The Culture Show "Girls Will Be Girls" BBC 2 Women in Punk

00:29:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NLMU_xCCUA

Summary

TLDRThe video highlights the impact of female punk musicians who emerged during the punk explosion around 40 years ago. These women, like Siouxsie Sioux, Chrissie Hynde, and others, revolutionized the music scene by defying gender norms and establishing a radical presence in a male-dominated industry. They inspired countless young women, proving that female performers could succeed on their own terms. The video further examines how these pioneering women, through bands like The Slits, played crucial roles in shaping punk music and culture, emphasizing their rebellious approach and unique style. It explores the cultural significance and lasting legacy of female punk artists, showing that while punk styles have become more mainstream, the spirit of female punk continues to thrive and evolve, influencing modern artists and movements around the world.

Takeaways

  • 🎸 Women redefined punk music during its explosion.
  • 🤘 Bands like The Slits were pioneers in the punk scene.
  • 🎤 Female punk artists broke gender norms.
  • 🔊 A lasting impact on music culture and society.
  • 📀 Female artists inspired countless women globally.
  • 👩‍🎤 Chrissie Hynde and Siouxsie Sioux as key figures.
  • 🗣️ Women took control of their artistic expression.
  • 💥 Punk ethos: No sellout, no compromise.
  • 🎶 Continues to influence modern music and feminism.
  • 🎨 A unique style and attitude that remains relevant.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    40 years ago, women like Siouxsie Sioux and Chrissie Hynde redefined music and created a shift in the artistic landscape dominated by men. Emerging from London's squats and suburbs, these female punk artists inspired a generation, doing music on their own terms. Viv Albertine's memoir highlights this cultural revolution where women played significant roles without compromising sex appeal.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    In 1977, the Slits became prominent in the punk scene, making their debut at the Harlesden Coliseum, challenging norms with electrifying performances. The London punk scene, born out of squats and frustration, soon saw women stepping up not just as vocalists but as integral band members. Viv Albertine joined the Slits soon after, continuing the female punk legacy.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Punk was a liberating force where women like Albertine found confidence in all-girl groups despite earlier skepticism. Her journey highlights the unique collaboration and empowerment among women in punk, sharing unconventional ideas and breaking societal expectations of women.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Female punk artists like Siouxsie Sioux and Polly Styrene challenged traditional female beauty norms, creating music and personas that focused on individuality rather than sexual appeal. Their impact extended beyond music, influencing fashion and attitudes towards women, making way for others like the Raincoats and Chrissie Hynde to emerge.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:29:28

    Even as punk began to fade, its legacy continued with women who initially retreated now returning with fresh creativity. This ongoing evolution shows punk's enduring influence, as original figures like Viv Albertine and Chrissie Hynde persist in breaking new grounds, proving punk's spirit of rebellion evolves with age and experience.

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Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What role did women play in the punk music scene?

    Women in punk music redefined the industry by breaking gender norms and establishing a powerful presence, inspiring young women globally.

  • Which female bands were prominent in the punk movement?

    Bands like The Slits, featuring artists like Viv Albertine, were key figures in the punk movement, influencing music and culture.

  • How did female punk artists express their rebellion?

    They expressed rebellion through unique styles, music, and by challenging traditional gender roles in a male-dominated industry.

  • Does the spirit of punk still exist today?

    Yes, the spirit of punk continues to influence modern music and feminist movements, as seen through various artists and social initiatives.

  • What impact did female punk artists have on society?

    They changed perceptions of what women could achieve and be in music, inspiring future generations with their bold approach.

  • Are there any contemporary artists influenced by punk?

    Yes, contemporary artists and movements continue to draw inspiration from punk's rebellious and empowering ethos.

  • How did punk fashion contribute to the movement?

    Punk fashion, with its bold and often shocking styles, played a significant role in expressing the movement's rebellious nature.

