIC: Striving To Be Free by Radio Rebels
0:37:19 > 0:37:21So, good evening, each and every one,
0:37:21 > 0:37:23and once again welcome to the sound of DBC.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28Dread Broadcasting Company, who were a reggae pirate radio station
0:37:28 > 0:37:34at that time, had a T-shirt that was very much Bob Marley in profile,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37spliff in the mouth, dread...
0:37:37 > 0:37:39Jazzie showed me that and said,
0:37:39 > 0:37:44"Look, we want that, but we want something that is maybe less...
0:37:44 > 0:37:47"you know, culturally specific."
0:37:49 > 0:37:52I went away and really just thought about the people
0:37:52 > 0:37:56that were at the events that I'd been to already,
0:37:56 > 0:37:57and the fact that Soul II Soul
0:37:57 > 0:38:00had started to get a sort of trendy white audience,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05which was a sort of short back and sides flat-top hairstyle,
0:38:05 > 0:38:09steampunk little round glasses,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12white T-shirt, MA-1 flying jacket, rolled up Levi 501s.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Then there was Jazzie and his friends,
0:38:15 > 0:38:19with the short, picky dreadlocks on the top of their head,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23goatee beard. There was these two looks going on at the same time,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25existing in the same space, and I think, in a really naive way,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27I just put them on top of one another.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32This was such a strong image,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35and it was an image that you hadn't seen before.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39It was more than an image, it was an identity.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Before Soul II Soul, all the black British culture references,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45the way people dressed, were totally American-dominated.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50Soul II Soul created the first definably black British look ever.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55It broke the black stereotype. "Blacks are just muggers.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58"We've just got locks. We just smoke dope all day."
0:38:58 > 0:39:00No, well, actually, we don't.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05We're sculptors, we're artists, we're fashion designers,
0:39:05 > 0:39:06we're music makers.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11We're cultural icons. We're all of these things -
0:39:11 > 0:39:14and Soul II Soul embodied that for us.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21Having established that look, and putting it on a T-shirt,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24you know, people just instantly recognised it.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29On the day that we printed the T-shirt and took them to Carnival,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32they sold out the same day.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36And all of a sudden you started to see people around London wearing it.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38People wanted to have these.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40There was demand for it.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44- There was people bootlegging the design to have it, you know?- Mm.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46And to profit from it, as well.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50MUSIC: Opportunities by Pet Shop Boys
0:39:52 > 0:39:56# I've got the brains, you've got the looks... #
0:39:56 > 0:40:00In the mid-'80s, Thatcher deregulating the city
0:40:00 > 0:40:05and employment laws led to a real boom time.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08# Let's make lots of
0:40:08 > 0:40:13# Oh, there's a lot of opportunities
0:40:13 > 0:40:15# If you know when to take them... #
0:40:15 > 0:40:19You'd do gigs and there'd be a lot of geezers smoking cigars,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22giving it the big I am in Savile Row suits with...
0:40:22 > 0:40:26there were a lot of red braces around, and a lot of money talk.
0:40:26 > 0:40:3110,000 new businesses are starting every month.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35From them all comes so much of the new and lasting employment
0:40:35 > 0:40:36of the future.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Some may even suggest that it helped to legitimise
0:40:39 > 0:40:41exactly what we were doing,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45cos we were living in the time when it was like...
0:40:45 > 0:40:49you were getting more support to be an individual,
0:40:49 > 0:40:51to become an entrepreneur.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Camden was being developed at that point,
0:40:57 > 0:40:59and there were big buildings
0:40:59 > 0:41:02that was sort of in between being developed.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04Soul II Soul got a really amazing premises
0:41:04 > 0:41:08where they could keep their sound and they could have offices.
0:41:08 > 0:41:09And it also had a shop front,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12and I remember getting a call from Jazzie saying,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15"Can you paint your logo on glass?"
