Crass

I'm reading Ian Glasper's book about British anarcho-punk, The Day The Country Died. It starts, as it must, with Crass, the band/collective who really cemented the look, politics, and sound of anarcho punk, which is a bit ironic since anarchy was supposed to be about doing your own thing.

The book has made me revisit Crass's second and best album, Stations of the Crass. It is one of my favorite punk albums ever. It is angry and political as hell, and yet just experimental enough to be interesting without being annoying. Most anarcho bands got super noisy, experimental and boring in their later years, and Crass was no exception. In fact, Penny Rimbaud, the main songwriter in Crass, now fronts a free jazz group. Ugh.

It's also remarkable how unpolitical most of the people involved with anarcho punk seemed to have been. In most of the groups, there was one guy steeped in anarchist dogma, and the rest of them were followers looking for some direction and a laugh. As much as I love the music, it seems like it was a pretty boring scene, what with everyone being so purer than thou and judgemental. And dirt poor.

Crass's music still resonates today, and I still appreciate their righteous anger, and the brilliant lines they come up with. Do they owe us a living? Of course they fucking do!