“Life We Make”: The value of music across the life courses of British
anarcho-punks.
In this presentation I will discuss perceptions of musical value articulated
by British anarcho-punk scene participants in the narratives of music fandom
they present later in their lives. This forms part of my ongoing doctoral research
into the longevity of anarcho-punk within life course transitions.
#Lifecourse
Thomas (1999) and Vitale (2013) suggests that the term ‘life course’ is used “to
denote the development of individual lives over time and space: articulating the
individuals engagement with the particular social cultural and historical contexts
of their development” (2013:2). In doing so Vitale argues that a life course
perspective “considers individuals as being dynamically impacted by a variety of
formative proximal and distal contexts, located in particular time and place”
(2013:3). In terms of my research this is a useful way of mapping out a
developmental perspective on the individual’s negotiation of their affinity with a
musical subculture or scene. Indeed Andy Bennett argues that whilst there have
been many studies concerning the cultural representation of music and its
constituents associated with musical lifestyles “there is very little attention to the
concept of lifestyle as an on-going and developmental process across the lifecourse” (2010: 256)
#
Scenes and sub cultures
I use both the terminologies sub-culture and scene in my discussions although
the term scene is more useful here. As Bennett and Petersen (2004) suggest the
term scene avoids the presumption that the participants’ involvement and
actions were directed by subcultural standards. Indeed Bennett further argues
that ‘scene’ as a concept “portrays individuals as more reflexive in their
appropriation and use of particular musical and stylistic resources” (2006). This
concept is particularly useful in my doctoral research because I am interested in
how that appropriation takes place and what the longitudinal outcomes of that
appropriation are.
#
British anarcho-punk
British anarcho-punk developed as a sub-cultural musical scene during the late
1970’s motivated by anarchist/pacifist politics and ideologies promoted by
anarcho-punk bands such as Crass, Poison Girls, Flux of Pink Indians and Conflict
to name but a few. British anarcho-punk encouraged people from all areas of
Britain to collectively construct a politicised culture that challenged the political
economy of the record industry, the commodification of ‘mainstream’ punk
through the emergence of a ‘DIY’ music culture and challenged the politics of
mass society, media and government. It also had an influence the formation of
other sub cultural groups such as New Age Travellers, contemporary Anarchist
groups and Direct Action protest groups.
Previous academic work that focusses on the shaping of popular punk histories,
(see Marcus (1990); Savage (1992); Laing (1985). has marginalised British
anarcho-punk culture and identity from those popular music histories. As Cross
2004&2007; Dines 2004 and Sabin 1999; suggest it has historically been
overlooked in the wake of the first wave of British ‘mainstream’ punk.
More recently though a corpus of work has been emerging examining the
anarcho-punk movement/ scene and its impact on popular music culture and
histories. (edited collection coming out in 2015).
#
Background to the Study/Data Collection
Previous studies by academics such as Andy Bennett (2006), Paul Hodkinson
(2011), Ross Haenfler (2012), Joanna Davis (2012) and Nicola Smith (2012) have
focused on ageing within a specific scene and what the active continuation of
that subcultural involvement means for those ageing participants. My study,
consists of people between the ages of 45 and 60 years of age who identify and
perceive themselves to have been anarcho-punks and participants in the
anarcho-punk scene between the years of 1977 and 1986. In some ways
although my study follows similar trajectories as Bennett, Davis et al by
including continuing ageing participants, it also takes into account those who
once identified as anarcho-punks but have since re-assessed their affiliation and
commitment to that particular subculture and scene.
My research data primarily comes from 3 of the 9 participants that I am
currently conducting a series of ‘in-depth’ ‘life history’ interviews with as part of
my doctoral research. Rubin and Rubin (1995) suggest ‘life histories’ can provide
a window to social and personal transformations as it focuses more on the
individual and what they have felt and experienced as they have passed through
the different stages of life (p27). As Helling (1988) and Watson & Watson-Franke
(1985) suggest life histories interpret the past and make it understandable,
acceptable and important through a combination of narratives and stories.
They are primarily men (7) with only 2 females taking part so far. Schilt and
Giffort (2012) point out, that the body of research into ageing subcultures and
fandom has illuminated more about men than it has about women with studies
by Halberstam (2005) and Vroomen (2004) being the few exceptions. Similarly
Bennett (2006) and Bennett and Taylor (2012) discuss the problems they found
recruiting female participants in their examination of punk scenes. The
participant’s self-identification and involvement with anarcho-punk and the
anarcho-punk scene was, and for some still is, varied. They consist of musicians,
fanzine editors, promoters, squatters, teachers, housing officers, artists, political
activists and fans-either then or, for some, continuing in the present, however to
different degrees of involvement and commitment.
So the findings I am going to present are by no means a representative sample of
ageing anarcho-punks, or those previously self- identified as anarcho-punks, but
a selection of points of interest from some early interviews with 3 of the research
participants from my ongoing study.
# Identity
For all 3 of the respondents it was not surprising to find that their engagement
with anarcho-punk was very much at the heart of the formation of their
identities. Anarcho-punk came at a particular time in their lives and helped put
perplexing feelings into context and solidify what they were already feeling.