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  • 00:00:09
    over height of the punk explosion almost
  • 00:00:12
    40 years ago a handful of women
  • 00:00:14
    redefined what it was to be a female
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    artist and performer they forced their
  • 00:00:19
    way onto a largely male-dominated music
  • 00:00:21
    scene and became part of a movement that
  • 00:00:23
    was to radically change the artistic
  • 00:00:25
    landscape of this country they came from
  • 00:00:28
    the squats and suburbs of London and
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    inspired a generation of ordinary young
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    women to believe they could do whatever
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    they wanted
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    along with Siouxsie Sioux Chrissie Hynde
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    polystyrene in the rain coast the slicks
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    were amongst Punk's most important
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    figures and viv albertine their
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    guitarist has just brought out her
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    brilliantly titled memoir clothes
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    clothes clothes music music music
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    boys boys boys it charts her life as
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    part of this cultural revolution these
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    were female musicians doing it on their
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    own terms no sellout no compromise no
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    straightforward sex appeal and in doing
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    it their way they set the template for
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    the modern rebel girl the great thing
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    about punk was that the fact that I was
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    a girl did was no longer any kind of a
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    feature there's a six-month window where
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    you could kind of sneak in there and see
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    if you could get away with it
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    you never heard girls until then
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    absolutely bursting with a really raw
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    primal energy that we had we're trying
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    to cause a bit of mayhem to be honest
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    with you well you look like you're yeah
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    we threw a few chairs around it was a
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    quarter arms for the girls they weren't
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    background dressing anymore they were
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    Amazonian punk rock warriors I don't
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    give a [ __ ] you cannot it's your
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    attitude that counts
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    these women were breaking taboos shaking
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    up the establishment but did their
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    revolution last longer than a
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    three-minute pop song almost 40 years on
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    now mainstream culture has absorbed the
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    shock of these outsiders can the female
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    Punk spirit still survive little girl
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    should be seen and not home it's 1977
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    honey and Jackie magazines are packed
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    with girls with perfect Charlie's Angel
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    flicks wearing flares pinning posters of
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    Rod Stewart to their wall legs and cosa
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    che mums early to the latest disco hits
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    on Top of the Pops and lovely David soul
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    is at the top of the charts with don't
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    give up on us baby the back pages of the
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    NME sell I choked Linda Lovelace
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    t-shirts in reference to the famous porn
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    star from deep throat despite the birth
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    of feminism for many young women 70s
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    Britain isn't exactly the land of
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    opportunity
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    but some young women are looking for
