Recently I finished writing Rip it Up and Start Again, a history of the post-punk era. Sheer belief in this egalitarian (and, on the face of it, hopelessly unrealistic) notion gave people the confidence to go for it full tilt, and a surprising number actually pulled it off. Post-punk retained the principle that anyone can do it, eventually translating punk's do-it-yourself imperative into the New Pop philosophy 'anyone can be a star' and 'anyone can have a hit'. From the Beatles and Stones to Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, by and large, the biggest stars were the best musicians and the finest singers they also tended to be the best looking, the ones most endowed with animal magnetism and charisma.Īll that changed after punk. But for all the freak imagery and wanton derangement, there was a certain plausibility to the pop stars of the Sixties. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, those hyper-accelerated years from 1978 to 1984 rival the equivalent, but far more fabled, period from 1963 to 1969 commonly known as the Sixties. But during that period, the weirdos and visionaries actually wormed their way into the mainstream. You expect the underground to be a hospitable place for eccentrics and misfits. That's one of the most remarkable aspects of the post-punk era. The 'zine interview turns into a job interview: by the end of their conversation, Fry has made such an impression on the Sheffield boys they offer him a position in the group.įlash forward four years: all these unlikely characters have become pop stars. Sheffield, 1979: Martin Fry, writer for the fanzine Modern Drugs, arrives from Stockport to interrogate the experimental electronic outfit Vice Versa.

Misfits discography 77-79