{"id":419,"date":"2006-10-04T01:32:09","date_gmt":"2006-10-03T15:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=419"},"modified":"2006-10-30T01:05:14","modified_gmt":"2006-10-29T15:05:14","slug":"the-continuing-appeal-of-crasstafarianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=419","title":{"rendered":"The Continuing Appeal of Crasstafarianism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Huh. That’s interesting. I-and-I Googled ‘Crasstafarianism’ and found this<\/a>: from a neat-o site, to boot!<\/p>\n

Anyways, as is the seemingly inevitable outcome of any significant (and even non-significant) cultural\/political phenomenon, someone’s gone and written a book about it. Below is an article<\/a> from the New Statesman<\/em> (Iain Aitch, ‘Forever Punk’, October 2nd, 2006) reviewing two<\/em> new books about the pioneering anarcho-punk band Crass<\/a><\/strong>… <\/p>\n

On the face of it, Crass possessed all the right credentials to earn a place alongside The Clash<\/strong> and the Sex Pistols<\/a><\/strong> in the punk history books. The band had the requisite string of high-selling, profanity-ridden [and highly scatological!] records and the amusingly named band members (Phil Free, Steve Ignorant, Joy de Vivre) [also B.A. Nana\/N.A. Palmer, Mick Duffield, Eve Libertine, Penny Rimbaud, Gee Vaucher<\/a>, Pete Wright… and John Loder and Steve Herman!], and was even formed in 1977. Yet it seldom merits a mention on the ubiquitous talking-heads clips shows or makes more than a footnote in music-press retrospectives.<\/p>\n

This is surprising when you consider the impact Crass had at the time: in their early-Eighties heyday, they could shift upwards of 20,000 records in the week of release, with no advertising and no airplay. Their anti-Falklands war records were discussed in the Commons and they were even approached by the KGB.<\/p>\n

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[Above<\/em> : London’s finest at play during Stop the City (1983), captured by David Hoffman; later used by Chaos UK<\/a><\/strong> for the front cover of Short Sharp Shock<\/a><\/em>, then serving as the model for Michelle Shocked<\/a><\/strong>‘s Short Sharp Shocked<\/a><\/em>.]<\/p>\n

Few bands have done more to bring radical politics to youth culture. For the Pistols, “Anarchy in the UK” was just a song [which they’ve now sold for shitloads of money], but for Crass it was an aim. Their Stop the City<\/a><\/strong> protests were [partly] the forerunners of the anti-globalisation movement<\/a>; their stance on animal rights [partly] inspired the formation of such groups as the Animal Liberation Front<\/a><\/strong>. Reclaim the Streets<\/a><\/strong>, the McLibel<\/a><\/strong> trial and even the success of The Body Shop<\/a><\/strong> could be said to have roots in their alternative appeal.<\/p>\n

[Maybe. Alternatively, one might find the “roots” of such activities — with the obvious exception of The Body Shop — in the same place one find’s Crass’s roots: in anarchism<\/em><\/strong>… Incidentally, on March 17th, 2006, Dame Anita Roddick’s The Body Shop (Roddick was knighted in 2003; see also Sir Bob<\/a><\/em>) agreed to a \u00a3652 million takeover<\/a> offer by L’Or\u00e9al<\/strong>, the French cosmetics group. Punk rock or what?]<\/p>\n

Penny Rimbaud<\/a><\/em>, a founding member of Crass, has long been perplexed by the band’s whitewashing from history, though not surprised. He can reel off a list of reasons as long as his arm why this may be, but their stance on promoting “product” is one that recurs. “We weren’t part of the normal outlet, by which we weren’t feeding the corporate body,” he says, referring to Crass’s refusal to sell merchandise and habit of printing frighteningly low “pay no more than” prices on their records. “For example, we didn’t do interviews with the mainstream press, believing that if we did them with the home-made fanzines then people would have to buy them.”<\/p>\n

Because of this attitude towards the press, scathing reviews of their records were the norm and sniping at their “hippie” politics was de rigueur<\/em>. The likes of Tony Parsons<\/em> and [the populist if not-exactly-popular<\/a> tabloid hack] Garry Bushell<\/a><\/em> took exception to their black “uniform” (worn on stage and off), lack of class politics and their pacifist leanings<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To which Crass memorably responded by way of ‘Hurry Up Garry’:<\/p>\n