Bristol's Musical Mind
​Continuing with the interview Matt explained how music was a good outlet of express political anger and passion, not only does music enhance the message people can easily remember as they tend to be catchy, as well as creating an impact on the listeners. This is very prominent for the youth, with a lot of the punk and rock scenes being youth-led. This is a key factor why the punk scene was very present in the 80s, as the kids born in the 60s were impacted by the idea of put. Due to the fact they were too young to do anything so by the time they were in their late teens to early 20s, that's when big names started popping up because they were old enough (1). The youth being outspoken regarding political and social issues still exist to this day in Bristol, with situations like the full of the Edward Colston statue and the kill the bill protest.
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As mentioned, punk normally has a political message and most of the time it can be progressive, however, the message of the song can cause fights due to people not agreeing with the message, this was very prominent in the 70s.
Rock and Punk
​Talking about the effects of culture and politics with Matt
​In this video, I had a chance to discuss how politics and culture had a big influence on the Bristol music scene based on the experience of Matt.
What I learned from Matt's experience of the music scene especially in the music scene of punk and rock. Matt believed in the past the government and the media made songs like punk such as anarcho-punk and rock a taboo before. The reason is due to the fact that a lot of the songs would be highlighting the truth about racism and the police brutality happening in Bristol and the whole of the UK.
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When reading a book about anarcho-punk in Britain (1) punk was separated into two sections. The first section was punk that focused on the political aspects of what is happening in Britain and social issues, with some bands including Disorder, Lunatic Fringe and Amebix. The second part included the DIY section of punk, or what Matt would also mention as benefit gigs. (to read more click on the DIY punk button)​​
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Bristol Post-Punk music label
Bristol based rock-punk band
The Pop Group is a Bristol punk band that later on transition to post-punk with a mix of funk music.
Created in 1978, Heartbeat Records is a parent company of other record labels from Bristol. They cater for specific genres such as punk rock
Now mainly known for the street arts on the wall but in the 70s onwards it was one of the main are for punk music in Bristol
Bristol based punk band, as well as the first band on Heartbeat Records
They were a Bristol based punk rock band
Reference List
(1) Dines,M., Worley,M.(2016) Dirty squatters, anarchy, politics and smack: a journey through Bristol's squat punk milieu. In: Webb, P (2016) the aesthetic of our anger: Anarcho-Punk, Politics and Music. Brooklyn: Autonomedia, pp179-198
Hover over the box to see the pictures and click on the picture to see the links