Fuck Me! Anarcho punk, (groan!); where do you start in explaining how
such a depressing bunch of middle class hippies got turned into a
uniformed movement that still exists in large numbers today!?
It all sprang into existence through the misinterpretation of a single
word in a hit single from 1976. The word in question was used mainly for
its tabloid aping shock value. Frequently the cynical and illiterate
hack journalists of the tabloid press, would use this word to portray
'Chaos' to spread 'the Fear'. Its a soundbite that conjures an image of
Rioting, looting and rape in the conditioned minds of Daily Mail and Sun
readers. This was the true meaning behind its use in The Sex Pistols
"Anarchy in the UK"! It was absolutely not advocating the utopian theory
of Anarchy as a viable future of all black clad white rasta's, before
they inherited their fathers estate.
Never before or since has a movement been based on such a dumb
misconception as this, except maybe Soviet communism's misinterpretation
of Marxism, and The Nazi's distorting of Nietzche's Uber mensch, maybe.
Those two examples were rather fond of uniforms, symbols/insignia and
mass hysteria like our Anarcho-punk chums! This is no coincidence
methinks.
The instigators of this 'movement' were none other than 'Banned from the
Roxy' leg ends, Crass. Fine purveyors of truly awful punky music, and
boasted the official Worst drummer ever. He was so bad that he made
Palmolive look like Billy Cobham.
Normally this is a Good thing of course, but coupled with their soap
boxy piety, and self-righteous bleating, is a recipe for producing a
gallon of projectile vomit.
They did ,however, have a rather fine tune called "Do they owe us a
Living"(included on Bullshit 1),as their first single; which if they
split up after that was released, would have put them in the higher
echelons of Punk Mythology. Unfortunately ,they carried on for another 6
years, giving us such DNA dissolving atrocities as "Reality Asylum",
where we are treated to a patronising monologue on atheism, spouted by
some posh bird who was obviously sent to some Catholic boarding school
against her will, and is getting her own back on her MP daddy. Excuse
the irony here......JEEEEEESSSSUSSSSS!
The thing is that, I agree that 'They' do owe us a living, I also
despise all religion, and there almost certainly isn't a god; but it
all sounds so bleeding obvious, and worst of all I don't believe them. I
suspect a bad case of alternative envy politics, ie they envy working
class people. Steve ignorant was probably their token worker, but you
never know with this lot!
Yes Anarcho Punk looked awful(washed out black was never a good
look),sounded awful, had depressing politics,but I have a cringing
liking for these compilations of demo's from Crass fans and bands. Its a
guilty pleasure of mine, along with Wings, Queens first album, and a
Flock of Seagulls!?
The recording quality of some of these demo's are abysmal, as in good
abysmal! Some of these bands must have used tin cans with string for
microphones! The guitar amps must have all had the cheapest transistors
ever made, ones that would have been rejected by British Leyland in the
70's, and Renault in the noughties....yes that bad.......but a beautiful
sound they do make for us.
Even despicable Anarchy bores Chumbawumba's track is
,yes,Brilliant!!!???.....like a lost nugget from DIY land.
(Chumbawumba anecdote: the Drummer in Year Zero records own Scouts of Uzbekistan, was in a crap group supporting them in the 80's, when these
"Anarchists" told them to fuck off when they asked if they could use
their sate of the art PA system! Yeah, the reality of anarchy is to
abuse your power when you have it ,it seems.Wankers)
The three Bullshit Detectors are crammed full of nasty fizzy no-fi punk
rock, with the odd misanthropic poem thrown in! There's very little
musical innovation on display here,and quite a lots of unabashed
copying; lots of crass-a-likes and check out "Random relations" by
Suspects on vol.2, which is a blatant impression of John Cooper-Clarke
and the Invisible Girls!?
Love these compilations(the best one is vol 2 in my opinion), but hate
Crass and their clones; and you should too.
Track Listing:
Bullshit Detector Vol 1 (1980)
- Andy T - "Jazz on a Summers Day"
- Counter Attack - "Don't Wanna Fight For You"
- The Alternative - "Change It"
- Clockwork Criminals - "We Are You"
- Reputations In Jeopardy - "Girls Love Popstars"
- Crass - "Do They Owe Us a Living? (Drums and vocals only)"
- Amebix - "University Challenged"
- The Pranx - "Two Years Too Late"
- The Sinyx - "Mark Of The Beast"
- Frenzy Battalion - "Thalidomide"
- Icon - "Cancer"
- The Speakers - "Why?"
