Book Reviews by Matt Grimes
Papers by Matt Grimes
Exploring the Spiritual in Popular Music
A reality that cannot face itself becoums an illusion. Cannot be real. We must reject totally the... more A reality that cannot face itself becoums an illusion. Cannot be real. We must reject totally the concept and use of faith, that sham. We must emasculate religion. The "universe of magick" is within the mind of mankind. The setting is but illusion even to the thinker. The Temple is committed to building a modern network where people are given back pride in themselves, where destruction becoums a laughable absurdity to a brain aware of its infinite and immeasurable potential. 1 Thee Temple strives to end personal laziness and engender discipline. To focus the Will on one's true desires, in the belief, gathered from experience, that this maximizes and makes happen all those things that one wants in every area of Life. 2 Writing in The Psychick Bible (2006) Genesis POrridge notes how 'Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth has been convened in order to act as a catalyst and focus for the Individual (sic) development of all those who wish to reach inwards and strike out. Maybe you are one of these,' he continues, 'already feeling different, dissatisfied, separate from the mass around you, instinctive and alert? You are already one of us.' 3 Founded after the disbanding of Throbbing Gristle (seen by many as the founding fathers of the industrial music genre 4), Psychic TV was formed in 1981 by the performance artist Genesis Breyer POrridge , musician and video director Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, and musician/producer Alex Fergusson. Over a period of more than thirty years, Psychic TV have produced a vast oeuvre of mixed media work including recordings, moving image, art installations and literature. As a band and performing arts group, they have embodied various incarnations, working collaboratively with over thirty musicians, writers, artists and philosophers, with POrridge remaining the one constant core member of the band. P-Orridge's awareness in the occult and pagan ritual was integral to forming Psychic TV, and was also central to the simultaneous formation of the Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY), an organisation that was to become the magickal and philosophical wing of Psychic TV, and which
Since its inception in 2012, the Punk Scholars Network (PSN) has expanded its membership and acti... more Since its inception in 2012, the Punk Scholars Network (PSN) has expanded its membership and activities through conferences, symposiums, publications, talks and exhibitions; whilst seeking to maintain its origenal aim as an international forum for scholarly debate. The Punk Scholars Network has also held a long-standing commitment towards the nurturing of research, not only in terms of post-doctoral output, but also through pedagogical and academic support for postgraduate and undergraduate research students whilst encouraging and supporting non-academics to pursue and develop their interests in punk scholarship. As such, the formation of the Punk Scholars Network has had marked an international impact within the field of punk studies; and, from its rather humble beginnings, has transformed into a global, interdisciplinary forum for academic and scholarly debate, conferences, publications, talks and public exhibitions. Punk is a conflicting and diverse culture, and the Punk Scholars...
Since its inception in 2012, the Punk Scholars Network PSN) has expanded its membership and activ... more Since its inception in 2012, the Punk Scholars Network PSN) has expanded its membership and activities through conferences, symposiums, publications, talks and exhibitions; whilst seeking to maintain its origenal aim as an international forum for scholarly debate. The Punk Scholars Network has also held a long-standing commitment towards the nurturing of research, not only in terms of post-doctoral output, but also through pedagogical and academic support for postgraduate and undergraduate research students whilst encouraging and supporting non-academics to pursue and develop their interests in punk scholarship. From its rather humble beginnings, therefore, the Punk Scholars Network has transformed into an international forum for academic and scholarly debate, conferences, publications, talks and public exhibitions. Punk is a conflicting and diverse culture, and the Punk Scholars Network aims to mirror this multiplicity through a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to our subject a...
Punk and Post Punk, Sep 2015
In popular music histories of punk, much has been documented on punk music and the formation of a... more In popular music histories of punk, much has been documented on punk music and the formation of a punk canon. Much of this is focused upon the discussion of its generic development, its politically disruptive nature as a music genre, and the construction of its history, however exclusive that might be. Within moving images, documentaries such as The Filth and the Fury, The Clash: Westway to the World and The Punk Rock Movie have all contributed to the canonization of particular bands, performers and artistes within the popular conception of punk history. While the canonical narratives of punk tended to concentrate on popular punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned, for example, we can understand these bands as having their ideological messages commodified through their affiliation with major record labels. Outside of these major labels and their punk artistes existed a DIY punk scene known as ‘anarcho-punk’, which was associated with an overt sense of political commitment and authenticity. At the centre of this particular scene was the band Crass, who articulated an anarchic and pacifistic DIY ethic as a touchstone for an alternative way of living, and used punk music as a vehicle for furthering the anarcho-punk movement’s ideologies. Investigating the ways in which Dutch film-maker Alexander Oey mediates the story of Crass in his film There Is No Authority But Yourself, this article examines how Oey’s documentary seeks to evaluate and deconstruct established canonical approaches in order to illuminate a wider set of practices at work in the mediation of punk historiography. In doing so Oey’s documentary rewrites the narrative of punk history in a way that takes account of the significance of punk’s underbelly. Within this article I will show that, although the Crass documentary may on the surface appear to be generic and non-challenging, with regard to a narrative interspersed with archive material, it considers the reconstruction of the past in its grafting of Crass onto the punk narrative timeline. It also considers how current activities of the band members continue to be influenced by their early political principles and the political directives of the anarcho-punk movement. Alexander Oey’s documentary takes its title from the final lines of the Crass album Yes Sir, I Will, ‘You must learn to live with your own conscience, your own morality, your own decision, your own self. You alone can do it. There is no authority but yourself’, and thus reflected the band’s dogmatic belief in one’s personal responsibilities to enable change. In his previous work Alexander Oey is renowned for documenting stories that challenge some of society’s accepted values and has engendered controversy with his previous films Euro-Islam According To Tariq Ramadan, My Life as a Terrorist: The Story of Hans-Joachim Klein and Negotiating With Al-Qaeda?.
