I've given it one of many listens. It sounds like Adam and the Ants. More on this story as it develops.

BeeRose


Hope that wasn't going to be directed at me Nico.
I assumed I hadn't been included because of Moochoo's MISOGYNISTIC WAYS but yes I think I will have a go at this although it won't produce anything groundbreaking.

A woman in my thread? They'll be acting in plays next, the shameless hussies.
 
Will look forward to your contribution, Beerose.

Mr Moochoo

BeeRose


Hope that wasn't going to be directed at me Nico.
I assumed I hadn't been included because of Moochoo's MISOGYNISTIC WAYS but yes I think I will have a go at this although it won't produce anything groundbreaking.

A woman in my thread? They'll be acting in plays next, the shameless hussies.
 
Will look forward to your contribution, Beerose.

CONRITUBTION TO MY SANDWICH, GODDAMN

wow, better keep that quiet

BeeRose


Hope that wasn't going to be directed at me Nico.
I assumed I hadn't been included because of Moochoo's MISOGYNISTIC WAYS but yes I think I will have a go at this although it won't produce anything groundbreaking.

 


BeeRose, this is the second time you have displayed concerning paranoia about one of my posts. Even though I said one of your posts was second best ever and that I liked your trainers : (


Funnily enough, I was going to mention both communism under Moochoo and his famed hatred of women.

Yeah. Soz bud.

Nico Rijnders


Funnily enough, I was going to mention both communism under Moochoo and his famed hatred of women.

 
 
Even funnerily enough, Crass were famed feminists long before the fashion.
 
Though I'm only supposed to provide one song, here's an optional extra for misogynists everywhere (give the words your ears):
 
[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GoFz6CPtI</a></font>]http://www.youtube.com/wa...lt;/a></font>
 
 
Oh, Thomas, I get the feeling you're listening to the wrong song, Love. Adam and the Ants? This boasts a female vocalist, and it's good. Still, we ought to be grateful that your ears are engaged - just wipe them over next time.
 

I definitely know what Thomas means actually.
But this is good, very powerful rapid-fire stuff, I'm a bit sleepy for it to be what I'm in the mood for at the moment but I think I could definitely get into it.

 In the spirit of all this feminism, here are Crass' Bata Motel lyrics. Eve Libertine has the best satirical vocals in the business. Please don't listen to this in lieu of "...Columbus", however. That's the official number. Crass waged wars against almost everything - especially The Clash, who they believed to be the biggest sellouts in history ("CBS promote the Clash, but it ain't for revolution - it's just for cash). I learnt all this in a university lecture theatre thirteen lengthy years ago. British education, eh?

 
I've got 54321
I've got a red pair of high-heels on
Tumble me over, it doesn't take much
Tumble me over, tumble me, push
In my red high-heels I've no control
The rituals of repression are so old
You can do what you like, there'll be no reprisal
I'm yours, yes I'm yours, it's my means of survival

I've got 54321
Come on my love, I know you're strong
Push me hard, make me stagger
The pain in my back just doesn't matter
You force-hold me above the ground
I can't get away, my feet are bound
So I'm bound to say
That I'm bound to stay

Well today I look so good
Just like I know I should
My breasts to tempt inside my bra
My face is painted like a [style="position: static; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: orange !important; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700"]movie star
I've studied my flaws in your reflection
And put them to rights with savage correction
I've turned my statuesque perfection
And shone it over in your direction
So come on darling, make me yours
[style="position: static; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: orange !important; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700"]Trip me over, show me the floor
Tease me, tease me, make me stay
In my red high-heels I can't [style="position: static; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: orange !important; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700"]get away
I'm trussed and bound like an oven ready bird
But I bleed without dying and I won't say a word
Slice my flesh and I'll ride the scar
Put me into gear like your lady car
Drive me fast and crash me crazy
I'll rise from the wreckage as fresh as a daisy
These wounds leave furrows as they heal
I've travelled them, they're red and real
I know them well, they're part of me
My birth, my sex, my history
They grew with me, my closest friend
My pain's my own, my pain's my end
Clip my wings so you know where I am
I can't get lost while you're my man
Tame me so I know your call
I've stabbed my heels so I am tall
I've bound my twisted falling fall
Beautiful mute against the wall
Beautifully mutilated as I fall
Use me, don't lose me