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    something a little more underground
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    something more dangerous something they
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    can call their own that thing it's punk
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    rock and it's in little venues like this
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    one that they get to take center stage
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    for the very first time so it was here
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    at the Halston Colosseum in London that
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    the slit the first all-girl punk band
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    played their debut gig on March the 11th
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    1977 their chaotic performance and
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    in-your-face irreverence made a huge
  • 00:03:29
    impact on many of those who are in the
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    audience that night I just felt like I
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    wish I was me this is what I want to be
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    what they sang and how they behaved just
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    spoke to me
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    I'm always beating the crap out of the
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    drums Tessa
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    all in black she looks amazing erring
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    more than any of the female performers
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    and even maybe the men typify the spirit
  • 00:03:54
    of punk rock she's blessing and her old
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    wrinkle you know was complete revelation
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    to see them because they were just so
  • 00:04:03
    energetic so wild it's pretty
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    extraordinary
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    actually no women had ever done this
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    before the slits were at the heart of a
  • 00:04:14
    fledgling London punk scene which emerge
  • 00:04:17
    from the clubs and squats of West London
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    these squats were crash pads and
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    rehearsal rooms when manifestos were
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    hammered out and punk bands were born
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    punk was a howl of frustration a
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    visceral reaction to the dull British
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    establishment and 1970s pop music's
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    overblown pretensions and anyone could
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    be involved initially attention focused
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    on male punk bands but women soon
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    elbowed their way to the forefront not
  • 00:04:44
    just as vocalists but as guitarists
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    keyboard players bass players and
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    drummers and shortly after the
  • 00:04:50
    trailblazing halston gig viv albertine
  • 00:04:53
    who was also part of this closely knit
  • 00:04:55
    punk fraternity joined The Slits
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    on guitar
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    let's talk a bit about the kind of
  • 00:04:59
    atmosphere around Punk because some
  • 00:05:02
    people may think of it as a kind of
  • 00:05:03
    aggressive time but actually it was
  • 00:05:05
    quite a kind of open-minded time the
  • 00:05:08
    idea the idea was that you could do what
  • 00:05:10
    you want there's a kind of DIY ethos
  • 00:05:11
    wasn't there around it I sort of didn't
  • 00:05:14
    know Punk existed well there wasn't Punk
  • 00:05:15
    you know I didn't know there was this
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    way of being yourself on stage and not
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    caring about your accent or how poor you
  • 00:05:23
    were or where you came from
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    until I saw Johnny Rotten play and then
  • 00:05:26
    that was it it wasn't epiphany
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    I think just that package he was he was
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    near a girl like me as a boy could be
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    really I got left 200 quid the only
  • 00:05:43
    money I've ever been left in my life by
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    my grandmother and I thought I'm gonna
  • 00:05:46
    go and buy a guitar Mick Jones he was my
  • 00:05:48
    boyfriend at the time said great I
  • 00:05:50
    literally couldn't play it I couldn't
  • 00:05:52
    hold down one bar chord and then I think
  • 00:05:55
    about a week later I met Sid Vicious in
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    the street I hadn't met him before and
  • 00:05:58
