Journal

fifty-three......

The British Rock Artists League is a group where british rock artists compete against each other. But this group is highly influenced by Indie and Classic Rock.
I think there have to be more Punk or Oi! Bands. Which are actual represented by:
Bauhaus
Joy Division
The Clash
The Cure
The Jam
The Smiths
Sex Pistols

In these days there are a Voting for New Artists, so you can vote for your favorite bands.
Please if you know some British Punk-Bands i forgot tell me and i add them! :-)
These Bands are missing:

The 4-Skins
999
The Adicts
The Adverts
Amebix
Angelic Upstarts
Anti-Nowhere League
Antisect
The Apollinaires
Argy Bargy
Axegrinder
Bad Manners
Big 5
Big Country
Blitz
The Blood
The Bodysnatchers
The Boys
The Business
Buzzcocks
Chaos UK
Chaotic Dischord
Chelsea
Citizen Fish
Cockney Rejects
Cock Sparrer
Combat 84
Conflict
Crass
The Damned
Deadline
Demented Are Go!
Deviated Instinct
Dirt
Discharge
Disorder
Eater
Eddie & The Hot Rods
English Dogs
The Expelled
The Exploited
Extinction of Mankind
Flux of Pink Indians
Frantic Flintstones
Generation X
GBH
Geriatric Unit
Goldblade
The Gonads
Guana Batz
Hard Skin
Hellbastard
The Higsons
The Hot Rod All Stars
Icons of Filth
Infa Riot
Joe the Boss
Judge Dread
Klingonz
The Last Resort
Lost Cherrees
The Lurkers
Major Accident
Menace
The Members
The Meteors
The Mob
Newtown Neurotics
Oi Polloi
Omega Tribe
One Way System
The Oppressed
The Partisans
Penetration
Peter and the Test Tube Babies
Poison Girls
Police Bastard
P. Paul Fenech
The Restarts
The Rezillos
Rudimentary Peni
The Ruts
Section 5
The Selecter
Sham 69
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Ska-Dows
Skeptix
Slaughter and The Dogs
The Slits
Special Beat
Special Duties
The Specials
Stiff Little Fingers
Subhumans
The Swinging Cats
Symarip
The Toy Dolls
TV Smith
UK Subs
The Undertones
The Varukers
The Vibrators
The Skids
Vice Squad
Violators
The Violators
Wire
X-Ray Spex
The Zeros
Zounds

I met Tony James at a posh party in Fulham! Bass player with Generation X, (and founder of) Sigue Sigue Sputnik and The Sisters of Mercy!

Last time I'd seen him he was on stage dressed all in leather wearing a top hat and a very low slung bass. He turned out to be a charming man, who had obviously survived his career trajectory from the birth of punk, through the 80s hair wars and working with Andrew Eldritchwith his sense of reality intact. Which is more than I can say forMartin Degville, the Sigue Sigue singer, though to be fair he did appear to be on far too many drugs when I met him in a club years ago. Well, more than me anyway.

It was very hard not to start gushing about meeting a genuine punk rock celebrity, someone who was in at the start of it all. I think I held it together, despite being rather pissed as I had drank at least a bottle of red wine (well, it was free) and ate, oh, at least 5 or 6 vol au vents.

So did I ask him about what it was like being in a punk band in London in 1976, whether it was possible for Billy Idol to fit himself and his ego in a room at the same time or how he managed to convince the music industry that Sigue Sigue Sputnikwere the new wave of music (at least until people actually listened to the music) or even what hair products he used in the 80s (very important 80s question)? No, I interrogate him about what Andrew Eldritch is like, what a sad fucking Goth I am! Enigmatic apparently, and no Tony doesn't know when he's going to produce another album.

Definitely the nicest person I've met who has been on Top of the Pops, apart from Strawberry Switchblade that is.

Wikipediaing whether Love Missile F1-11 got to No.1 (nope, no.3) it turns out David Bowie covered it on a b-side in 2003 - got to try and download that!

Waltons, The - Waltons Go!
Restless - Prisoner Of Love
Meteors, The - Wreckin' Crew
Guana Batz - Streetwise
Demented Are Go - Anal Wonderland
DCL Locomotive - King Midas In Reverse
Cramps, The - She Said
Batmobile - Shoot Shoot
King Kurt - Destination Zululand
Cramps vs. Trashmen - Surfin´ Bird
Meteors, The - Johnny Remember Me
Bad Manners - This is Ska
Special A.K.A., The - Gangsters
Beat, the - Hands Off... She's Mine
Bodysnatchers, The - 7
Madness - Night Boat To Cairo
The Selecter - On My Radio
Rhoda & The Special A.K.A. - The Boiler
Fischer-Z - Crazy Girl
B-52's, The - Party Out Of Bounds
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The U.K.
Stiff Little Fingers - Gotta Gettaway
Adicts - Viva La Revolution
Spizzenergi - Where's Captain Kirk
Dead Kennedys - Too Drunk To Fuck
Crass, the - They've got big Hands
Angelic Upstarts - Kids On The Street
Generation X - Your Generation
Plasmatics - Butcher Baby
Vice Squad - Last Rockers
Peter and the Test Tube Babies - Blown Out Again
Clash, The - Hateful
Bad Religion - Sanity
All - She's My Ex
Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene

Thu 31 Jul – Billy Idol

It’s up to London for my first show in a while, this time to Brixton Academy to catch 80s icon and old punk Billy Idol.