0:41:18 > 0:41:21So, Trev, let me refresh your memory.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23Wowsers.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27We had the face on the shop, painted on the front of the shop.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30That was the entrance, and that was the first shop.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32It just looked like it had landed from another planet.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37- There was no black...- No.- No shop projecting that sort of blackness.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39What a lot of people don't realise
0:41:39 > 0:41:42was that was the heart of Soul II Soul.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45MUSIC: Cross The Track by Maceo And The Macks
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Looking back, they were kind of a Thatcherist creation,
0:41:52 > 0:41:54but they did it without any compromise.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56They did it by being themselves.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02Soul II Soul were a collective in the face of rampant individualism.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05There was a place for everybody,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08from the manager to the person sort of serving people,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12to people sort of sourcing the records and bringing stuff in.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19It was unusual, but it was what we wanted to do.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22We are capable of setting up, managing,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24running our own businesses.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32And you went there for your one-stop cultural shop.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34Listen to a tune there, pick up a flyer,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36go through and buy a shirt to go out in that night,
0:42:36 > 0:42:38then get your hair cut.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40It was all you needed.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45When you look back now, Soul II Soul where an all-round brand -
0:42:45 > 0:42:48but they were a brand before the word was invented,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53an absolute textbook example of brand creation,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56brand identity and brand marketing.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00# You know the rules and so do I... #
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Putting the pop back into pop
0:43:03 > 0:43:07is what Stock, Aitken and Waterman believe they've achieved in 1987.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Their hit machine in South London
0:43:09 > 0:43:14has taken Rick Astley, Bananarama, Mel & Kim, Sinitta and Samantha Fox
0:43:14 > 0:43:17to the top ten in the last 12 months.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21# Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
0:43:21 > 0:43:25# Never gonna run around and desert you... #
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Most of the music on commercial radio in the '80s
0:43:27 > 0:43:33was just one unending track of dross, as far as I was concerned.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35Good afternoon, how are you?
0:43:35 > 0:43:38This is Steve Wright inside your radio set.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42You switched on the radio, you switched on the TV,
0:43:42 > 0:43:47and you saw Stock, Aitken and Waterman manufactured pop music.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50I looked at that and thought, "This has nothing to do with me.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52"None of this stuff has anything to do with me."
0:43:52 > 0:43:57# And you'll never stop me from loving you... #
0:43:57 > 0:44:00We never paid any attention to the charts.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02It wasn't our bag.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06What we were listening to, we didn't want in the charts.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13And the other thing was, during the '80s,
0:44:13 > 0:44:18I personally experienced a lot of racism at mainstream clubs,
0:44:18 > 0:44:20just getting inside of them.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27It's very easy to forget now that clubs in the West End
0:44:27 > 0:44:29were difficult to get into.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32You had to really, really look the part,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35and if you were black, on the whole you didn't look the part,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37no matter how great you were dressed.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39To test these disturbing allegations,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43we followed two groups of white and black club-goers
0:44:43 > 0:44:45on a typical Saturday night out.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50At a club called Ugly's we were told no membership was required,
0:44:50 > 0:44:54but when the blacks tried to follow the white club-goers in,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56they were turned away.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00"You can come in, but your friend can't, I'm afraid.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02"He's got the wrong shoes on," or, "He's got the wrong shirt on" -
0:45:02 > 0:45:05there's some reason that is nothing to do with his colour,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08but everybody knows that it's to do with his colour.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12So, what sprang up were warehouse parties
0:45:12 > 0:45:15where people would take over a derelict building,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17often sound systems involved,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20because they had the great big speakers.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22They had to be unconventional venues.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24That was part and parcel of the rave.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27MUSIC: Everybody Loves The Sunshine by Roy Ayers
0:45:29 > 0:45:33You found out by hanging out in Soho, getting a flyer.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37You'd go to this address - you'd be in a derelict area,
0:45:37 > 0:45:39there'd be one light with maybe a doorman
0:45:39 > 0:45:41and a few people clustered outside and you'd be like, "That's the one!"
0:45:41 > 0:45:46Run down the road, get in, and you could dance until dawn.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50# Everybody loves the sunshine... #
0:45:50 > 0:45:52One of the biggest events we did
0:45:52 > 0:45:56was in some railway arches underneath St Pancras station.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58They were absolutely vast.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03# Everybody loves the sunshine
0:46:07 > 0:46:09# Sunshine... #
0:46:09 > 0:46:11Just trying to actually work out the location.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14I think it would've been somewhere around here.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16MUSIC: I Believe In Miracles by the Jackson Sisters
0:46:16 > 0:46:20The arches would have stretched from one side of the station
0:46:20 > 0:46:21right the way through to the other.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28We had ice cream vans in there, there were vehicles in there,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31we had, like, a moving bar...