I've got 54321
I've got a red pair of high-heels on
Strap my ankles, break my heels
Make me kneel, make me feel
Turn, turn, turn, like a clockwork doll
Put in your key and give me a whirl
Tease me, tease me, the reason to play
In my red high-heels I can't [style="position: static; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: orange !important; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700"]get away
I'll be your bonsai, your beautiful bonsai
Your black-eyed bonsai, erotically rotting
Will my tiny feet fit your desire?
Warped and tied I walk on fire
Burn me out, twist my wrists
I promise not to shout, beat me with your fists
Squeeze me, squeeze me, make me feel
In my red high-heels I'm an easy kill
Tease me, Tease me, make me see
You're the only one, I need to be me
Thankyou, will you take me?
Thankyou, will you make me?
Thankyou, will you break me?
Use me, don't lose me
Taste me, don't waste me
Use, lose, taste, waste

I can see the Ants thing too, tbh (and not to annoy Moochoo I swear). They presumably wouldn't like it, but the vocals are definitely post-Lydon at times.

I don't think I've knowingly heard anything by Crass before, though I saw plenty of people in their t-shirts in the early nineties Portsmouth student politics scene that Thomas eulogised earlier. I knew about The Clash baiting that Moochoo mentioned and their stunts. I thought I remembered (?) Steven Wells going on about them a lot in NME, though googling fails to confirm this.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I will have to have another listen and try to have a right old think about the lyrics before I say much more.

Well, the world has witnessed more gargantuan shocks than the notion that Nico's perception is in line with Thomas' – though that doesn’t account for Beerose’s. Admittedly, I haven't heard anything by Adam's wily insects for around 15 years. It’s doubtful that Crass would care what anyone - especially those they would dub middleclass (if that’s a fair assumption to make about the aforementioned critics), and therefore poorly qualified to assess the real world - thinks about them. They may even be amused by the reference.
 
It's odd to me because I heard "Stations of the Crass" (their second record) and "Christ: the Album" (their fourth) before "Penis Envy"(their third) - the record from whence both posted songs are culled. No one would ever compare the former macho, punk-enthused records to Prince Adam and his mob. For the benefits of Crass neophytes, "Penis Envy" is an anomaly within their catalogue in that the main vocalist/lyricist (Steve Ignorant) didn't get involved - he's credited as "Not on this recording" in the sleeve notes - and two women (chiefly Eve Libertine) woman the vocal ramparts, drawing on different themes and instigating a gentler sound. As a result, it's not really representative of their sound, brilliant though it is. For reference, here's a taster of classic Steve-Ignorant Crass: [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wx2LvSQFV8</a></font>]http://www.youtube.com/wa...lt;/a></font> (the lyrics appear in the video).
 
One way or another, Crass were the act that first truly fused my interest in music and politics, even if mine diverged from theirs. They have a vitality the other bands could only request in letters to Father Christmas.
 
Am a little confused as to why Nico had assumed he wouldn't enjoy the song; I am genuinely please the it's been spun and debated. That's what the thread's for.
 

Can we have song of the day instead?

Also I'd like to take umbrage with Moochoo's dismissal of South Park as an obscene cartoon. No doubt he campaigned against 'Jerry Springer The Opera', the rascal.

This song is good. I like the lyrics; very similar to the kind of rubbish I spout when I'm trying to get a rise out of a Lib Dem supporter.

I am quite touched by Moochoo's quaint notion that this is the music of today's authentic working classes. Boring argument to have really, but the only people who care about Crass are middle-class...after all, capitalism must transform all threats to its hegemony into a bourgeois commodity in order to neutralise them (as Crass sang on their sixth album 'Maggie Thatcher Smells').