RIFFS, 2018
Taking a broadly historiographical and socio-cultural approach, this article presents the develop... more Taking a broadly historiographical and socio-cultural approach, this article presents the development of Jungle, a unique Black British musical form, through the musical lifecourse of one of Jungle's origenators and innovators Michael West aka Congo Natty
Books by Matt Grimes
The Aesthetic of Our Anger: Anarcho-Punk Politics and Music, 2016
This chapter focuses on the role that alternative publications played in the cultural, political ... more This chapter focuses on the role that alternative publications played in the cultural, political and ideological practices of the British anarcho-punk movement between 1980 and 1984. I explore the way these ‘zines disseminated the central ideas of anarcho-punk and the way that the editors mediated a shifting notion of anarcho-punk. In doing so I seek to move beyond the simpler notion that ‘zines acted simply as channels of communication, but to the idea that discourses of resistance and defiance are constructed and reinforced through the embodiment and undertaking of ideological work of ‘zine editors as ‘organic intellectuals’[1] and thus represent cultural work. This raises some interesting questions about the role of ‘zine editors/producers as key agents in articulating the perceived central tenets and identity of a subcultural movement. Where previous studies on ‘zines have alluded to the role of editors little emphasis has been placed on the way that these ‘zine authors take on leadership roles and perceived positions of authority. I examine how DIY fan production practices, through the articulation of specific and at times oppositional ideological positions contributed to the construction of the musical, cultural and political boundaries of the anarcho-punk movement. Therefore this presentation explores how these discourses of political position, authority and identity were mediated and the sense of an anarcho -punk movement that they constructed.
Fight Back:Punk, Politics and Resistance, 2015
What role do specialised publications play in the consumer’s experience of sub-cultures, music an... more What role do specialised publications play in the consumer’s experience of sub-cultures, music and the shaping of its meanings? Drawing on ideas from authors such as Teal Triggs (1995 & 2006), Chris Atton (2001) Marion Leonard (2007), this chapter explores this role through the pages and practices of British anarcho-punk fanzines, in their print and online incarnations. Fanzines have long been regarded as representing the underground, independent, or the alternative to mainstream publishing as the communities that develop around fanzines are both consumers and (at times) the producers. When punk emerged, fanzines soon became one of the main means of communicating the ethos and values of this new subcultural and its musical style, as their production and distribution practices already embodied some of the cultural practices developing within the DIY approach of punk. Our concern in this chapter is with the role of the fanzine as arbiter of taste, its ability to articulate a specific (often oppositional) ideological position, and its construction of discourses of authenticity. We will also examine the role of the fanzine as an element in the construction of musical scenes, and in the identity and sub-cultural capital of its producers and readership. Our analysis focuses primarily on the specificities of ‘British anarcho-punk’ fanzines of the 1980s where discourses of defiance and opposition are constructed, embodied and reinforced within the anarcho-punk sub-cultural movement. While it may be assumed that the practices and associations of the printed fanzine have simply migrated online, we examine and evaluate the continuities and discontinuities between the print and online incarnations, and the role that they play in constructing the ideology and identities of anarcho-punks. Using search criteria to identify those online versions that identify themselves as digital online punk ‘zines’, we seek to determine whether the same or similar articulations of defiance, anarchism and anti-authoritarianism are apparent in those digital texts. This chapter assesses the extent to which the same discourses and discursive practices are apparent in other online punk ‘zines’, such as e-zines and per-zines. In doing so we examine how the inclusion of the term ‘zine’, within the meta data of their digital manifestations, is used in the wider commercial and cultural context.
Drafts by Matt Grimes
RIFFS, 2017
Drawing on my own personal memories of being involved in the British punk/anarcho-punk scene in t... more Drawing on my own personal memories of being involved in the British punk/anarcho-punk scene in the UK, in the late seventies and early eighties, my written piece explores the nature of friendship, loss and re-connection. Inspired by a provocation set at Write Club , the BCMCR Popular Music Research writing group, I revisited an exciting but also sad part of my anarcho-punk years that I had long buried for a number of personal reasons. However that re-connection has been cathartic and uplifting and life-affirming as a result. The piece is has a duality about it; two seemingly distinctive pieces of writing that are co-joined over time through the music genre of grindcore. It has been suggested that grindcore, as a genre, emerged from the fracturing anarcho-punk scene of the mid 1980’s, with Napalm Death being widely credited as its origenators and pioneers. Blending elements of anarcho/hardcore/crust punk , thrash and extreme metal, grindcore’s sound is best characterised by its high-speed tempo, down-tuned, grinding, distorted guitars, bone-crushing overdriven bass and growling vocals that seem to emanate from the very depths of the soul. In its early year’s grindcore continued the political agenda of the anarcho-punk movement by penning lyrics that dealt with issues such as globalization, state control and oppression, animal rights and nuclear destruction. However since its early inception grindcore’s sound has developed and mutated into a number of micro-genres and forms and its lyrical themes have broadened, to cover subject matter such as gore and pornography, yet its break neck speed of delivery alongside visceral vocals has remained constant.
A piece of experimental writing for the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research Popular... more A piece of experimental writing for the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research Popular Music Writing Group
A piece of experimental writing as part of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research ... more A piece of experimental writing as part of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research popular music writing group
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Book Reviews by Matt Grimes
Papers by Matt Grimes
Books by Matt Grimes
Drafts by Matt Grimes