All 3 of them cited anarcho-punk band Crass as their first musical introduction to
anarcho-punk. In many academic and non-academic writings Crass are
considered to be the seminal British anarcho-punk band. Hearing this music at a
particular time in their youth, (mid to late teens) seemed to help the respondents
articulate what they were already feeling.
#
“I already knew inside, even as early as a child, that the way the world worked
was wrong but I couldn’t quite understand how and why. When I first heard Crass
it made me realize I wasn’t alone, that I wasn’t the only person who thought the
world was wrong and that it was alright to feel that way. Crass and anarcho-punk
helped me be aware of that. Without that, my life wouldn’t have been the samewithout sounding clichéd, it made me who I am today” (Respondent A)
#
“At school I felt that everything was against me and trying to push me into
being a particular thing. It was all linked, school, teachers, my parents, coppers all
in in together to fuck up my life. Stuff I was feeling but hadn’t quite managed to
articulate it in my own mind. When I first heard Crass it was a revelatory moment
because they were actually articulating what I actually felt. Before that moment I
knew the world wasn’t fucking right but there wasn’t a political language for me
that expressed what I wanted it to change to. Where early punk was broad and a
general fuck you, Crass and anarcho punk was ‘fuck you because…list reasons why
1 to 10’ it was just pure rage” (Respondent B)
# “I was already listening to punk and I remember first hearing Crass on John Peel
and thinking this is awful but brilliant at the same time. Crass set out the template
for me politically and ideologically what was relevant and real in the world. I went
and bought Feeding* and remember sitting in my bedroom reading through the
lyrics, looking at the images on the record sleeve…….you would punctuate the
music with your own reflections on what the lyrics were about. “first wave punk
informed our attitude, anarcho-punk formed our philosophy and politics”
(Respondent C)
The respondent’s comments seem to suggest that the music held value beyond
its sonic expression in that it introduced them to a new set of politics and
ideologies that enabled them to express themselves in a coherent and
constructive manner. This correlates with Bennett and Taylor’s (2012) study of
ageing punks where they suggest that for many ageing punks their involvement
in the scene had played an important part in their transition into adulthood, had
provided them with a sense of realism and that their sense of self continued to be
informed by the punk ideology.
# Community
The notion of networks and community has featured heavily in academic
investigations into music scenes and similarly in my interviews though too large
to discuss here in detail. However it’s worth noting that all 3 respondents
discussed the importance of community and the collective with reference to
them feeling part of a family, or tribe, of likeminded people. They considered
anarcho-punk as a community connected through a participatory DIY music
culture, but also
# “a set of shared principles, politics, ideologies and philosophies that was
working towards an alternative-informed by the politics of the music”.
(Respondent C)
“Some of the relationships I formed back then have endured against all the odds.
Some of the best people I have ever met I met through anarcho-punk and I still see
them at gigs today”. (Respondent B)
“there are some beautiful people that I met and still meet at gigs today and it’s nice
that people are still interested in what we do as a band. It still feels like a sort of
community-though Facebook has a lot to do with that”. (Respondent A)
For respondent C it was also a way of connecting with new people as a result of
his family relocating to a new town when he was 14.
# “I remember that first day at this massive comprehensive school absolutely
shitting myself with fear of the unknown. I spotted this older kid at lunchtime
wearing a Crass badge and went and spoke to him, that anarcho-punk association
was like a calling card, a passport into this new school and opened up into a
network of other likeminded people” (Respondent C)
#Longevity
After a 30 year period I was interested to find out whether the respondents still
felt attached to, or had some affinity with, anarcho-punk and the beliefs they
developed at what was seemingly a pivotal point in their personal development.
My interest here lay in whether there was a sense of maintaining those beliefs or
as Bennett and Taylor’s study suggests if “what these people appear to have taken
from punk”…. were.. “a series of resources through which to reproduce themselves
as individuals over time” (2012, 240). When asked if they still listen to anarchopunk and what value it holds in their current lives they all said that they did in some
way.
# “I do listen to anarcho-punk nowadays, though when I am on my own as my
partner doesn’t like it so much- I have started to go back to anarcho-punk, though it
never really left me. Having kids it seemed that I lost myself in family life and I had
become disillusioned with the scene. It has helped re-focus me. I listen to the lyrics
and they seem as relevant no, in fact the political messages just reinforce my beliefs
and I see them from a different perspective- I understand them better through the
mind of an adult” (Respondent A)
# “For me the musical and lyrical content still resonate, it speaks to me in a very
base emotional level and is the most powerful influence on my life of anything,
books. film, art. It’s a sort of touchstone for living without having to think about itit’s a personal politic informed by anarcho-punk. Cruelty and injustice still upset me
because both of those things are unnecessary” (Respondent B)
# “Yeah I still listen to anarcho-punk and go to some punk gigs, but for me it was
through the music that anarcho-punk became a lifestyle that I wanted to invest in, I
formed a band, started a fanzine, set up a squat. I lived and breathed that life for
quite a long time and then branched out as I collected responsibilities. It informed
me of numerous political and ideological positions that I have built on over time
that I still embrace now in my career and personal life”. (Respondent C)
#Nostalgia
The discourse of nostalgia seems to feature prominently in discussions around ageing
within music scenes. Recently there has been a renewed interest in anarcho-punk with
many music magazines and cultural commentators re-visiting anarcho-punk and
looking at the impact it has had on popular music, culture and politics. (Vice and Q
magazine covers (slide).Along with this renewed interest a large number of ‘original
wave’ anarcho-punk bands have reformed after being inactive for many years. As all
3 respondents were in anarcho-punk bands in the 1980’s I asked them their opinions
on bands reforming and performing again.