Obligatory alcohol related comment: it’s a Carling Academy venue; nothing much else needs to be said does it?

Obligatory transport related comment: is it really a good idea to have three lanes at every junction, all of which have to merge into a single lane before the next stretch of road? Every few hundred yards? Maybe that’s got something to do with congestion…

No support act (again) for this one, so it’s straight on to the main attraction.

To be honest, not a lot has changed since the last time I’d seen him. Release-wise there’s been a Christmas album (which was thankfully ignored here) and a new best of, but there’s not any reason to expect a significant change in the set list.

No, the voice isn’t quite what as good as it has been in the past or on record. But then, is this about the voice? No, it’s mainly a nostalgia trip.

Pretty much everything played is a familiar old friend, from the Generation X tracks of Ready Steady Go and Dancing With Myself (yeah, I know he did that one solo as well) through to the 80’s hits, with White Wedding again getting an early airing. There’s Sweet Sixteen, Eyes Without A Face, a cover of L.A. Woman, Hot in the City, new track John Wayne and a rousing Rebel Yell to finish off the main set. Sadly there was something of a lack of material from his Devil’s Playground record - Scream would have gone down really well just before Rebel Yell..

Guitarist Steve Stevens give us a brief tour through his non-Idol career, showcasing his flamenco skills, using a theramin and breaking out the Top Gun Anthem

For the encore he cracks out his theme from the movie Speed before the extended Mony Mony with it’s four guitar line up brings things to close on a real high.

A very enjoyable night, but it just seemed to concentrate on the past a bit too much...

Billy Idol acaba de editar otro grandes exitos,pero la gran noticia es que volvio a componer con su legandario guitarrista Steve Stevens con quien realizara susu mejores exitos en los 80s y esto se nota en los 2 temas nuevos “John Wayne” un lento hermoso con muchas fuerza es el elegido como corte de difusion y “Future Weapon” es el otro tema neuvo compuesto junto a Steve,un tema mas rockero,mas bailable demuestran que esta dupla compositiva puede tener una nueva chance y si llegan a entenderse,po rque no volver con un disco nuevo en el futuro.BlondieThe RamonesIggy PopDavid BowieJemGeneration XThe Clash

In the grand tradition of meaningless internet timewasting, I propose to draw connections between all the recording artistes in my Top 50 list. In doing this, I will have safely put off all the things I actually need to do.

Starting at Number 50, then:

50. Wendy Carlos
Scored two Stanley Kubrick movies. Stanley Kubrick directed Barry Lyndon, which was pastiched in the video for CC (You Set the Fire in Me) by

49. Tom Vek
Contributed a song to the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack, which also features Godley and Creme's Cry. Godley and Creme also directed music videos, one of which was for the band Yes, which at one time featured Trevor Horn, production mastermind behind

48. The Art of Noise
Which also comprised Anne Dudley and Paul Morley, both of whom worked with

47. ABC
Fronted by the inimitable Martin Fry, who performed a cover of Tom Jones' Bond theme Thunderball on David Arnold's Shaken Not Stirred album, which also featured Leftfield, who, on their track Open Up, worked with John Lydon, frontman of

46. Public Image Ltd.
Toured with New Order on The Monsters of Alternative Rock tour in 1989. New Order's Peter Hook has claimed that he had been invited to perform onstage with

45. Interpol
Who played the Curiosa festival, organised by Robert Smith of

44. The Cure
A much credited influence on

43. The Killers
Whose video for Bones was directed by Tim Burton, also director of Batman. Batman: The Animated Series was graced by the voiceover talents of one Stuart Goddard, better known as the frontman of

42. Adam and the Ants
Who recorded a song called Friends,in which Jim Morrison is namechecked. Jim Morrison had an affair with Nico, of The Velvet Underground, which was primarily fronted by

41. Lou Reed
A contributor to the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway. Lynch also directed Dune, which Ridley Scott was originally intended to direct. Instead, Scott worked on Blade Runner, which was scored by

40. Vangelis
That movie score is being performed in full at Massive Attack's Meltdown festival, where

39. Grace Jones
Will also be performing. Jones co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer. Schwarzenegger appears as himself (apparently) in the comedy movie Dave, which stars Kevin Kline, who recorded vocals for Disco Clone, probably the most famous song by