0:46:32 > 0:46:37# I believe in miracles, baby
0:46:37 > 0:46:39# I believe in you... #
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Imagine a H, and the two arches of the tunnel going through
0:46:43 > 0:46:47the two things, and you had Soul II Soul sound system in one
0:46:47 > 0:46:52and you had Family Functions in the other, and the queue of people,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56all the way down the street, right the way to the main room.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Looking at the size of the place, you know,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04we must have had at least 5,000 people partying
0:47:04 > 0:47:07for, like, 12, 13 hours here.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11The records we were playing just had a certain vibe.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16# Yeah, yeah... #
0:47:16 > 0:47:17It was soul...
0:47:17 > 0:47:20# Yeah, yeah... #
0:47:20 > 0:47:23..mixed up with the old school hip-hop of the time.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26# Oh, la, oh, la, eh
0:47:26 > 0:47:28# Oh, la, oh, la, eh
0:47:28 > 0:47:30# Rollin' rollin' rollin'... #
0:47:30 > 0:47:34What I'd do is I'd go out to the US, I'd find obscure records
0:47:34 > 0:47:36that were kind of previously undiscovered,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40or had just not done very well in the year that they were put out,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43which was frequently in the kind of early '80s, the late '70s,
0:47:43 > 0:47:45but, in the context of big sound systems
0:47:45 > 0:47:47and the events we were putting on,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49suddenly they had a new lease of life.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51# Oh, la, oh, la, eh... #
0:47:51 > 0:47:53It had to be obscure
0:47:53 > 0:47:55so that we weren't just doing what those commercial clubs
0:47:55 > 0:47:57were doing down the road,
0:47:57 > 0:47:58but it had to have that big, fat bang
0:47:58 > 0:48:00that worked on the sound system.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02# Feelin' funky now, now, now, now, now... #
0:48:02 > 0:48:06This would have been an illegal party.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09A very illegal party. How did we get in there?
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Not sure I can share that information with you.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Basically, the way we got the keys is something, as a solicitor,
0:48:16 > 0:48:18I can't talk about, unfortunately, sorry.
0:48:18 > 0:48:19LAUGHTER
0:48:19 > 0:48:22There's too much illegality that... Yeah.
0:48:22 > 0:48:23During the time of those parties,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27we would have had Judge Jules on the door because he was studying law.
0:48:27 > 0:48:28I'd kind of say,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31"This is a party for me and my law student friends, officer."
0:48:31 > 0:48:34That's how got the name, Judge Jules.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38We used squatters legislation to be in buildings,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41and the police were more than happy for me to demonstrate it
0:48:41 > 0:48:44as being a more middle-class thing than it actually was.
0:48:44 > 0:48:45Nice one, Jules.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51So, what you had was kids who'd been following
0:48:51 > 0:48:53these mainly black sound systems like Soul II Soul
0:48:53 > 0:48:56mixing suddenly with all the West End kids
0:48:56 > 0:48:58who wanted to dance all night
0:48:58 > 0:49:00and the suburban kids who'd never gone into the West End
0:49:00 > 0:49:03because they didn't think they were cool enough to get in,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06but suddenly there was this great mishmash of different cultures.
0:49:06 > 0:49:11A whole host of young black kids, a whole host of young white kids,
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and it wouldn't have been in anybody's psyche
0:49:13 > 0:49:17to put that together at that time, so the timing was really important.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19The timing was very important.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22After the big fall,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26a confusing, sometimes chaotic day on the stock markets.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30In London, another slump in share prices was followed by a rally,
0:49:30 > 0:49:32then another slide.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34I think there was this sense
0:49:34 > 0:49:36that this boom was going to carry on forever...