Respondent A’s band is one of those reformed original anarcho-punk bands. For her it
is very much based around nostalgia and just missing the music and performing live
after a 30 year hiatus from punk music;
# “I miss the music, it’s the music for me….I enjoy the music and its fun (performing)
it was always the best buzz, I can’t put a finger on it but it’s just an incredible feelingits not like getting high or doing some form of stimulant of any kind, it’s just a buzz. I
am still nervous now about the forthcoming gigs as some of the lyrics are quite naive
though now I have the opportunity to explain that they are 30 years old and written by
17 year olds. Though nothing has changed they are still just as relevant today as they
were then-perhaps if everyone had listened to us 30 years ago perhaps we wouldn’t
be so fucked up now(laughs)”
For the guitarist of the band it is still very much about the politics which he has
remained passionately connected to and active in since the early 80’s, recently serving
18 months incarceration for his activities with the Animal Liberation Front.
When asked about bands reforming Respondent B and C were more critical of the
musical nostalgic aspect:
# “Are you any good? That is my first criteria-it has to be relevant it’s no good doing
this because you can, because frankly some people just shouldn’t.”…..“The music
and the performance has to be convincing otherwise I am out the door”. (Respondent
B)
For him, this would suggests that some sort of value judgement has been placed on
that notion of nostalgia as the musical and performativity element still play an
important part in his assessment of bands that reform. Indeed this is further reinforced
by him.
# “I am not big on nostalgia, and for quite a while I resisted seeing bands who had
reformed just because if they are shit it will ruin my memories and opinions of them.
It is nostalgia; though when people say that, it always seems a bit sad and desperate
trying to recapture or recreate something from the past. There is something odd about
seeing 50 year old men on stage seemingly trying to recapture their youth and singing
about things that were significant within a specific timeframe -30 years ago”
(Respondent B)
Respondent C had similar opinions:
# “I did go to Rebellion last year (an annual 4 day punk festival in Blackpool) and I
was slightly challenged by some what I saw. There is a lot of nostalgia there, if I’m
honest. Simply to reform a band and play the set you did 30 years previously for me is
not good enough, there needs to be something else, there needs to be a freshness”
Discussing a recently attended anarcho-punk gig he commented
# “I went to see Conflict in Bristol recently……., it was a very mature audience who,
I felt was quite sophisticated, these were people who were going off and committing
their beliefs and principles in another way. They looked underwhelmed by the rock n
roll theatrics of the performance…I can see where the rock and roll comes from its
about exciting an audience but considering this music is a vehicle for change, or as a
lot of us did think back then, to then return to it it’s understandable that some of us
are going to be critical of the process. I personally think it’s (the music and
performance) about something else it’s about expressing how you live your life and
the possibility for others to do the same, that’s what lit my flame early on…There
needs to be an acknowledgement that things have moved on and there are other
possibilities to explore” (Respondent B)
For respondents B and C it seems that being historically referential was not enough to
solidify their perceived value of anarcho-punk. Hodkinson (2013) in his study of
ageing within spectacular youth cultures suggests that, within the Goth scene he
studied, there was a frequency amongst older members to reference the past
suggesting that their “current participation was somehow less authentic and
significant than that of the past” (2013, 19)
It could be argued that neither of my respondents felt particularly ‘active’ within an
existing contemporary anarcho-punk scene so that point of reference would be less
important, however they still felt that for the sake of nostalgia there still had to be a
sense of development, moving forward and exploring new sonic and cultural
possibilities.
#Conclusion:
In this presentation I have provided an insight into the longevity of 3 middle
aged individuals’ engagement with and affiliation to British anarcho-punk over
their life course. This is not a conclusive representation of that, but with this in
mind, I have offered comment on a range of themes of importance to my
continuing research.
Early findings suggest that anarcho-punk music opened up a conduit through
which the respondents were able, as youths, to articulate their personal politic
and be introduced to a set of values and ideologies that informed and shaped
their subsequent life course development
It also points to a sense of shared values and the notion of community being
important to the renewal and maintenance of relationships over 30 years.
Finally it suggests that the discourse of nostalgia, though present, is of less
importance in how they perceive the value that the music they listened to 3
decades ago has in the present.
Where other previously mentioned studies have focused on the concept/ impact
of ageing for participants who are active within a continuing scene this brief
intervention has sought to highlight and unpack some of the complexities/ issues
of documenting the impact of a historically located scene over the subsequent
life courses of its participants. In doing so it adds to the continuing field of life
course studies and ageing within youth cultures.
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