    said I'm gonna make a band and he said
  • 00:06:00
    oh I'll be in a band with you you were
  • 00:06:02
    practicing for quite a while weren't you
  • 00:06:03
    with Sid yeah we did spend the whole of
  • 00:06:05
    summer 76 the hottest summer on record
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    in Joe strummers basement trying to get
  • 00:06:10
    band together we sort of got used to how
  • 00:06:13
    it felt to rehearse and turn up every
  • 00:06:15
    day and and then Sid decided I couldn't
  • 00:06:17
    play well guitar well enough to be in
  • 00:06:19
    the band anymore even though it was my
  • 00:06:20
    band okay so you joined The Slits
  • 00:06:26
    and did you get a kind of confidence
  • 00:06:29
    from that environment cuz when you join
  • 00:06:31
    the slits it was an all-girl group
  • 00:06:32
    wasn't it hmm I didn't like it being an
  • 00:06:34
    all-girl group and to everyone at the
  • 00:06:36
    time was very against being labeled you
  • 00:06:38
    know because we've been labeled all our
  • 00:06:40
    lives we were just the sort of useless
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    poor comprehensive school educated kids
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    and said to Chrissie Hynde to as a
  • 00:06:47
    friend of mine
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    Oh Chrissy I want to be in an all-girl
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    group it's tokenistic and Chrissy just
  • 00:06:51
    said to me I'll shut up and get on with
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    it they're in good bad very dead fur for
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    the fan rule on the same sublevel I
  • 00:07:04
    can't believe how we found each other
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    because even to this day I've never met
  • 00:07:08
    any other women like the other three
  • 00:07:11
    slits Ari and I especially could write
  • 00:07:14
    together really well which means it
  • 00:07:16
    couldn't he was really crippling to her
  • 00:07:18
    with me there because I don't know you
  • 00:07:20
    wanted to write songs about SNM and
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    concentration camps and things and I
  • 00:07:24
    couldn't can do it with the girls I
  • 00:07:27
    could write a song like typical girls
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    and they will understood exactly what I
  • 00:07:31
    was on about and the pressures of what's
  • 00:07:33
    expected of you to be a young woman
  • 00:07:37
    Hey
  • 00:07:44
    so she'll talk a bit about re cuz she
  • 00:07:47
    was a very unusual coach she did have an
  • 00:07:49
    extraordinary mind and she was very very
  • 00:07:51
    different and very relaxed about her
  • 00:07:52
    body I mean she pissed on the stage it's
  • 00:07:55
    not to be shocking but she basically
  • 00:07:57
    desperately needed a pit and she
  • 00:07:59
    completely liberated me actually about
  • 00:08:01
    my body I learn a hell of a lot off her
  • 00:08:03
    and we translated that back into the
  • 00:08:05
    slits as well you don't feel any chance
  • 00:08:18
    Oh
  • 00:08:22
    I mean you can feel the fear service
  • 00:08:24
    there if we very specifically made sure
  • 00:08:27
    our voices and our backing vocals
  • 00:08:28
    weren't all girly and breathy again even
  • 00:08:31
    just like when you shout across a
  • 00:08:32
    playground you go oi you don't go hey
  • 00:08:35
    why you're doing it this massive you
  • 00:08:38
    know kind of controversy on the internet
  • 00:08:40
    as to what the lyrics are and the first
  • 00:08:41
    verse nobody knows well I don't know
  • 00:08:45
    female punks were trailblazers creating
  • 00:08:48
    not just their own space for performance
  • 00:08:51
    but their own kind of music their own
  • 00:08:54
    way of being
  • 00:08:54
    they took Malcolm mccarran's manifesto
  • 00:08:57
    be childish be irresponsible be
  • 00:09:00
    disrespectful be everything that society
  • 00:09:01
    hates and created their own style
  • 00:09:04
    sometimes even their own cartoonish
  • 00:09:06
    personas
  • 00:09:17
    there was 19 year-old Siouxsie Sioux the
  • 00:09:20
    girl from the London suburbs whose which
  • 00:09:22
    like look inspired women made men feel
  • 00:09:25
    both sexy and submissive at the same
  • 00:09:27
    time you had Suzy advances as Suzy was a
  • 00:09:31
    double tricks for the three pretty boys
  • 00:09:33
    was kind of pervy it was very good
  • 00:09:35
    everyone had their own look Suzy
  • 00:09:38
    probably more than anyone
  • 00:09:39
    you know if she had that whole Clockwork
  • 00:09:40
    Orange thing going and she always looked
  • 00:09:43
    fantastic
  • 00:09:52
    there was polystyrene with herb and
  • 00:09:55
    x-ray specs sporting braces on her teeth
  • 00:09:57
    and challenging the idea that female
  • 00:10:00
    performers should be passive and
  • 00:10:01
    conventionally beautiful polystyrene had
  • 00:10:03
    a major part to play she was
  • 00:10:05
    particularly empowering to women that
  • 00:10:07
    weren't about looking girly x-ray Spex
  • 00:10:10
    had a great image and a great sound they
  • 00:10:12
    were so different to everything that
  • 00:10:14
    come before ya polly was a little anti
  • 00:10:18
    sex symbol in it and she will like a bit
  • 00:10:21
    bin bag it was so liberating for
  • 00:10:24
    everyone around you felt like hey we can
  • 00:10:26
    just look like you know how we want to