- A.P.F. Brigade - "Anarchist Attack"
- Fuck The C.I.A. - "Right or Wrong"
- Caine Mutiny And The Kallisti Apples Of Nonsense - "Morning Star"
- The Sucks - "Three"
- Porno Squad - "Khaki Doesn't Go With My Eyes"
- S.P.G. Murders - "Soldiers"
- Eratics - "National Service"
- Red Alert - "Who Needs Society?"
- The Snipers - "War Song"
- Armchair Power - "Power"
- Disrupters - "Napalm"
- Andy T - "Nagasaki Mon Amour"
- Action Frogs - "Drumming Up Hope"
Bullshit Detector Vol 2 (1982)
Waiting For Bardot - "Voice of U.K."
Omega Tribe - "Nature Wonder"
The Suspects - "Random Relations"
Your Funeral - "Think About It"
Kronstadt Uprising - "Receiver Deceiver"
Deformed - "Freedom"
No Label - "Let's Get It Right"
The Rejected - "Same Old Songs"
Boffo - "Garageland"
XS - "Fuck the System"
Polemic Attack - "Manipulated Youth"
A. Gardener - "A Gardener's Song"
Toxic - "Tradition of Slaughter"
1984 - "Break Up"
"Insert"
Toxik Ephex - "Police Brutality"
SIC - "Low"
Molitov Cocktail - "Ain't Got a Clue"
Naked - "Mid 1930's (Pre-War Germany)"
Disc two
Capital Punishment - "We've Realised the Truth Now"
Anthrax - "All the Wars"
Endangered Species - "Slaughter of the Innocent (Curiosity Kills)"
Pseudo Sadists - "War Games"
Total Chaos - "Psycho Analysis"
Dougie - "War Without Winners"
St. Vitus Dancers - "The Survivor"
Stegz - "Christus Erection"
Metro Youth - "Brutalised"
Normality Complex - "Black Market Shadow"
Youth In Asia - "Power & the Glory"
Riot Squad - "Security System"
Destructors - "Agent Orange"
The Pits - "U.K. in Dreamland"
The Bored - "Riot Style"
Toby Kettle - "Theatre Comment"
Chumbawamba - "Three Years Later"
Passion Killers - "Start Again"
Amerikan Arsenal - "Get Off Yr Ass"
Bullshit Detector Vol 3 (1984)
Avert Aversion - "Oh What a Nice Day"
Awake Mankind - "Once Upon a Time"
A Nul Noise - "Hibakusha"
Animus - "Nuclear Piss"
Peroxide - "Ministry of Death (M.O.D.)"
Untitled - "We Are Taught How to Kill"
Xtract - "Genocide"
Verbal Assault - "Not Yet Ron"
Fifth Column - "Counterfeit Culture"
Potential Victims - "People"
7th Plague - "Rubber Bullets"
Rebel - "Genesis to Genocide"
Alienated - "Living in Fear"
Barbed Wire - "Weapons of War"
Rob Williams - "Lies"
Reality Control - "The War is Over"
Youthanasia PX - "Power"
Sammy Rubette + Safety Match - "The Ballot of Maggie the Maggot"
Politicide - "51st State"
Markus Abused - "The Killing Machine"
Disc two
One Man's Meat - "Your Country Misleads You"
Direct Action - "Death Without a Thought"
Crag - "Voice Your Protest"
Attrition - "In Your Hand"
Napalm Death - "The Crucifixion of Possessions"
The Impalers - "Sun, Sun, Sun"
Health Hazard - "Picture Show"
Phil Hedgehog - "Radio Times"
Malice - "Faceless"
Michael Kingzett Taylor - "Paranoia"
Brainwashed Pupils - "The Demonstration"
No Defences - "Work to Consume"
A.N.E.E.B. - "Berlin Wall"
Carnage - "Carnage"
Warning - "Beasts of Fiction"
State Of Shock - "Excess Youth"
Neale Harmer - "Hard Nut"
Dead To The World - "Action Man"
Dandruff - "Life In a Whiskey Bottle"
Richard III - "Will You Care?"
Funky Rayguns - "The Hare and the Tortoise"
DOWNLOAD some bullshit vol 1 HERE!
DOWNLOAD some more bullshit 2 HERE!
DOWNLOAD even more bullshit 3 HERE!
