British Music – Page 2 – Cottage Capers

On this day in history….6th November 1975

On this day in history : 6th November 1975 – The first public performance by The Sex Pistols – at St. Martin’s College of Art, London….

The gig was organised by the band’s bass guitarist, Glen Matlock, who was studying at the college…. They were supporting the headline act, Bazooka Joe – who loaned the Pistols the use of their equipment…. The Sex Pistols were to play just five songs – including covers of ‘I’m Not Your Stepping Stone’ by the Monkees, The Who’s ‘Substitute’ and ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It’ by the Small Faces…. They also performed their own song ‘Seventeen’…. After less than twenty minutes the plug was pulled on them…. There is some discrepancy as to who called time to the proceedings but it is thought that Bazooka Joe were less than happy at seeing their equipment being smashed up – the evening ended with a fist fight….

The Sex Pistols, 1977 – Photographer : Koen Suyk – Nationaal Archief, Nederlands CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Three of the band’s members :- Steve Jones, guitarist – Paul Cook, Drummer and Glen Matlock, bassist – had formed a band in 1972 and had called themselves ‘The Strand’…. They took their inspiration from groups such as The Who and The Small Faces…. They were managed by Malcolm McLaren – an artist, fashion designer and boutique owner (SEX) – along with his then girlfriend Vivienne Westwood…. McLaren had a vision – a way of creating a whole new sound and look…. John Lyndon (Johnny Rotten) joined the band as vocalist, the existing three had a new frontman and they became The Sex Pistols…. With their raw, unpolished loud music, the band were about to become one of the most influential groups in the history of popular music…. Although they only produced four singles and one studio album in their two and a half year career- they initiated Punk Rock….

Sex Pistols in Paradiso – Johnny Rotten – Photographer : Koen Suyk – Nationaal Archief, Nederlands CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

On the 8th of October 1976 The Sex Pistols signed with EMI; their debut single ‘Anarchy in the UK’ was released the following month…. On the 1st of December 1976 their foul mouths and attitude on a TV appearance earned them the label ‘Rotten Punks’…. On the 6th of January 1977 EMI dropped them…. Glen Matlock departed the band in February ’77 and Sid Vicious took his place…. In May of the same year the band released their single ‘God Save the Queen’ – surrounded by controversy it was promptly banned by the BBC…. On the 7th of June, during the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations the Pistols attempted to perform on a boat on the Thames – but were stopped by the police….

Whenever The Sex Pistols performed it invariably ended in mayhem…. It was often difficult for them to get gigs in the first place – as organisers were reluctant to deal with them…. The Sex Pistols performed their final concert on the 14th of January in San Francisco….

Sex Pistols, Norway 1977 – Photographer : Billedbladet NA / Arnes Nielsen via Riksarkivet (National Archives) on Flickr

So, on that rainy November night back in 1975 – when in front of an audience of apparently approximately just twenty….history was made…. As for Bazooka Joe – they never got far…. Although their bass guitarist, a guy named Stuart Goddard, went on to have some degree of success – when he changed his name to Adam Ant….

On this day in history….2nd November 2014

On this day in history : 2nd November 2014 – The death of English clarinetist and vocalist Acker Bilk – who has in the past been described as ‘the Great Master of the Clarinet’….

Image credit : Bradford Timeline via Flickr

Bilk’s most famous track, instrumental Stranger on the Shore, reached No.2 and stayed 55 weeks in the charts…. It was kept off the No.1 position by Cliff Richard’s The Young Ones but was to become the biggest selling single of 1962…. However, it did reach No.1 in the USA; Bilk always claimed that it would be his pension fund….

Born Bernard Stanley Bilk in Pensford, Somerset on the 28th of January 1929, he acquired the nickname ‘Acker’ as it is Somerset slang for ‘mate’ or ‘friend’….

He learned to play the clarinet whilst doing his National Service with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal…. His first clarinet was one a friend had bought on a bazaar – it had no reed so they made one from a piece of wood…. He later ‘borrowed’ a clarinet from the army’s orchestra – and managed to keep hold of it after being demobbed…. After completing his National Service Bilk joined his uncle’s blacksmith business and became qualified in the trade himself…. He married his childhood sweetheart, Jean Hawkins, whom he had been at school with – and they went on to have two children, a boy and a girl….