  • 00:10:29
    and the songs were just so different as
  • 00:10:31
    well
  • 00:10:33
    she sang like no woman had done before
  • 00:10:36
    it was the kind of screen ready some of
  • 00:10:39
    the early song scream of desperation
  • 00:10:42
    it was all about consumerism it's all
  • 00:10:44
    about not being a slave to your desires
  • 00:10:46
    most people associate bondage with
  • 00:10:48
    section bonded and I think it's
  • 00:10:51
    affirmative and I think of whips and
  • 00:10:54
    things like that but it isn't it's about
  • 00:10:55
    any form of slavery and it's against
  • 00:10:58
    back saying that bondage up yards and I
  • 00:11:00
    [ __ ] after that and Gina Burch and Ana
  • 00:11:08
    de Silva who was so inspired by The
  • 00:11:10
    Slits first gig that they started their
  • 00:11:12
    own band the raincoats in November 1977
  • 00:11:15
    within a few weeks they were playing
  • 00:11:17
    their first gig the raincoats preferred
  • 00:11:20
    ideas to proficiency encountered John
  • 00:11:22
    Lydon amongst their fans it was all
  • 00:11:29
    about you putting your own ideas forth
  • 00:11:32
    and bringing yourself to it it wasn't
  • 00:11:36
    copying this guitar play and doing these
  • 00:11:38
    solos and lots of fancy stuff it was
  • 00:11:42
    about you bringing what you had to the
  • 00:11:44
    fore
  • 00:11:51
    as well as American Chrissie Hynde who
  • 00:11:54
    dropped out of art school in Ohio and
  • 00:11:56
    landed in London at the beginning of the
  • 00:11:57
    punk scene when people talk about this
  • 00:12:00
    subject people forget Chrissie Hynde you
  • 00:12:02
    have a woman doing what no one's ever
  • 00:12:04
    done before which is playing guitar very
  • 00:12:06
    aggressively you play with Chrissie you
  • 00:12:08
    have to rock that's what she wants to do
  • 00:12:09
    she'll get it done the essence a rock
  • 00:12:11
    you know just as tough as anything men
  • 00:12:13
    could do Chrissy's abilities didn't go
  • 00:12:16
    unnoticed by Punk and Rosario Malcolm
  • 00:12:18
    Lou Herrin she found herself part of a
  • 00:12:20
    small pool of musicians who went on to
  • 00:12:23
    form some of the major punk groups
  • 00:12:24
    it was always kind of nurturing Muir
  • 00:12:26
    trying to help me out which was
  • 00:12:28
    fantastic so I really looked up to
  • 00:12:29
    Malcolm
  • 00:12:30
    we had to par just as a boy in the
  • 00:12:33
    background but we had one rehearsal
  • 00:12:35
    Vivienne Westwood came down and she was
  • 00:12:39
    impressed she goes Oh Chrissie you can
  • 00:12:41
    really squeeze a chord out of that thing
  • 00:12:43
    anyway they never called me back after
  • 00:12:46
    that one rehearsal and the next week
  • 00:12:47
    there was a new band in town it was the
  • 00:12:49
    Damned
  • 00:12:50
    these female performers were standing
  • 00:12:53
    center stage and that was thrilling for
  • 00:12:55
    young women up and down the country also
  • 00:12:59
    in from America
  • 00:13:00
    now renowned photographer Sheila Rock
  • 00:13:02
    was inspired by Punk to pick up her
  • 00:13:05
    camera and document the scene in it's
  • 00:13:06
    exciting infancy she was invited to
  • 00:13:09
    intimate rehearsals and met the artists
  • 00:13:11
    at the forefront of the movement like
  • 00:13:13
    the punks
  • 00:13:14
    she was learning her trade as she went
  • 00:13:15
    along and I went around just
  • 00:13:19
    photographing what I thought was
  • 00:13:21
    interesting you know I met the Bromley
  • 00:13:23
    contingent I met Susie Lily Idol Steve
  • 00:13:27
    Severn we got the picture of Susie here
  • 00:13:30
    in 1976 so doesn't inform punk went
  • 00:13:33
    mainstream yeah and she looks terrifying
  • 00:13:37
    well she had that dominatrix look about
  • 00:13:41
    her totally original she's got a t-shirt
  • 00:13:44
    here which shows two naked tits
  • 00:13:47
    basically on there this kind of clothing
  • 00:13:49
    that I've got a lot of reaction from
  • 00:13:50
    people I think the audience was as
  • 00:13:53
    expressive in their clue
  • 00:13:55
    moving but because she's very handsome
  • 00:13:58
    she was just very imposing punk girls
  • 00:14:02
    certainly weren't sexy and it was almost
  • 00:14:05
    asexual but she brought something else
  • 00:14:08
    too to the scene I think she looks
  • 00:14:11
    pretty sexy to me i but a kind of
  • 00:14:13
    strength not a kind of 50s sexy and it
  • 00:14:19
    explores very underground roots I think
  • 00:14:22
    and dark deep things that young people
  • 00:14:27
    were wanting to explore but but Susie
  • 00:14:31
    brought it out to the open I think yeah
  • 00:14:33
    that is Chrissy hunt this was Chrissy
  • 00:14:36
    before she sang she was writing for the
  • 00:14:40
    enemy she was the one that invited me to
  • 00:14:42
    go down it was near London Bridge you
  • 00:14:44
    know and I had at that time no idea that
  • 00:14:47
    she had such an amazing voice she was
  • 00:14:51
    going for it really going for it yeah
  • 00:14:53
    it's interesting that burn as well cause
  • 00:14:54
    it's a mixture of men and women which is
  • 00:14:56
    what she's good isn't it mmm this is
  • 00:14:59
    kind of an amazing picture isn't her I
  • 00:15:01
    asked Jordan if I could photograph her I
  • 00:15:04
    thought it'd be really good to get this
  • 00:15:05
    amazing kind of sex sign and I just
  • 00:15:08
    walked across the street and as I turned
  • 00:15:10
