UK Decay

[Danse Society]

D,The Death Cult and early Cult was brill!!!!!
But has you said Astbury wanted the USA thing and to make lots of money
Shame!

[paulrabjohn]

i read on a website the other day that "brothers grimm" by death cult was written by abbo and billy duffy in an aborted band the two of them tried to put together. duffy then used the song in death cult.

i'd never heard this one before. any ideas if it's true? sounds believable , just surprised i'd never heard it mentioned before.

now a death cult fronted by abbo not astbury........that might have been quite something p

[Guest]

Who'd have thought 20 years later SDC drummer Aki would be a born again Muslim flirting on the fringes of Islamic terrorism?
Quote Mr Aki "Islam is like punk rock maan..." In my books punk rock wasn't about living in a self induced cage of primative oppression and keeping women under the thumbs of the very macho male man.
Southern Death Cult were cool. But not so the murder of innocents in London and New York.
What a winker....

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1807542,00.html

[paulrabjohn]

yeah , i saw him on bbc breakfast news promoting this single. still looks the same. just like fun-da-mental he's getting column inches by being provocative politically. and also , just like fun-da-mental the music doesn't sound much cop either. p

[D]

What's wrong with being provocative politically? I saw Fun-da-mental a couple of times about 15 years ago. They were like a breath of fresh air -original and angry with intelligent lyrics, dealing with racism, imperialism, the arms trade and so on. I'd compare them to Chumbawamba - a band that were being "provacative politically" for years before the media discovered them.

[paulrabjohn]

nothing at all wrong with being provocative politically , i just said i didn't think the music was much good. aki seems to get press for his views not his music , then and now.

never saw f-d-m but i guess the music worked better live? i liked the single with PWEI but that was probably the last i heard of him until now.p

[D]

Yes, things have moved on musically. At the time it was this amazing mix of different styles and often just noise, which is more common now but at the time still a novely, and it wasn't white indie kids but young asian musicians who very much under-exposed at the time (and perhaps still are). You're right that it worked better live. Obviously, it was pre-9/11 so it didn't have the obvious connotations but one of them was dressed like a Hamas fighter, another like a cleric, another in a sikh turban and various other stereotypes of what it is/was to be "asian" in the UK.

The first CD starts with the voice of a C18 thug, leaving a threatening message on the phone, later on there is a piece from the news about a 14 year old boy being in intensive care after a racist attack. It was a time when there was less islamophobia, the occupation of Palestine given less publicity and racists were generally on the retreat. I suppose at the time, a masked man on stage holding an AK47 was "thought provoking" whereas since 9/11 and 7/7 it's just plain scary to most and it plays into the right wing's hands.

I agree that the music has dated in a way that... er... UK Decay hasn't.

[TANTRABOY]

Aki was a Super heavy dude I was very proud of, an Asian kid who had bucked the conditioning, and entered the broad minded Punk scene, embraced for his diversity and individuality. I am sad he has been co opted into this, but it is an indication that Muslim Britain is deeply dislocated from the centre.

We are in genuine trouble, but I do think its been a form of trouble we have had brought upon us..

In 2002, like a lot of my collegaues in the Trade Union Movement I was involved in the Stop the War Cohilition. It was a great event ...It didnt' stop Blairs' violent entry into Iraq. From Secular Dictatorship to tribal Civil War....No cahnce of reconciliation...Did it work?

Kosovo 1999?
How about the high level bombings of populated areas to sow panic and destroy the infrastructure of the last Socialist Country in Europe? Leaving deeply Radioactive land..

Kosovo 2006?
More peace keepers...More killings..
No Local Government, No Chance of reconciliation. Still radioactive.

Blair had the chioce every time, and every time he had his choices made for him or played a role in deciding for us.

The War on Terror is like the War on Drugs in USA in the 80s, it never has an end or a beginning, it is everywhere, and there are no boundaries or rules, its parameters are set by the latest outrage.
No wonder the Militant Isalmic Community turned its back on Secular Islam, and has now increasingly become a Society within.

Aki is the latest casualty.
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BEDFORD'S ONLY 40 + TEENAGER

[Guest]

Aren't most people in Britain deeply dislocated from the centre - not just "muslim Britain"? But also, aren't most muslim's just like non-muslims trying to get on with our lives. During the war in Ireland, although IRA members were catholic, there was no scapegoating of catholics in general (at least in most parts of the mainland), yet there's a massive islamaphobia now, which is more about racism than religion. They didn't lump all catholics in with the IRA, so why do they stereotype muslims? The answer is racism.

And unless the left is successful at building an alternative to Bliar and his Tory doppleganger, people will be more and more attracted by "extremist" alternatives.

The Stop The War Coalition may not have stopped the war (yet) but it has made a difference in attitudes. Remember the coalition opposed the war when most people still accepted the WMD and 45 min arguement, when the idea that it could be any worse than Saddam rule was absurd and when they promised it would be over in days. You and your colleagues have been proven right. Perhaps if the coalition didn't exist, things would be worse and there would be more "extremism" not just from people attracted to islamic fundamentalism but also the far right.

[TANTRABOY]

Yes, its all of Britain, alienation is not confined to a community, you're right. And there was always a difference with the IRA, call it racism.
White Catholics, Coloured Muslims, its racism.

The Anti War Movement like all moral arguments for peace will always stand the tests of history and be proven correct.

I just wish we didnt' have to re experience wars to get the message.
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BEDFORD'S ONLY 40 + TEENAGER