Bilk began to play on the Bristol jazz circuit with a group of friends…. He then moved to London and joined the band of trumpet and cornet player Ken Colyer…. However, he didn’t care much for London and so returned to Pensford and formed his own band The Chew Valley Jazzmen…

But to achieve success meant having to return to London….which the band did in 1951, renaming themselves The Bristol Paramount Jazz Band…. They landed themselves a six week job in a Düsseldorf beer keller – and it was during this time that the band developed their own unique style and image, complete with bowler hats and striped waistcoats…. Along with his goaty beard this look stayed with Bilk throughout his career…. The band returned to the UK and the London jazz circuit and became part of the traditional jazz scene that was so popular in the late 1950s…. In 1960 their first hit single Summer Set was released and reached No.5; a string of hit singles were to follow….

Mr Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazz Band – Image credit : Hans-Michael Tappan via Flickr

In 1962 Bilk composed Jenny; a melody he named for his daughter – he reputedly thought it up whilst travelling in the back of a taxi…. He was then asked to change the title so it could be used for a BBC children’s television series about a French au pair living in Brighton – the series was entitled Stranger on the Shore…. He then recorded it as the title track for his new album – it made him an international star, selling over a million copies and earning a gold disc…. The track was so successful that it had no need for lyrics…. Soon he had become such a big star that his PR operation became known as the Bilk Marketing Board – a humorous play on the work ‘Milk’….

Bilk’s last chart appearance was in 1978 with the album Evergreen…. He continued to tour with his band and was awarded an MBE in 2001…. He said, in 2012, that after 50 years he was fed up with playing Stranger on the Shore…. However, I don’t think we, the public, will ever tire of hearing it….

Bilk died in Bath in 2014 at the age of 85… He had been treated for throat cancer in 1997 but had then developed bladder cancer and suffered a minor stroke….

Acker Bilk performing in the Duke of Clarence Assembly Rooms during the 1960s – Image credit : Marquisofqueensbury at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0

British History

On this day in history….4th March 1966

On this day in history : 4th March 1966 – John Lennon gives an interview in which he states the Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ – it causes outrage in the United States….

Image : YouTube

The interview was for the Evening Standard….it was the first in a series of articles entitled “How Does a Beatle Live?” Each member of the group was individually interviewed – starting with John Lennon at his home in Weybridge….

“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me”….

His words provoked no reaction from the public in the UK…. However, in July 1966 it was quoted in a US teen magazine and was received in America in a very different manner….

The publication that had been granted rights to all four interviews was a magazine called ‘Datebook’. Being broad minded – covering topics such as the legalisation of marijuana and inter-racial relationships – it was considered the most suitable for publishing the interviews…. Datebook teased its readers with the snippet “I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity” printed on the front cover….

Tommy Charles a DJ for WAQY, a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama heard of the comments – and was furious…. “That does it for me. I am not going to play the Beatles any more”…. The listeners were asked for their opinions – and they were less than favourable….the people were beginning to show their contempt….

The ball started to roll….more than twenty other radio stations followed suit and banned Beatles music…. The public were keen to show their anger – in the South especially – demonstrations were held, bonfires lit, Beatles memorabilia and records burned…. Soon the protests crossed over to Mexico and on to other particularly religious countries – such as Spain and South Africa…. The Vatican issued a public denouncement of Lennon’s comments….

Unfortunately the controversy coincided with the upcoming US tour scheduled for August and the recent release of the album ‘Revolver’….

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Lennon apologised for his comments, cheekily saying “If I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it”…. The Press were somewhat sympathetic….

However, it was touch and go as to whether the tour would go ahead – but it was decided that it should…. Overshadowed by disturbances and protests – even being picketed by the Ku Klux Klan – some dates were cancelled, such as Memphis – because the Beatles were not welcome in town….

There was some support for the Beatles though…. One Kentucky radio station said it would play Beatles music in order to show its “contempt for hypocrisy personified”…. And a Jesuit magazine – ‘America’ – wrote that “Lennon was simply stating what many a Christian educator would readily admit”….