Glam + Punk = Blitz
Like a magpie I would go for the bright , shiney , glitzy and somtimes sleazey . This theory has had its successes and failures I discovered one of my alltime favourite bands the New York Dolls this way . I was a 14 year old kid and I,d previously seen them in the music press and like all the other hip young things back in the early 70s with enough suss to know what was hot and what was not when they appeared live on the BBC2 hippie music programme " The old grey whistle test ", annoying the presenter Whispering Bob who dismissed them as "mock rock" and outraging and disgusting parents everywhere .
They looked and sounded great and I was intrigued by the cutt throat hooker drag in the debut lp cover photo and that sense of danger because you knew right away that there was something very different about these guys from all the other glam bands that were ruling the UK charts at that time .
So when I found both their lps in a second hand shop I snapped them up
bought a Destroy t shirt with the swastika and upside down crucifix print which was quite daring and expensive and a Sex Pistols book .
By 1979 we had been wearing the punk dress style for a while , we had the spikey dyed hair , the leather jackets , the bondage gear and the t, shirts and everything else we needed , and we were still fans and listening to bands like Generation X , Rich Kids ,Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers , Rudi but we were also big fans of Siouxsie and the Banshees , Stage B and the Psychedelic Furs who were taking us in a darker musical direction . We were listening again to our old Bowie and Roxy lps as well as Japan and Systems of Romance by the John Foxx era Ultravox and we were very aware of something called the Blitz Kids happening in London clubs .
Tubeway Army,s are friends electric / We are so fragile also pointed to something new emerging on the musical
horizon , I remember it getting a number of plays amongst all the other classic punk 45s in the backroom disco at the world famous Harp bar which at the time was the number one punk club in Ireland . The dramatic change in
the look and sound of Adam and the Ants from a hard core punk band , dropping their S and M imagery and switching to a more tribal drum heavy sound with a red indian / pirate hybrid image was another clear sign that
something was stirring and things were about to change . In 1980 we realised that we had a lot more in common with this new emerging youth cult than the next generation punk scene which was now on the rise and was now
the territory of the glue addled mohawked and skinhead foot soldiers of the Oi! bands like the Exploited , a movement I felt absolutly no connection with . This was not the punk music that I loved . So I hung up
my bondage gear but I,ve never lost my passion for all the great music that was produced in my punk years . Bands like early Visage , Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet sounded and looked better to me now as it seemed to be disenchanted ex punks from my generation that were the driving force behind it all . I remember Steve Strange appearing on a tv show called Friday night , Saturday morning which was a chat show hosted by Toyah Wilcox that particular week and he looked totally outrageous and different . With our dyed hair and make up we were wearing the short bum freezer Bowie jackets and baggy peg trousers with loads of pleats and seriously pointed winkle picker shoes which believe me took guts in Belfast back then but we never had any real problems and we were used to people staring after all the critical attention we recieved as punks . I,ve always hated the New Romantic tagg that was attatched to this scene Blitz kids was better , I was no new romantic whatever that is , at the time I thought of it as punks next stage different from everyone else , outrageous and underground all over again . I liked the new music coming from early Visage and Duran Duran from the newer bands and ofcourse Bowie , Roxy Music and Siouxsie , Japan , Psychedelic Furs and the Skids amongst others were high on my playlist . In 1981 I set up a club night in a local bar with a mate and we called it Future Legend after the track of Bowie,s Diamond Dogs lp . On the opening night which was well attended we had a disco playing the latest electro glam hits mixed with a large sprinkling of glam / punk classics and local bands the Ex Ps and Stage B played live . Around the same time in Belfast city centre an after hours membership only club had opened called Jules which was also catering to the same crowd as Future Legend . Once the scene went totally overground I lost interest as the original bands were releasing records that were really not very good and it was all running out of steam as shit copycat bandwagon jumping versions of everything to do with this scene like the style and music was everywhere . I liked the cool rockabilly style of the Stray Cats and the Polecats etc , pink pegs , leathers and the cross over blue suede buckled brothel creepers from the punk / ted days are the coolest shoes ever .From 1981 onwards for a number of years my girlfriend Catherine and I were visiting London regulary and I revisited the Kings rd again after a three year absence .
There was plenty of good clothes shops there back then like Robot for those leopard / zebra print buckled DM shoes and the Great gear market which was were Rusty Eagans record store in a cage in the middle of the basement was and we were going to various gigs and clubs . I made two very brief visits to London during 1980 / 81 to attend a couple of gigs , I went to see the 2002 reveiw package which featured Theatre of Hate , Classix Nouveaux and Shock at the Lycem and I saw Japan live for my first and only time at the Hammersmith Odeon on 7 . 2 . 81 . By summer 1982 I was back in London and one night I went to the Embassy club to see Red Lipstique play (remember Drac,s back ) and I got talking to the pre pop fame Boy George dressed in all his Sue Clowes hebrew prints a nice friendly guy he was there with Phillip Salon dressed head to toe in Worlds End pirate chic, he was a guy I,d seen in early photos of the Sex Pistols .
It was very easy in those days to go celeb spotting in London because of all the media focus on the nightclub culture . When the Camden Palace opened ofcourse I had to go . On a thursday night it really was pop star central , everyone from Bannanarama to the Cure and everything else inbetween who appeared on Top of the Pops then frequented the place , though the music played was good and definetly not pure chart pop at all , I still liked my dance music with a dirty nasty edge and they were providing it playing stuff by the likes of Killing Joke , The Cult and the Sisters of Mercy and a lot of other great music and not all of it was goth type either there was
a really good mix of styles , the place was packed .