    around there was this guy wearing
  • 00:15:12
    bell-bottoms Flair's who looks a little
  • 00:15:15
    pervy looking at her and I just thought
  • 00:15:19
    you know this is like one of those magic
  • 00:15:21
    moments his body language is amazing in
  • 00:15:23
    this but she is relaxed but
  • 00:15:24
    confrontational and he is simultaneously
  • 00:15:27
    pervy and really cross he's really angry
  • 00:15:30
    look Ames it's a really interesting me
  • 00:15:32
    actually yeah she's trying anything yeah
  • 00:15:34
    III think that she's fabulous yeah she
  • 00:15:38
    looks brilliant
  • 00:15:40
    female punks played around with notions
  • 00:15:42
    of desire subverting male sexual
  • 00:15:45
    fantasies through what they wore they
  • 00:15:47
    refused to be submissive they hijacked
  • 00:15:50
    the perverted there was something
  • 00:15:51
    glorious about all these different
  • 00:15:53
    shapes and sizes of bodies strutting the
  • 00:15:55
    seventies streets wrapped in rubber
  • 00:15:58
    Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's
  • 00:16:00
    shop sex on the kingsroad experimented
  • 00:16:03
    with a lexicon of pornography they
  • 00:16:05
    stopped fetish where slogan t-shirts and
  • 00:16:08
    the infamous bondage trousers they
  • 00:16:10
    didn't dress me I had a few of their
  • 00:16:12
    things when I went back to Cleveland
  • 00:16:13
    Ohio I had a rubber skirt and a scum
  • 00:16:16
    manifesto t-shirt and you know I really
  • 00:16:17
    felt like the dog's bollocks I did look
  • 00:16:19
    cool especially you know at a basement
  • 00:16:21
    in Cleveland Ohio
  • 00:16:22
    I didn't find it intimidating going into
  • 00:16:24
    sex I wanted an you know a specific kind
  • 00:16:26
    of dog country I will make you one and
  • 00:16:28
    that and getting that some vinyl
  • 00:16:30
    trousers they were great and turned out
  • 00:16:32
    to be very practical because she just
  • 00:16:33
    wipe the spit off Jordan the shop
  • 00:16:36
    assistant was a living advertisement for
  • 00:16:38
    the power of sex she wore rubber clothes
  • 00:16:40
    a beehive and theatrical makeup on her
  • 00:16:43
    daily commute from Sussex British Rail
  • 00:16:45
    even thought Jordan in first class for
  • 00:16:47
    her own protection
  • 00:16:48
    they let me travel first class with my
  • 00:16:52
    second class ticket every day from Lewis
  • 00:16:55
    to see food because of a travel they
  • 00:16:56
    knew I was having so they were really
  • 00:16:59
    sweet about that I used to love PVC and
  • 00:17:02
    what they used to call in my ear wit
  • 00:17:06
    look where little wet look Mac with
  • 00:17:09
    gloves that matched I was wonderful what
  • 00:17:13
    was it about sex it attracted you I was
  • 00:17:15
    doing a similar thing on my own to what
  • 00:17:19
    Vivian and Malcolm were actually aiming
  • 00:17:20
    for we were on a sort of parallel course
  • 00:17:23
    in a way and I felt very a very at home
  • 00:17:26
    there what did that get Jordan put on
  • 00:17:29
    some rubber clothes I saw myself as a
  • 00:17:32
    walking work of art really later on when
  • 00:17:34
    I went through geometric makeup that was
  • 00:17:38
    all to do with Mondrian and the people
  • 00:17:41
    of Cal which is a tribe a few people
  • 00:17:44
    said when they went into the shop sex
  • 00:17:45
    they were quite intimidated why do you
  • 00:17:49
    think that was it's Vivian used to grill
  • 00:17:52
    people
  • 00:17:52
    sometimes you know why do you want to
  • 00:17:53
    buy this and what happened to Melissa
  • 00:17:55
    but if somebody gave the wrong answers
  • 00:17:56
    when she's not letting them buy it
  • 00:17:57
    well sometimes yeah people were
  • 00:18:00
    passionate about what they made what
  • 00:18:02
    they wore what their meaning was behind
  • 00:18:04
    it and we just didn't want twits going
  • 00:18:06
    out there wearing it for the wrong
  • 00:18:08
    reasons would you say that Punk was one
  • 00:18:11
    of the first pop culture's where women
  • 00:18:13
    could appear threatening in that way I
  • 00:18:16
    would say probably yes it was a time of
  • 00:18:19
    sexual equality and I believe women were
  • 00:18:22
    quite liberated by it as well and men
  • 00:18:28
    and women could actually look very
  • 00:18:29
    similar and if you like try and outdo
  • 00:18:31
    each other when they went out you know
  • 00:18:33
    they like sharing each other's makeup it
  • 00:18:36
    was a great great thing really
  • 00:18:39
    there's always an ideal woman's shape
  • 00:18:41
    that we are given and women like
  • 00:18:43
    yourself and other parent women didn't
  • 00:18:45
    care and there's something very
  • 00:18:46
    refreshing about seeing women in all
  • 00:18:49
    sorts of shapes wrapped in rubber in
  • 00:18:51
    ripped t-shirt whatever you want walking
  • 00:18:53
    down the street there's something really
  • 00:18:54
    beautiful about that it didn't matter
  • 00:18:57
    what size you were how tall you are it
  • 00:19:00
    was really how how great you looked punk
  • 00:19:05
    also had its own sexual codes
  • 00:19:07
    despite the rubber clothes and the
  • 00:19:09
    provocative way of dressing it was
  • 00:19:11
    mostly very asexual sex wasn't really a
  • 00:19:14
    feature in the punk thing as far as I I
  • 00:19:17
    never really noticed that I mean some
  • 00:19:19
    people were getting their end away but
  • 00:19:20
    it wasn't really the thing you weren't