0:49:37 > 0:49:41..but by the end of 1987 the cracks were starting to show
0:49:41 > 0:49:43with the big first dip in the stock market,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46and it was clear that deregulation had had a cost.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50The morning after the crash was a grey one across the city,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54and, all morning, dealers' worst fears were realised.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56They arrived shellshocked by the carnage of yesterday,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58and the Wall Street collapse that followed it.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02I think one of the things that happened towards the end of the '80s
0:50:02 > 0:50:04was people wanted escapism,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and people really started to party on a grand scale.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11New secret acid clubs are springing up in Britain's major cities,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14and here, in the dirty, smoke-filled buildings,
0:50:14 > 0:50:16the kids have their acid nights.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19The whole scene that had started with the warehouse parties,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22with Rare Groove and with people like Soul II Soul,
0:50:22 > 0:50:26sort of exploded into this huge movement by the end of the '80s,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28which became acid house.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Drugs are being sold quite openly.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Ecstasy was taken in full view of everyone.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37# Eezer Goode, Eezer Goode
0:50:37 > 0:50:39# He's Ebeneezer Goode
0:50:39 > 0:50:40# Eezer Goode... #
0:50:40 > 0:50:43As acid house went mainstream in middle England,
0:50:43 > 0:50:48we set up in Central London in a space that we could call our own.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Africa Centre was very important
0:50:51 > 0:50:55because it came at the height of the rave scene.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58We decided on a Sunday night
0:50:58 > 0:51:01because we were sick of all the pillheads and stuff like that.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04We didn't want anything to do with that.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07We were into our music, our style and our fashion.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09We were into our way of life,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12and we didn't want to get caught up with those clowns.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15So we wanted to do something that was very unique.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20The Africa Centre was an old Georgian building
0:51:20 > 0:51:23just off the piazza in Covent Garden.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28I hardly ever missed a Sunday at Africa Centre.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31It was almost like a... even though I'm not religious,
0:51:31 > 0:51:32like a Sunday night church.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35It was like church. It was a very broad church.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38It knew no race, it knew no creed.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41You could be as weird and wonderful as you liked.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44And it was always interesting people,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47it was always, always a mix of people.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52You had tribes of people - they were black, they were white,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54gay, straight, loads of Greeks, lots of Asians -
0:51:54 > 0:51:56people were joining together.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01It was a total, you know, social network,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05because this was all people from different walks of life
0:52:05 > 0:52:09in one space, and no-one standing on anyone's toes.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15It's almost like this guy seemed to keep finding the perfect place
0:52:15 > 0:52:17that suited the brand of Soul II Soul.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19If you don't know anything about Soul II Soul
0:52:19 > 0:52:21and you're looking at the image,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23and then you're wondering, "Where do they DJ?
0:52:23 > 0:52:25"A place called Africa Centre - look how they look."
0:52:25 > 0:52:26It's just too much!
0:52:26 > 0:52:29MUSIC: New Life by Depeche Mode
0:52:29 > 0:52:34Perhaps the most familiar basic computer is Sinclair's ZX Spectrum.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37This one sells for about £180.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40At the other end of the price scale, you could treat yourself
0:52:40 > 0:52:41to an Apple Macintosh,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45with a massive one megabyte of computer memory.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49The other big thing you've got to remember about the '80s
0:52:49 > 0:52:51is the revolution of technology.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57In case you've never seen one of these before, this is a videotape.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59# Complicating, circulating
0:52:59 > 0:53:02# New life, new life... #
0:53:02 > 0:53:06We suddenly had personal computers and computer games.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08Youngsters all over Britain
0:53:08 > 0:53:12are busily programming their fantasies turning them into cash.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16We got our hands on CDs and mobile phones...
0:53:16 > 0:53:18I'm in the centre of London at the moment.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Yes, I am on my Vodafone.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24..and technology in the '80s allowed us to make music.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28You can put into it an amount of sound of any source.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30HE PLAYS SAMPLED NOTES
0:53:33 > 0:53:36I remember clearly being round Jazzie's office,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39and Jazzie made this declaration, "I'm going to make music."
0:53:41 > 0:53:43"You make music?
0:53:43 > 0:53:45"I've never seen you play guitar."
0:53:45 > 0:53:46# Mm-hm! #
0:53:46 > 0:53:48I've never heard Jazzie sing!
0:53:48 > 0:53:50What's he talking about?
0:53:50 > 0:53:52# Wouldn't that be fair?
0:53:55 > 0:53:56# Wouldn't that be fair? #
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Fairplay is the groundbreaker.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02Fairplay is the game changer.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05You're a sound system man, aren't you?
0:54:05 > 0:54:07No-one had done it before,
0:54:07 > 0:54:09unless they were straight-up musician.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11# Baby, baby
0:54:15 > 0:54:17# Baby, baby... #
0:54:17 > 0:54:22So, Fairplay came out. It was a great sound system tune,
0:54:22 > 0:54:24and we played it to death. Everyone played it.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28# Soul II Soul is the place where you should be
0:54:28 > 0:54:34# On Sunday nights with Aitch and Q and Jazzie B
0:54:34 > 0:54:36# Cos it's all about expression
0:54:38 > 0:54:41# Cos it's all about expression... #
0:54:41 > 0:54:45They had a fantastic forum in which to do it.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47Africa Centre, every Sunday night,
0:54:47 > 0:54:53you could road test your rudimentary demos to ready-made audience...