I didn't realise it was a woman singing this when I listened. How misogynist! So now it reminds of of Adam and the Ants if they had a female singer i.e. it reminds me of Bow Wow Wow stuff like this http://www.youtube.com/wa...-61Zw&feature=av2n

7/10 good job all round and thanks Moochoo for starting this thread.

grouchland


Can we have song of the day instead?

Well, we've had almost 24hrs now and relatively few people have responded to the song. With a track per day, I think forum nitwits would quickly fall behind. My plan, however, despite the thread title, is to go with the current - when most regulars seem to have spun the track (ideally with some brief comment), I'll prompt the next person by Private message.
 
Plus, this allows us to post follow-up videos - as I have with Crass. In theory, we could have a song every two days.
I want to try and maintain this more successfully than last time. Let's give my way a chance.
 
 
If you must take Professor Umbrage, Grouchland, there are more worthy candidates - South Park itself, for instance. Oh, I see (thinking about it in line with the Springer reference), you think I object to the juxtaposition of obscenities/taboo issues with animation. I can assure you I do not - except when it's done badly. The convolution of mediums and genres has always been my key passion. Never saw the Springer Opera, but like the idea in principle (and of reminding geezers, as you did recently, that opera is an art form – and, as such, should be fluid). I am (or, more accurately, was) a big Simpsons fan. Most of the other stuff out there seems incredibly lazy to me.
 
Anyway, do I take it that you want to be part of the song experience? If so, what do you think of the song (I know you're very familiar with the Jeffrey Lewis cover)?
 

I'm not playing if it's just one song a week. Is there really need for a whole thread just to discuss the ins and outs of a 3 minute mp3? Why not just have a 'round table song discussion' where people can post songs, a little bit about them and a link and then people can say what they think? At least do one every two days for christ's sake.

People will completely forget about this thread if it's just one a week.

Glad you like it, Thomas. Yes, it is unfortunate that the "so-called "working classes" are unlikely to even be aware of Crass. Then again, they resented working-class people too (believing them to be ignorant). They didn't like anyone very much.
 
Just to clarify, I don't approach them from the perspective of agreeing with their politics; more the juxtaposition of political passion and bile - and their ambitious approach to what a band can be (that’s a long story). Crass are definitely one of my top 20 bands, and have been for more than a decade.
 

Grouchland, as I say, I'll move it on once people respond. The whole point of one song is that the album thread failed, especially last time around.
 
If a couple more comments come in tonight, I'll alert Nico straight away. People won't forget because I'm reminding them by PM personally, rather than sticking dates on the rota. Let's give this a go. If it doesn't work, we'll do it your way.
 
 

OK then. I'll listen to the song a bit later (attempting to draft a tracklist for this cd swapping game thing)

I guess I assumed I wouldn't like it because I never much cared for the subculture they were associated with or were pioneers of, as lazy and unfair as that is. I'd never come across them in any other context, don't remember hearing them on Peel or anything. That's the value of threads like this, being forced to actually engage with something that you probably never would have, on its own terms.

I've been thinking about the lyrics. Glad Moochoo made the point about their contempt for the actual working classes. Not unusual, in my experience of the far-left, or your actual anarchist in this regard. Anarchy can be seen as an extreme form of liberalism of course. Moochoo, was there a journey of your own to your current capital L liberalism? 

Obviously it's not unusual to enjoy a band's music without signing up to their politics, but with a group like Crass obviously the politics is much more central than would usually be the case. I loved the idea during the Falklands War that they released singles as "tactical responses" to political situations. Moochoo, did the politics ever get in the way for you at all, or did you always appreciate its fervency, even if not wholly convinced?

How Does it feel to be the Mother of a Thousand Dead? is a good deal better as a Thatcher baiting title than Thomas's's effort.

Moochoo will be stunned to learn that I will fall in behind Thomas and give it a 7.