[Music] Punk/New Wave BBC4 tonight

[Weststander]

I'm a Bit too young for it all, its largely memorable from when I first started buying records around the age of 9-10 and what I saw on TOTP to start with, radio obviously, and some of the stuff my parents had, like BLondie, Police, Elvis Costello, Blockheads. Adam and the Ants and Madness were my first bands.

I was a mid-60’s birth, so I saw loads, but missed out on The Jam and The Police.

At The Suite highlights included Simple Minds, Ultravox, Stranglers, Flock of Seagulls and Big Country. Immense evenings. Always leaving socked through in perspiration, after a crush near the front .... would H&S allow that now?

 

[Is it PotG?]

I was a mid-60’s birth, so I saw loads, but missed out on The Jam and The Police.

At The Suite highlights included Simple Minds, Ultravox, Stranglers, Flock of Seagulls and Big Country. Immense evenings. Always leaving socked through in perspiration, after a crush near the front .... would H&S allow that now?

Came out of the Suite/Event one summer evening after Squeeze having been right near the front. You could literally wring your t-shirt out on to the floor from the perspiration. Happy Days. Billy Bragg was always good in there.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Looking forward to this - let's hope we can enjoy even more with 3 points in the bag.......

 

[Weststander]

Came out of the Suite/Event one summer evening after Squeeze having been right near the front. You could literally wring your t-shirt out on to the floor from the perspiration. Happy Days. Billy Bragg was always good in there.

Did you buy merchandise? I remember buying t-shirts from the tables at the back pre gig.

All great value, £3 or £4 for a ticket.

Never saw any trouble. But my wife’s uncle working at The Suite for decades, he saw loads at punk gigs.

 

[zefarelly]

I was a mid-60’s birth, so I saw loads, but missed out on The Jam and The Police.

At The Suite highlights included Simple Minds, Ultravox, Stranglers, Flock of Seagulls and Big Country. Immense evenings. Always leaving socked through in perspiration, after a crush near the front .... would H&S allow that now?

'71 so my first gigs were mid 80's, The Richmond and pubs ( Pirhanas or Bob/Johnny, used to play in the Duke in Shoreham regularly as did many others ) Did see some gigs at bigger venues with parents etc.

 

[zefarelly]

Did you buy merchandise? I remember buying t-shirts from the tables at the back pre gig.

All great value, £3 or £4 for a ticket.

Never saw any trouble. But my wife’s uncle working at The Suite for decades, he saw loads at punk gigs.

My mum wouldn't let me go to Madness at the BC in 81 with my older step brother . . . . I was F-ing livid . . . . I can see why though now . . . apparently it was a bit feisty.

 

[Weststander]

'71 so my first gigs were mid 80's, The Richmond and pubs ( Pirhanas or Bob/Johnny, used to play in the Duke in Shoreham regularly as did many others ) Did see some gigs at bigger venues with parents etc.

Same here, my parents took us in the late 70’s to see two bands ..... Boney M and The Jacksons. I was a moody teenager who moaned about a family night out, but Boney M were really good.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Did you buy merchandise? I remember buying t-shirts from the tables at the back pre gig.

All great value, £3 or £4 for a ticket.

Never saw any trouble. But my wife’s uncle working at The Suite for decades, he saw loads at punk gigs.

Bought quite a few. Still have the grey (non-fitting) one of these from '85 somewhere.



Another memory from there, if camped at the very front, was having to wee in empty pint pots to keep your place, before subtly and gingerly placing on the stage. Nice.

 

[Weststander]

My mum wouldn't let me go to Madness at the BC in 81 with my older step brother . . . . I was F-ing livid . . . . I can see why though now . . . apparently it was a bit feisty.

A bit of gruesome detail ... the Top Rank staff when outnumbered by fighting punks, would steam in with keys used for kidney punches.

Sorry.

 

[zefarelly]

Same here, my parents took us in the late 70’s to see two bands ..... Boney M and The Jacksons. I was a moody teenager who moaned about a family night out, but Boney M were really good.

I got off lightly! . . .Showaddywaddy in 76 @ BC, Kinks @ DOme in 83? and James Brown 84/5

saw more trouble at football than gigs.

 

[Weststander]

Bought quite a few. Still have the grey (non-fitting) one of these from '85 somewhere.

View attachment 130190

Another memory from there, if camped at the very front, was having to wee in empty pint pots to keep your place, before subtly and gingerly placing on the stage. Nice.

