RENOWNED FOR GROUNDBREAKING PUNK AND EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC, ART, POETRY AND FILM, THEIR BASE AT DIAL HOUSE IN ESSEX WAS THE EPICENTRE OF THE BRITISH ANARCHIST MOVEMENT. PHIL ROSS MEETS FOUNDERS PENNY RIMBAUD AND STEVE IGNORANT TO UNRAVEL THE PHENOMENON, FROM THEIR BLASPHEMOUS MINDSET TO THEIR EXHAUSTED IMPLOSION FOLLOWING A BENEFIT GIG FOR STRIKING MINERS IN 1984.
Penny Rimbaud’s trauma and Steve Ignorant’s first visit to Dial House in 1973
Born in 1943, Jeremy Ratter changed his name by deed poll to Penny Rimbaud shortly after co-founding Crass in 1977, as a symbolic mark of dedication to his anarchist beliefs. The drummer-songwriter tells Record Collector about one of his earliest memories, when as five-year-old Jeremy, his fingers traced the silver Star of David embossed on the cover of a heavily bound black book, unaware of the horror awaiting him as he turned the pages.
Some 76 years later, he trembles as he recalls the most traumatising and formative moment of his life. It was a book about the Holocaust belonging to his father, Colonel John Ratter CBE, who had served through WW2 as a Royal Engineer. The trauma he experienced seeing photos of dead bodies in Auschwitz lying in pits, at such a young age, scarred the young Rimbaud, pressing upon him a bleak vision of the world. For the remainder of his life, the childhood trauma would influence his work as Penny Rimbaud: philosopher, poet and leader of Crass. After discovering Zen Buddhism as a teenager, he refused to go to church, and his devout Anglican parents eventually accepted it.
この記事は Record Collector の September 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Record Collector の September 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
WINDOWS ON THE WORLD
At the peak of their powers in the early 70s, by 1975 there were signs that Led Zeppelin were burning out, and their legendary appetite for excess, not to mention stadium-straddling, mythically charged, epically inclined hard rock, might be waning.
HI-FIDELITY?
Running a record shop is a dream for many music aficionados. Steve Burniston investigates how to run a successful one
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
45 SHEFFIELD 45s
Continuing our celebrations of RC's 45th birthday and following on from our look at the best 45s to come out of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow, we focus on the urbanisation formerly known as Steel City: Sheffield. Close to the (Nether) Edge: Jeremy Allen
Finished Symphonies
In the late 80s, Shelleyan Orphan made rarefied, ravishing, precious (both meanings) baroque pop, all chamber quartet accompaniment and literary reference points, like an 18th century Cocteau Twins.
"BLACK BRITISH PEOPLE HAD SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT"
Breaking new ground for black music in Britain from his teenage years in Matumbi in the early 70s, Dennis Bovell went on to become one of reggae's most highly regarded producers, helping popularise lovers rock. He also played a pivotal role in post-punk's experimental incorporation of dub influences on records like The Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y. As new compilation, Sufferer Sounds, reaches back to his early days to compile some of his best early dub plates, Lois Wilson gets the full backstory from one of British music's most enduring forces.
FRENZY REUNITED
Swindon's finest musical export, XTC were also one of the most quietly influential British bands, setting a template for Britpop while pioneering a brand of left-field guitar pop – from herky-jerky invention to consummate craftsmanship – that has spawned many imitators.
Paperback Blighters - The books every record collector should read.
The books every record collector should read. Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn.
"Beware the Savage Lure/of 1984..." - David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods.
David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods. For many, 1984 remains the nadir of his Phil Collins” phase; an artistic/sartonial/tonsorial disaster area. But was it really that awful? Forty years on, Matt Phillips explores Bowie's so-called annus horribilis.
