submissions
| UK Subs – Party In Paris Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I think it was the aftershow party for a Stiff Little Fingers gig in Paris that Charlie was on the guest list for - couldn't afford to get there, hadn't got time to hitch , you know how it is! Captain Sensible played the keyboards at the end of the song. |
submissions
| Chaos UK – No Security Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Change "Thatcher" to "Cameron" and it's bang up to date! Classic song but i've never been able to make out more than about 10 words! |
submissions
| The Sisters of Mercy – Temple Of Love (Extended) Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I've always though it was about Eldritch's disillusionment with love and romance - ie it's a "haven" that people hide in that is vulnerable to more powerful forces in life. Which is why it amuses me and my wife that we had this at our wedding disco!
The Vietnam interpretation is a completely new one to me! |
submissions
| The Sisters of Mercy – Some Kind Of Stranger Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I roughly agree with most of the interpretations. It starts of about a failed relationship, after which he resorts to one night stands - probably on tour. "If it's got a pulse I'll fuck it" the man himself said at around the same time! |
submissions
| Crass – The Greatest Working Class Rip Off Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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It's a dig the Oi scene in the UK at the time which walked a fine line between "working class protest" and thuggery as the song suggests. I don't think it was a blanket attack on the entire scene as Steve Ignorant was mates with The Business. |
submissions
| Crass – Bloody Revolution Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Specifically this song was targeting the Socialist Workers Party, a UK Trotskyist party that campaigns for revolution but has a reputation in some quarters for being internally authoritarian. Crass had recently had a serious dispute with some of their activists. Of course it is also aimed more generally at authoritarian communism as other comments suggest. |
submissions
| Killing Joke – Eighties Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Nirvana stole he riff, but Joke have stolen a fair few riffs themselves (certainly some of the early bass riffs). Killing Joke skillfully played the whole thing for maximum publicity in my view (and why not?) at a time when they weren't doing so well, paving the way for their comeback with Pandemonium. Dave Grohl later made friends with Jaz and drummed on one of their albums. |
submissions
| The Clash – 1977 Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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It's often overlooked that Strummer had previously been playing a lot of covers in his retro pub band the 101ers. "No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones" may be partly a reference to him now starting again with something new and original. That and punk posturing! |
submissions
| The Clash – White Riot Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Strummer was always a Pistols fan despite Lydon's sneering at him (to this day!). Steve Jones also joined the Clash live sometimes in 1979. The Clash have a dig at the Jam in "Hammersmith Palais" not the Pistols. |
submissions
| The Clash – White Riot Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I don't think the Pistols ever said this. John Lydon criticised the Clash for doing a reggae cover because he thought this was patronising to Jamaican reggae artists(a whole other debate!), but there wasn't an issue over this song. I think one student union banned the Clash from playing because they thought White riot was racist, but most people understood the point of the song. |
submissions
| The Clash – London Calling Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The reference to "yellowy eyes" is to hepatitis, a rsik for people inject drugs. Strummer had hepatitus the previous year. The story was he'd swallowed some gob from the audiance at a gig , but I've also read that this was a cover story as he'd caught it injecting amphetamines. |
submissions
| The Clash – London Calling Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I think lot of these lyrics make more sense in terms of the music scene and youth culture. Strummer specifically said that the "imitation zone" was a reference to punk bands following a punk rulebook. I guess the "underworld" reference is the underground music scene. The Clash were attacked for having sold out and entered the mainstream - his defence was usually that at least they were getting heard by a wider range of people - "come out of the cupboard". |
submissions
| The Clash – London Calling Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The line about "phoney Beatlemania" probably wasn't so much a dig at the Beatles as saying bands shouldn't be put on a pedestal - including the Clash ("now don't look to us") |
submissions
| The Clash – London Calling Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Strummer's own explanation was much simpler - he kept hearing various experts warning about different kinds of disasters but was more concerned that they hadn't yet built the Thames flood barrier - he lived close to the river's edge. Strummer gave this explanation himself in more than one interview. Like many different Clash lyrics the song covers a lot of different themes not necessarily all directly connected. |
submissions
| The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The line about "Burtons suits" was a dig at the Jam who the Clash had had a recent falling out with, nothing to do with the Pistols. The Pistols proper Pistols had split leaving several bands - Clash and Jam included - competing to fill the gap. Handbags at dawn, in other words! |
submissions
| The Exploited – Punks Not Dead Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I think the opening verse is closer to
"So they say that punk is dead
Who was that - a mod or a ted
Don't like he music don't like the words
You can piss off you bunch of turds"
Hard to tell but that's closer |
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