UK Decay

[paulb]

I'm really not sure about this (surely posthumous) labelling of UK Decay as a goth band, Ok im aware of the history of abbo's comments re calling the music 'gothic' but that does not mean they were a goth band (i remember thom yorke from radiohead desribing the sound on one of their songs as orchestral, but it didnt make them an orchestra) and to link them into that genre does them a disservice in my opinion, not because of a name but simply because of some of the awful wailing derivitive tedium that followed, music that was largely devoid of originality and any kind of style or humour (yes feilds of the nephelim, specimen, sisters of mercy, mission etc. im talking about you).

I prefer to think of UK Decay as belongng to that difficult to label post punk movement that included such bands as theatre of hate, the mob, the birthday party, (early) bauhaus, blood and roses, brigandage etc.

I may be alone in this though, is every one else happy with the Goth tag? How do the ex members feel about it, anyone know?
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were still living with the english fear

[werewolf]

UK/DK Goth!

[rogerholdstock]

I seem to recall that the music press labelled this "movement" as 'positive punk' as opposed to the 'real punk'of the oi type bands. The label 'goth' didn't really exist back then, but you can see why UK Decay now get lumped in with it.

[paulb]

Yeah, roger, I remember that term positive punk being used a lot at the time (in fact I remember my mum telling her friend that I was a punk and, in the way of surly 14 year olds, I told her in no uncertain terms that I wasnt a punk, so she asked me what I was then and I can remember answering in all seriousness that I was a positive punk, how she kept a straight face i'll never know, and why I thought she and her friend would care about my distinction between exploited fans and mob fans i'll also never know), but that whole movement, during about 82-83 was excellent.

I guess it makes sense that UK Decay had a big influence on those later bands, bands that watered down the 'punkyness' of the positive punk style bands, and bands who would, mostly, have recoiled at going near an anarchist collective and for whom bands like Crass and the Poison girls were just a bunch of unwashed old hippies, so UK Decay certainly breached a gap that then created a family line between two otherwise unlikely bedfellows.
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were still living with the english fear

[blinkpoker]

i suppose in those early days of the first wave of punk bands you had the rock'nroll of the heartbreakers the mod influenced jam the doorsesque of the stranglers the avante garde of a.t.v ,subway sect the pop influenced buzzcocks (pete shelley era) so come 1979-80 when the 3rd wave bands were breaking the same thing was happening all the bands drawing from different influences i.e post punk, positive punk ,oi anarcho,goth etc when alls said and done it's only rock'n'roll..(but i like it}

[Pantherin]

Hi, suppose I'm new here but I found the thread interesting, so I thought...

Well, I think it's just as well that Uk Decay got lumped in with the Goth wave. If you look at other outfits of that era (labeled punk) you'll notice that there is less interest in them in retrospect. I always got the impression that Goths of all ages seem more loyal to their origins.
I admit though that this is not so in germany where IV#e met the odd urchin who didn't know SOM and the like

[Ian Lee]

My favourite time for music was 1978 to mid 1980s- so called 'Post Punk'.
UK Decay have For My Country included on the Rough Trade compilation double CD of this name (Vol 1 !).

However, a book out this week, ''Rip It Up and Start Again [after the Orange Juice song] postpunk 1978-1984'' by Simon Reynolds, mentions UK Decay twice- on pages 423 and 425 (of a 577 page publication). It lumps UK Decay under the Goth label: page 423- ''Death was a universal obsession: Sex Gang Children's logo was the Grim Reaper; UK Decay had songs like 'Necrophilia' and 'Rising From the Dead'. The clothing colour-scheme was funereal, the sense of glamour literally sepulchral''. Hmmm.

UK Decay fan Richard Cabut (aka North) was in a band called Brigandage.
They were positive punk, apparently. See, after a time, it all becomes a nonsense. Rock, rock and roll, punk, positive-punk, postpunk, goth, whatever- to some, it's music, to others, noise, others still, a damned infernal racket. But it's all the same really ! To pigeon-hole is to be a reactionary !

I was looking through some of my late father's possessions the other day, and came across a Bill Haley and The Comets concert programme from 1957. They were the first American rock and roll act to tour Britain. My Dad was going to see them at the Gaumont State Theatre, Kilburn, London- but was ill, and gave his ticket to his mother-in-law instead (true !), who went with my mother. What my grandmother thought of them, I'll never know ! Also found a ticket stub for a Louis Armstrong show at the Empress Hall (the sublime Empress State Building is now on the site, next to Earls Court). Hmm, teddy boy rock and roll and jazz- it's all the same vibe, yes ? Just different social and cultural attitudes at different times of history.

By the way- Northampton. Believe it all not, to all those residents past or present, my opinion is that Northampton is a very under-rated town. Probably the first Midland town, going north, it has some excellent architectural treasures. 78 Derngate, 'New Ways', 1930s concrete police station/fire station/public baths, plus several other smaller, unknown jewels. Take a good walk round ! Leaflets available if needed at the Tourist Office; then take in a gig at The Roadmenders in the evening !
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In a world of universal deceit, to tell the truth is a revolutionary act. Surely it is the way to progress- after all, if one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.

[Ian Lee]

I was at a gig last night, and Nick Bullen- bassist of Napalm Death and Scorn- came up to me and said- 'I saw you on the UK Decay website !'
(Picture with Steve Harles' tree).

So there you are- meet people via this website ! Wherever you are, you are not alone !

And Napalm Death and Scorn- how would you label them ? Thrash punk ?
Noise ? Hardcore ? Exactly- it's stupid.
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In a world of universal deceit, to tell the truth is a revolutionary act. Surely it is the way to progress- after all, if one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.

[paulb]

Ian,

Good points there, and yes, as I said above, I would agree that the period 79-(I would go as far as)83 was a very exiting time for any one into alternative music, very creative and tons of different bands you could have seen on any night of the week.

Regarding the Rip It Up And Start Again book, I bought it at the weekend and have just started ploughing my way through it (god its a big book, bigger than jon savage's Englands Dreaming, and that was a tome!) currently in the section on new york No Wave but looking forward to the start of the UK post punk movement proper.

I agree about labelling, it not that important, and pidgeon holeing may be reactionary, but these things matter to you when your a fourteen year old and the music you love is almost the only thing you live for. At that age you fall in love with certain bands and a certain style and feel a passion that is hard to recreate as you get older and other (mostly female) passions enter your life! So you do care about the way its presented to the outside world and the way the outside world refers to it, and the other bands that the media start refer to as being of the same genre. Christ I can remember a girl at school, a dyed in the wool new romantic (if such a thing existed) who came in one day claiming (In The Flat Field period) bauhaus as one of her own after hearing them through an older sister, I argued with her for what now seems like an embarrassingly long time, claining that they belonged to us, not her 'lot' - ha!

Anyway, you also seem to be something of a northampton expert, youre right there is some great architecture both victorian and some lovely art deco and the town does have a thriving club and music scene (in fact I had tickets to a willy mason gig at the roadmender last night, but it was pulled due to ilness at the last minute, im still gutted now). However, I cant help wanting Northampton to be the last town in the south east rather than the first town in the midlands, its moving here from Stevenage that does it!
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were still living with the english fear

[blinkpoker]

don't you agree that most of the labelling and new trends are started by music paper hacks trying to push new bands... the punk tag was coined by caroline coon who hi-jacked it from the 60s garage bands...the one that really makes me cringe from the early 90s the new wave of the new wave what the hell was all that about.!!!!