38. Cristina
One of the acts on the Ze Label in New York. New York is also the home to

37. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
One of many bands to appear on the Gang of Four tribute album Return The Gift. Another was

36. Bloc Party
Whose frontman, Kele Okereke, was born in Liverpool, home to

35. Echo and the Bunnymen
Frontman Ian McCulloch is a fan of David Bowie. In the late 70s, Bowie declared that his idea for a multimedia stage show had been anticipated by

34. The Human League
Who were asked to tour with Talking Heads. The frontman of Talking Heads was half of the informal partnership behind the My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts album:

33. Brian Eno and David Byrne
Eno produced David Bowie's Lodger album, which featured the single Boys Keep Swinging, covered by

32. The Associates
Bono wrote the foreword to a book on Associates frontman Billy Mackenzie. Bono sang on a Michael Hutchence album produced by Andy Gill of

31. Gang of Four
Whose bassist, Dave Allen, later joined Shriekback, which also featured members of XTC, one of many bands covered by

30. Nouvelle Vague
Who also covered a Generation X song. Generation X's Billy Idol is famous for his song White Wedding, partially covered in a version of What You Waiting For by

29. Franz Ferdinand
Past recipients of the Mercury Music Prize, an accolade last bequeathed to

28. Klaxons
Who are working with Tony Visconti, who produced Indiscreet by

27. Sparks
Who were covered by

26. Siouxsie and the Banshees
An acknowledged early influence on

25. U2
Who recorded Achtung Baby at Hansa Studios, Berlin, the same place that The Idiot by

24. Iggy Pop
Was recorded some thirteen or so years earlier. Iggy Pop is one of the favourite artists of Alison

23. Goldfrapp
Who played Coachella this year, along with

22. Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos guested on an album by Electronic, the Johnny Marr/Bernard Sumner side project. Whilst in Joy Division, Bernard Sumner worked with Martin Hannett, who produced much of the recorded output of

21. John Cooper Clarke
Was a friend of Mark E. Smith's. Apparently, a song on The Fall's debut album refers to Julian Cope of

20. The Teardrop Explodes
Julian Cope is a much regarded historian of Krautrock, Prog and suchlike, and has written about King Crimson. Robert Fripp of King Crimson once asked David Sylvian of

19. Japan
To serve as the frontman of his band. In an anecdote about the making of Tin Drum, Mick Karn notes that Paul McCartney asked to appear on the album. McCartney and the other Beatles were parodied by The Residents on their debut album. The Residents also recorded a cover of Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones, as did

18. Devo
A parody of whose song Whip It features in an episode of The Simpsons. The Simpsons devoted an entire episode to a parody of Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, who also directed a film version of The Trial by Franz Kafka. The protagonist of The Trial is

17. Josef K
Whose song Sorry for Laughing was covered by ZTT band Propaganda, one of whose members was (is?) married to Paul Morley, who wrote the liner notes for a

16. Fad Gadget
compilation. Fad Gadget's Frank Tovey died shortly after a tour with Depeche Mode, who appear on the soundtrack to the Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World, as do

15. Talking Heads
were produced by Brian Eno, who, in Roxy Music, released a song called

14. Ladytron
who, along with

13. New Order
contributed to a Nine Inch Nails remix album. New Order were managed by Alan Wise, who also managed

12. The Fall
Mark E. Smith had a correspondence with Iggy Pop for several years. Seeing Iggy Pop perform was the catalyst for Alan Vega of

11. Suicide
To enter music. Suicide were instrumental in the No Wave scene, documented by

10. Brian Eno
On the No New York album. Brian Eno composed some of the music for David Lynch's Dune, which starred the actor Everett McGill, who also appeared in the Bond film Licence to Kill, which was the first of many not to be scored by veteran Bond composer

9. John Barry
Composed the theme tune to The Persuaders, which featured the character Lord Brett Sinclair, the apparent namesake of Brett Anderson of

8. Suede
Anderson released a self-named solo album in 2007, as did Jarvis Cocker of

7. Pulp
The video for Pulp's Bad Cover Version features a

6. David Bowie
impersonator. Bowie is the credited writer of Blur's M.O.R., due to it borrowing the melody from Boys Keep Swinging. Blur's Damon Albarn was the partner of Justine Frischman from Elastica, who also plagiarised a song, albeit one by

5. Wire
Mike Thorne produced Wire's early albums, as he did with Honi Soit by

4. John Cale
Who himself was slated to produce the first

3. Roxy Music
Album. Roxy Music feature heavily on the soundtrack of Control, the biopic of Ian Curtis of

2. Joy Division
Members of Joy Division were present at the seminal Free Trade Hall Sex Pistols gig, organised by Howard Devoto of

1. Magazine

I think you'll agree, pretty seamless...er...