  • 00:19:22
    dressing to attract the opposite sex you
  • 00:19:25
    were dressing to tell everyone to go
  • 00:19:26
    [ __ ] themselves basically as a real up
  • 00:19:28
    yours
  • 00:19:29
    mentality as a guy if you had any
  • 00:19:33
    intentions other than intellectual or
  • 00:19:36
    musical one with these girls they were
  • 00:19:38
    soon cut short because these women just
  • 00:19:40
    had this attitude that kind of knocked
  • 00:19:41
    that out of the arena he didn't mess
  • 00:19:43
    with these women they weren't girly
  • 00:19:45
    girls they would spend I to I with you
  • 00:19:48
    and give as good as they got
  • 00:19:49
    nevertheless
  • 00:19:50
    for many punk women the streets became a
  • 00:19:52
    battleground
  • 00:19:56
    Punk invited confrontation and punk
  • 00:19:59
    women in their rubber stockings and DMS
  • 00:20:02
    often confused middle-aged men who
  • 00:20:04
    didn't know whether they were coming or
  • 00:20:06
    going
  • 00:20:06
    such confusion could sometimes flip into
  • 00:20:09
    violence did the slits get hassle they
  • 00:20:15
    were physically attacked on the streets
  • 00:20:17
    literally you've got to understand that
  • 00:20:19
    they deeply freaked people out on a
  • 00:20:22
    psychological level on the white riot
  • 00:20:24
    tour we had to bribe the coach driver
  • 00:20:26
    Norman to allow them on the bus not
  • 00:20:29
    because they did anything to him but he
  • 00:20:31
    just couldn't compute you know women
  • 00:20:33
    weren't supposed to be like this those
  • 00:20:35
    guys just cruising the streets
  • 00:20:37
    old-fashioned macho guys who were the
  • 00:20:39
    norm then just thinking that maybe how
  • 00:20:41
    you looked you were a prostitute
  • 00:20:42
    I got spat at and attacked many times re
  • 00:20:45
    got stabbed it was just part of everyday
  • 00:20:47
    life the slits appearance sparked
  • 00:20:50
    controversy whatever they were wearing
  • 00:20:51
    or not wearing but unlike many other
  • 00:20:54
    female artists at the time they remained
  • 00:20:56
    firmly in control of their image as they
  • 00:20:59
    showed when they appeared topless on the
  • 00:21:00
    cover of their debut album cut here they
  • 00:21:04
    are looking fantastic bare breasted
  • 00:21:07
    defiantly out staring the cameras gaze
  • 00:21:09
    this was an amazingly audacious thing to
  • 00:21:12
    do few female artists of any had posed
  • 00:21:15
    topless on their album covers and it
  • 00:21:16
    caused a big controversy Rough Trade had
  • 00:21:19
    a massive argument amongst the staff as
  • 00:21:21
    to whether they should stock the album
  • 00:21:23
    at all and supposedly one man tried to
  • 00:21:26
    sue Island Records for crushing his
  • 00:21:28
    Rolls Royce when he saw the three slits
  • 00:21:30
    bare-breasted on a big billboard that
  • 00:21:33
    just evolved that day we had a female
  • 00:21:36
    photographer penny Smith we just got
  • 00:21:38
    bigger over relaxed towards the end of
  • 00:21:39
    the day and started slopping Madonna's
  • 00:21:41
    and all that kind of thing but we were
  • 00:21:42
    very sure that we had to choose a photo
  • 00:21:46
    where the look was right we looked
  • 00:21:48
    confrontational and there was no come
  • 00:21:50
    hither look or Nothing submissive about
  • 00:21:52
    us I really liked the slits colors it's
  • 00:21:55
    earthy it's definitely making a
  • 00:21:57
    statement
  • 00:21:58
    they're naked but it's not sexy it's not
  • 00:22:00
    objectifying for every image that went
  • 00:22:03
    out about us every word that went out of
  • 00:22:05
    ours we fought and fought and fought for
  • 00:22:08
    it to be right because we were
  • 00:22:10
    redefining how women girls were seen in
  • 00:22:13
    the media The Slits cover of Kurtz
  • 00:22:16
    marked the height of Punk's exuberance
  • 00:22:18
    by the early 1980s many of the first
  • 00:22:21
    generation of punk women left the
  • 00:22:23
    industry as post-punk shifted to new
  • 00:22:25
    wave pop artists like Ana de Silva Gina
  • 00:22:28
    Burch and viv albertine made a tactical
  • 00:22:31
    retreat into family life I think anyone
  • 00:22:34
    who's been confronted in aggressive
  • 00:22:36
    situations for say six seven years
  • 00:22:39
    non-stop having to fight and argue all
  • 00:22:42
    the time your point of view you know
  • 00:22:43
    whether it's with raster's or A&R men
  • 00:22:46
    old boyfriends or new boyfriends or you
  • 00:22:48
    know friends who thought you changed too
  • 00:22:50
    much people in street spitting at you I
  • 00:22:52
    mean seven years of that it has it's all
  • 00:22:54
    stiff
  • 00:23:04
    Punk like all youth movement was of its
  • 00:23:07
    generation its story has become cultural
  • 00:23:10
    folklore so familiar that we forget the
  • 00:23:13
    power of its primary revolutionary drive
  • 00:23:16
    we can't believe it was ever a threat
  • 00:23:18
    it's been a long time since British rock
  • 00:23:20
    music has carried the whiff of political
  • 00:23:22
    danger punk attitudes are mainstream now
  • 00:23:26
    even middle England distrust the police
  • 00:23:29
    and politicians we're all
  • 00:23:30
    anti-establishment these days so the
  • 00:23:34
    women win after all it's no longer
  • 00:23:36
    shocking to see a woman on stage but as
  • 00:23:39
    these outsiders were absorbed into the
  • 00:23:41
    mainstream the revolution has become
  • 00:23:43
