ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY.
NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED!
Now things were getting interesting. Amidst the middle of the road and soft rock (Lindisfarne & Foreigner anyone?) you can find The Jam, Penetration, Sham 69, Chelsea, John Otway, Squeeze, Patti Smith and The Tom Robinson Band.
Another non-sexist programme cover:
There was a real mixture of sub-cultures here, attracted by the eclectic line-up: Mods for The Jam & New Hearts; Hippies for Steve Hillage & Spirit; Rockers for Status Quo and Ian Gillan; Skinheads for Sham 69; Folkies for The Albion Band and Lindisfarne; Punks for Penetration and Chelsea. Of course they’d all get along swimmingly? Hhmm...
‘1978 was like a crossover year from the old type festival goers, into the newer younger element, my clear memory is of a hippie having his acoustic guitar smashed over his head by some skins, whilst all the time saying "I love you man, I love you". It sounds funny today, but was disturbing at the time.’
It wasn’t all violence, of course, and for the most part it was like any other festival. However, Jimmy Pursey’s Sham 69 fanbase had a skinhead contingent and some of these were in attendance. Pursey always had good intentions and scored a hit with the pretty terrible ‘If The Kids Are United.’:
This clip, interestingly, lists the Top 20 of the time (get those hair-dos) – The Boomtown Rats and The Motors are the only notionally ‘punk’ bands there. ‘Punk Rock’ is so glamourised these days as some all-conquering revolution. It is hugely influential, but few bands broke into the mainstream, and most people remained unimpressed.
So anyway, the well-meaning Pursey thought that it would be a great idea to invite the long-haired hippie guitarist, Steve Hillage up onto the stage to join Sham 69 for a number or two. There was some fighting at the front of the stage and it didn’t take long for the stage invasion to start (this usually happened at their gigs). To be fair, this would have probably happened anyway, with or without the presence of Hillage. Pursey ended up in tears, and chaos ensued. The kids are united indeed. I once briefly talked to Pursey in Bonaparte Records shop in Guildford – he approved of my purchase of a Black Uhuru LP – and he came across as an ok guy.
Borstal Breakout from this festival, before the mayhem:
The Pirates were the remnants of Johnny Kidd and The Pirates who had a huge hit with ‘Shakin’ All Over’ in 1960. Johnny Kidd, the composer of the song, died in a car crash aged 30 in 1966.
There is a clip on You Tube of The Pirates giving it their all at Reading ’78, but nothing can compare to the original:
Bethnal – yet another band that went a bit punky with the times with a USP of a fiddle player. And here’s their passable version of The Who’s ‘Baba O’Reilly’ (apologies to Who fans who may be appalled!):
A John Foxx-era Ultravox being ahead of the electronica game, and before Midge Ure spoiled the party – apart from these points of note it's a bit crap really! ‘The Quiet Men’ at Reading ’78:
Some highlights:
Penetration – very good punk band from Newcastle fronted by Pauline Murray. Classic single – their first – Don’t Dictate:
Penetration re-formed on 2001 and are still active today. They have had several different band members, one of whom was Paul Harvey. Paul is an old friend of my ex-wife and also an artist.
The ‘Stuckist’ tag refers to:
Here are, in order, Daryl, Lotty, Sophie & Joe:
The Jam – superb mod/punk band from Woking led by the ever popular Paul Weller. Living in Guildford in the late seventies/early eighties meant that The Jam were local lads made good and guitarist Bruce Foxton was often seen about town. He also attended a couple of gigs by The Vapors, a Guildford band that I liked and saw in several pubs around town. They went on to have a huge hit with ‘Turning Japanese’, and their first album ‘New Clear Days’ (geddit?) was a pretty decent pop-punk album. It was quite strange to see that single go up in the charts week by week – I think it reached number 4. As for the Jam – they obviously became absolutely huge. At the time of their Paul Weller-enforced break-up in 1982 they had had four number one hit singles.
A great live band – they went down a storm, although Paul Weller wasn’t happy with the sound. I also saw them over the next few years at the Guildford Civic Hall, the Crawley Leisure centre and the Swindon Oasis. The latter venue was the best – a small club (with a revolving bar) where you could get close to the band, who not surprisingly got mightily fed up with a few punters who kept spitting at them, Bruce Foxton at one point jumping at one of the perpetrators with guitar aloft, incandescent with rage. The bouncers had to pull him off and the gig carried on. Spitting – what the hell was that all about?!
In The City – from this very concert. Plus Mr. Clean & 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street. Attitude and energy – where’s that gone?!:
Down In The Tube Station:
Going Underground - sorry about the advert before it:
Patti Smith at her creative best, playing songs from ‘Horses’, Radio Ethiopia’ and ‘Easter’.
John Otway at his barmy best:
The first incarnation of Chelsea featured Gene October and Billy Idol. Chelsea's debut single, was included in Mojo's list of the best punk rock singles of all time. They are still touring today:
Squeeze’s first and best single:
And The Tom Robinson Band triumphantly headlining on the Sunday night. A
Reading crowd singing along to ‘Glad To Be Gay’, there top 20 hit – who’d a thought it?!
There just maybe hope for diversity at these festival things after all!
The Jam, Status Quo, Patti Smith & Foreigner:
Blimey