0:54:53 > 0:54:55# Cos it's all about expression... #
0:54:55 > 0:54:58..and then go back and tweak and re-tweak
0:54:58 > 0:55:03until the sound was perfected, honed and ready.
0:55:03 > 0:55:10# Baby, I think you should come down
0:55:10 > 0:55:13# And try to express yourself... #
0:55:13 > 0:55:18It was great but it was never, ever going to be a top ten record.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20It was too clubby, it was too "us".
0:55:20 > 0:55:22# Want you to be fair... #
0:55:22 > 0:55:25Fast forward a year or so,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28and he played me something that blew my mind.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33It is when the rest of England's working-class kids
0:55:33 > 0:55:36discovered partying, with a few chemical assistants.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42The other music of the day was house music.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44Everything was kind of bang, bang, bang.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47It stopped everything that was going house...
0:55:47 > 0:55:49SHE MIMICS SCREECHING BRAKES
0:55:49 > 0:55:51..you know what I mean? To being...
0:55:51 > 0:55:53"Whoa, this slow shit's really good.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55"I'm feeling it."
0:55:55 > 0:55:57So, we have a brand-new number one.
0:55:57 > 0:55:58There is no stopping this band.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00Their album, Soul Classics Volume One,
0:56:00 > 0:56:01is number four in the album chart.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03And congratulations all round -
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Soul II Soul and Caron Wheeler, number one with Back To Life.
0:56:06 > 0:56:07CROWD CHEERS
0:56:07 > 0:56:09# Back to life, back to reality... #
0:56:09 > 0:56:12There was a moment when everything that we'd been trying to achieve
0:56:12 > 0:56:15in the early '80s crystallised.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18# Back to life... #
0:56:18 > 0:56:22Where British funk found its unique voice.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27It was the first time the whole sound system ethos
0:56:27 > 0:56:29had gone into the mainstream.
0:56:29 > 0:56:34# Tell me maybe I could be there for you... #
0:56:34 > 0:56:38The pop industry loved it, but it still had kind of its own identity.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40# However do you need me... #
0:56:40 > 0:56:43It didn't seem to have a sell-out vibe.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45# However do you need me... #
0:56:45 > 0:56:47They were musically influential,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50and I honestly think they were socially influential.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52# However do you want me
0:56:52 > 0:56:54# However do you need me... #
0:56:54 > 0:56:56It was the start of multicultural Britain,
0:56:56 > 0:57:00and I think Soul II Soul were the poster boys and girls
0:57:00 > 0:57:02of multicultural Britain in that way.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07# Back to life, back to the present time... #
0:57:07 > 0:57:11It was a real sense that something was happening, there was a movement.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17Watching that video of Back To Life on Top Of The Pops,
0:57:17 > 0:57:19when I was so delighted that I kind of rang people.
0:57:19 > 0:57:20"Have you watched Top Of The Pops?
0:57:20 > 0:57:22"You've got to watch Top Of The Pops now!"
0:57:22 > 0:57:26- # Yeah - However do you want me
0:57:26 > 0:57:27# However do you need me... #
0:57:27 > 0:57:31I felt like young black Britons had taken their place
0:57:31 > 0:57:34in British society, and they were saying, "Here we are.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36"This is club culture, this is what we look like -
0:57:36 > 0:57:39"and look, it's diverse. Look, it's inclusive.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42"We're all here, and we're all dancing to tunes like this."
0:57:44 > 0:57:47And it said to us, "Oh, yeah, we're this now.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50"We belong here." And it worked.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52# However do you need me... #
0:57:52 > 0:57:54Those changes that happened in the '80s
0:57:54 > 0:57:58were so important for Soul II Soul, and are so important
0:57:58 > 0:58:02for me and my generation, opening up the doors of the '90s
0:58:02 > 0:58:09and letting us realise that there's a whole world that exists out there.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12That's how important the '80s was for me.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16# Need a change, a positive change
0:58:16 > 0:58:19# Look, look it's me writing on the wall
0:58:19 > 0:58:24- # However do you want me, yes - However do you want me
0:58:24 > 0:58:27# However do you need me
0:58:27 > 0:58:30# However do you want me
0:58:30 > 0:58:32# However do you need me
0:58:32 > 0:58:35# However do you want me
0:58:35 > 0:58:37# However do you need me
0:58:37 > 0:58:39# However do you want me
0:58:39 > 0:58:41# However do you need me
0:58:41 > 0:58:45# Tell me how do you want me to be? #