    commodified fetish gear and Bava boots
  • 00:23:46
    are on the high street a sneer and
  • 00:23:48
    fishnet is a way to make money when
  • 00:23:50
    everyone's selling Punk attitude can it
  • 00:23:53
    really mean anything at all now people
  • 00:23:56
    want the goods you know now people want
  • 00:23:58
    to be on the cover of a fashion magazine
  • 00:24:01
    I mean my policy is if Lenny wouldn't do
  • 00:24:03
    it don't ask me to do it if you're a
  • 00:24:05
    young woman now dressing in fetish gear
  • 00:24:07
    you just think well that's sexy I'm
  • 00:24:10
    trying to please my man I'm trying to
  • 00:24:11
    get attention to be noticed in the music
  • 00:24:13
    industry when we were dressing in fetish
  • 00:24:15
    gear it was a political statement it had
  • 00:24:17
    never been seen before outside of you
  • 00:24:20
    know sleazy bedrooms Allure magazine
  • 00:24:23
    still the impact of that brief
  • 00:24:25
    Revolutionary period continues to
  • 00:24:27
    reverberate you can see Punk in the
  • 00:24:30
    pioneering attitudes of artists that
  • 00:24:32
    come later
  • 00:24:32
    rewriting musical rules doing what they
  • 00:24:35
    want you can see it in the riot girls
  • 00:24:37
    who explicitly brought punk and feminism
  • 00:24:39
    together and it's hiding in Lily Allen's
  • 00:24:42
    cheeky lyrics and bursting out of [ __ ]
  • 00:24:44
    riots protests against Putin
  • 00:24:50
    Punk even lives on in emerging bands
  • 00:24:52
    such as the excellently named Young
  • 00:24:54
    London trio skinny girl diet
  • 00:24:59
    if you want to say something that's
  • 00:25:02
    provocative if you want to look
  • 00:25:04
    different if you want to say something
  • 00:25:07
    different about sex and gender then
  • 00:25:09
    punks a pretty good place to start
  • 00:25:11
    Punk is really not dead it just keeps on
  • 00:25:14
    evolving just like the original wild
  • 00:25:18
    girls of punk themselves who continue to
  • 00:25:20
    break new ground although kids and life
  • 00:25:23
    might have taken them away for a while
  • 00:25:25
    in the last couple of years many of the
  • 00:25:27
    original women have started to write
  • 00:25:29
    play and record again Gina Burch and
  • 00:25:33
    Anna da Silva are working on their own
  • 00:25:35
    material and making a raincoats
  • 00:25:37
    documentary as well as releasing a solo
  • 00:25:40
    album and writing her memoir viv
  • 00:25:42
    Albertine has made her acting debut in
  • 00:25:44
    the film exhibition and Chrissie Hynde
  • 00:25:47
    is currently touring the UK with her
  • 00:25:48
    first solo album Stockholm
  • 00:25:51
    the universe Jess you know anyone can
  • 00:25:57
    start when they're young and they're
  • 00:25:58
    beautiful and they have their youthful
  • 00:26:00
    exuberance and you know and they don't
  • 00:26:02
    have anything else to do they don't have
  • 00:26:03
    to get through the real part of life
  • 00:26:05
    which is having a family paying the
  • 00:26:08
    bills you know getting on with it to me
  • 00:26:11
    life is like challenge challenge
  • 00:26:12
    challenge stretch stretch stretch and I
  • 00:26:14
    did have a period where I couldn't do it
  • 00:26:15
    I didn't have the energy and I'd been
  • 00:26:17
    very ill and had my daughter etc and it
  • 00:26:19
    went from me but it's back now and
  • 00:26:21
    that's what I'm after
  • 00:26:24
    I find that we're on stage that we're
  • 00:26:31
    sort of ageless we have our souls and we
  • 00:26:34
    go and perform them I can see Yoko Ono
  • 00:26:37
    perform when she's 82 83 84 and I think
  • 00:26:41
    20 more years 30 more years it's it
  • 00:26:47
    perhaps the time of the older woman you
  • 00:26:49
    know and why not
  • 00:26:54
    these are grown women performing and
  • 00:26:56
    creating as they please not just plain
  • 00:26:59
    old hits but creating new songs about
  • 00:27:01
    how they see the world as older women
  • 00:27:03
    ex-wives mothers humans artists and just
  • 00:27:08
    by doing that they're breaking some of
  • 00:27:10
    society's phobias about age and gender
  • 00:27:12
    that seems pretty Punk to me home sweet
  • 00:27:25
    home
  • 00:27:26
    home sweet home home sweet home home
  • 00:27:30
    sweet home I feel that the tito's is not
  • 00:27:34
    much left to do lovely lemon drizzle
  • 00:27:36
    cake heat up the photo tasty courgette
  • 00:27:40
    quiche with a nice crispy top a hundred
  • 00:27:43
    grams of biscuits in a fancy box never
  • 00:27:50
    try to rule another person's life you
  • 00:27:53
    will only lose your lovely fragrant
  • 00:27:56
    Weiss and don't like a guy go changing
  • 00:28:00
    who he is you are not a god and it is
  • 00:28:03
    not your bit
  • 00:28:04
    home sweet home home sweet home that's
  • 00:28:08
    such a thing I've lost her
  • 00:28:11
    singers from but romantic love was
  • 00:28:14
    beautiful equal in another set tree
  • 00:28:18
    things words also great same thing with
  • 00:28:20
    marriages and unnatural state I chose
  • 00:28:27
    being an artist / being a wife now I'm
  • 00:28:31
    gonna lead a very lovely life life life
  • 00:28:34
    life life life life life life why like
  • 00:28:39
    why I hate my beautiful leaves white
  • 00:28:45
    pristine minerals
  • 00:28:48
    Oh
  • 00:29:10
    like
Tags
  • punk rebellion
  • female empowerment
  • Siouxsie Sioux
  • Chrissie Hynde
  • cultural revolution
  • 1970s music
  • gender norms
  • The Slits
  • female punk
  • musical influence