UK Anarcho-Punk (1979-1989)
104 videos • 55,673 views • by LMR In the wake of the success of the self-proclaimed anarchist band Crass in the late-1970s, there was an explosion of anarchism-inspired punk bands across the UK and Ireland which reached its peak in the mid-1980s. The extent to which some of these bands were actually interested in anarchism as a historical political project connected to socialist, communist, and labor movements is debatable. However, a number of these bands were genuinely interested in anarchism, becoming involved with activist groups such as Class War, Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and Anti-Facist Action (AFA). The anarcho-punk cultural scene was also the main driver behind the mid-1980s 'Stop-The-City' protests in London, often cited as an influential precursor to the anti/alter-globalization protests of the late-90s-2000s that reached their height in the Occupy protests. Additionally, Crass' successful creation of two independent record labels (Crass Records and Corpus Christi Records) also led to an eruption of independent "anarchist" record labels across the UK and Ireland, most of which were band-initiated. All music on this playlist was released on one of the many band-initiated independent anarchist record labels making up this constellation. Some of these labels include Agit-Prop (Chumbawamba), All The Madmen (The Mob), Bluurg (Subhumans), Crass/Corpus Christi (Crass), Mortarhate/Fight Back (Conflict), Spiderleg (Flux of Pink Indians), and Xntrix (Poison Girls). Of note is the stylistic diversity represented by the bands here. Most accounts of anarcho-punk present it as a stylistically stale musical milieu. However, a listen through this playlist shows that many anarcho-punk bands incorporated interesting stylistic elements of contemporaneous musical genres, specifically New-Wave.