I adored this T shirt from New Order at Portsmouth Guildhall 1984, but it was stolen from storage with all the ticket stubs in the mid 90’s




I thought about weeing at gigs the other day e.g. at Wembley for U2 25 years ago, 4 hours at the front. I must had youthful strong control. I did wee into pint glasses at the Pink Coconut and Suite disco nights, but that’s another story.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

excellent. sounds of my childhood and early youth, TOTP was rammed full of great song every week back then.

Always felt like a wee small victory when punk gatecrashed TOTP where Brotherhood Of Man was the cosy Light Entertainment norm. Even more so when Whispering Bob Harris had to reluctantly concede airtime to punk on OGWT at the expense of his usual dreary doodlers

 

[DIFFBROOK]

Ahh, the Suite. What a fantastic place. Big Country stands out - literally wringing wet. I also saw the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, Killing Joke there. Boomtown Rats were also excellent live at the Suite.

 

[Weststander]

Always felt like a wee small victory when punk gatecrashed TOTP where Brotherhood Of Man was the cosy Light Entertainment norm. Even more so when Whispering Bob Harris had to reluctantly concede airtime to punk on OGWT at the expense of his usual dreary doodlers

My punk older brother told me that the likes of dj Johnny Walker really, really hated the change, an end to the airwaves being dominated by The Eagles, Doobie Brothers. Angry about teenage upstarts starting bands. Moving to San Francisco to escape.

 

[Weststander]

Ahh, the Suite. What a fantastic place. Big Country stands out - literally wringing wet. I also saw the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, Killing Joke there. Boomtown Rats were also excellent live at the Suite.

Big Country was an amazing performance. I still have The Crossing vinyl.

 

[Peteinblack]

My genre of music. Much as I like punk (The Clash, The Stranglers and Crass especially), it was really what came afterwards, in its wake, that I really loved - and still do.

Bands & singers like: Killing Joke, Psychedelic Furs, Wire, Gang of Four, Klaus Nomi, PIL, Bauhaus, The Slits, The Birthday Party (Nick Cave), Echo & The Bunnymen, Sotf Cell, The Mekons, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Devo, Cocteau Twins, Marc Almond, The Only Ones, The Monochrome Set, The Au Pairs, The Chameleons, Joy Division - and then towards the mid-1980s, The Smiths, Half Man Half Biscuit, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and The Wedding Present, and a bit of Goth like Sisters of Mercy, The Mission and Xmal Deutchland.

When I first met Mrs Peteinblack, I knew she was 'the one' because she liked all of these bands too, whereas most of our friends and acquaintances had never heard of them and thought that we were 'weird'!

Not only do we still play these bands regularly, but of those which are still alive and touring, we still go to their gigs - have seen Killing Joke, and Wire (and bought all their recent albums - both bands have actually got better with age), 6 times each in the last 10 years, and last autumn, saw the Psychedelic Furs at The Roundhouse in Camden - one of the best gigs ever.

And our last gig, before the first lockdown, was Half Man Half Biscuit, in Bristol -- again, they were absolutely brilliant live, and are now playing bigger venues than they've ever played before in their career.

 

[Peteinblack]

Ahh, the Suite. What a fantastic place. Big Country stands out - literally wringing wet. I also saw the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, Killing Joke there. Boomtown Rats were also excellent live at the Suite.

Saw The Stranglers there on the No More Heroes tour - pretty scary when a bunch of bikers sat on the front of the stage just before the band came on, but it turned out they were mates of the band, and had been invited. There was no trouble!

 

[pearl]

Always felt like a wee small victory when punk gatecrashed TOTP where Brotherhood Of Man was the cosy Light Entertainment norm. Even more so when Whispering Bob Harris had to reluctantly concede airtime to punk on OGWT at the expense of his usual dreary doodlers

 

[Peteinblack]

Always felt like a wee small victory when punk gatecrashed TOTP where Brotherhood Of Man was the cosy Light Entertainment norm. Even more so when Whispering Bob Harris had to reluctantly concede airtime to punk on OGWT at the expense of his usual dreary doodlers

As a schoolboy, I used to work in Key Markets in the Guildbourne Centre, Worthing, stacking shelves, on Thursday evenings, but threw a sickie when I knew that the Pistols were going to be on TOTP playing 'Pretty Vacant' for the first time

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Was it Punk or what came after that is more the question ? Music/Art is so subjective not the greatest Punk fan although The Pistols and Pretty Vacant is one heck of a track,for me it's more like Punk broke the stranglehold of Glam Rock/American Disco with new labels and producer's on the scene and without doubt a young public that wanted something fresh and different,but that's just me.