Magazine:
Mojo

No. 143, oktober 2005

15 tracks, 60:48

Mojo

Punk exploded across the UK in '77 and, legend has it, singlehandedly killed off pop, prog, disco, stadium rock and MOR. Bearing in mind that in that very year the likes of ABBA, Queen, The Shadows and Barbra Streisand enjoyed chart-topping albums, the truth seems a little more complex. In truth punk's revolutionary aspect took a while to percolate into the wider consciousness, but when it did its impact reverberated across a myriad of teenage scenes, all of which took its liberating spirit and absorbed it to their own end. These subcultures ranged from the second generation punks (who took Sham 69 as their standard-bearers) through to the Mod revivalists (led by the bowling shoe-hoofed Woking lads in The Jam) and on to the so-called futurists (as soul worshipping electro duo Soft Cell were initiaiiy dubbed). In-between there were skins, reborn rude boys, dreads, goths, psychobillies, the list of tribes seemed to go on and on. Each scene had its own sound, style, clubs and code of conduct. Even those without a scene per se - as was the case with street-folk agitator Billy Bragg - appeared to have a sense of belonging and real purpose.

MOJO's Made In Britain collection - compiled to coincide loosely with Janette Beekman's remarkable book of the same name - is a reflection of that time and place. From the inspiration of The Damned to the left-wing skinhead soul of The Redskins and on to the gothic aspirations of Alien Sex Fiend, this 15-track compilation is designed to celebrate the scenes that exploded in the aftermath of punk and whose music has outlasted the tribal extravagances that defined them. Scenes that - away from the pathetic jingoistic hi-jacking attempted by some - gave birth to a new outpouring of creativity in a country re-energised by music and willing to celebrate individuality. A New England indeed.

Phil Alexander
Editior-in-Chief, MOJO
London, England - august 2005

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