Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64741 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Synopsis
This is the b format edition of the critically acclaimed biography. It is an amazing account of the subversive band that took punk to the limit! Crass were the anarcho-punk face of a revolutioary movement founded by radical left-wingers, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher. Not just another iconoclastic band, Crass was a musical, social and political phenomenon. Teetotal health freaks who were never photographed and remained contemptuous of conventional pop stardom, their members explored and finally exhausted the possibilities of punk-led anarchy. Here, members have collaborated on telling the whole Crass story giving access to many never-before seen photos and interviews. They tell the stories of putting out their own records, films and magazines and setting up a series of hoaxes that were dutifully covered by the world's press.

Customer Reviews

Crassly written...
With one more chapter to read, I think it fair to say that I've got the measure of this book.

As the three stars suggest, this isn't a bad book and it gives a decent enough account of the band and its pre-history. The problem is that it overly relies on a series of interviews and some very extensive quotations from Penny Rimbaud's previous publications. Often these sources are allowed just to stand by themselves, so sometimes Berger is only really present in the form of connecting phrases or paragraphs. When, however, he does add context or views on the political or social situation, the arguments are remarkably one-sided and often devoid of evidential support.

Chronology is also a problem, despite the chapter headings that ape Crass's own use of numbers (e.g. 421984 - four years to 1984). Future events are referenced before being properly introduced and so the less informed but interested reader is left struggling to understand what is meant. Berger is also an insider, who lived through much (all?) of what he discusses, so there's an assumed knowledge running through both the history of the band and the history of the UK at times.

The book is rarely critical (as I said, rarely - there is the odd moment, but they are few and far between) and lacks the depth and complexity of something like Jon Savage's England's Dreaming. The book is thus rather lazy, relying on access to those Crassers who agreed to be interviewed, rather than anything approaching research. That said, as a documentation, there's some really good material, but this certainly isn't a 'history' of the band.

FOR AGEING ANARCHO-PUNKS EVERYWHERE; THE MYSTERY OF CRASS REVEALED.
As a young hardcore punk of the early 1980s Crass had a huge influence on my way of thinking about the world. Crass were the anarcho-punk pioneers who single-handedly created a whole new subgenre of punk out of punk itself. They created a political punk movement and brought real "Anarchy" to the spikey-tops like myself. Their influence remains to this day. Crass gave a generation a whole new perspective on life and a set of beliefs and values which i still personally hold dear. They were in fact my first experience of real education. While the mindless masses were dancing away to Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran, Crass were screaming and shouting about the corruption inherent in the social system and its institutions. They attacked capitalism, war, poverty, organisd religion even the punk movement itself. Although politically naive and abstract, obscure and not easy to comprehend in places, the general gist of what it was they were trying to say was apparent; the people of this world are being used and abused by governments, politicians, fat-cat captalist businessmen and so on...and its time we got off our knees, opened our eyes and took a stand against our oppressors. Crass in fact were not really a band in the conventional sense of the word, they were more of a group of amateur politicians. The lead singer of "Flux of Pink Indians" once described them as a "political machine". This is certainly true.

This book finally reveals the mystery of the anarcho-punk phenomenon which was Crass. From their beginnings in the hippy movement of the late 60s to the present day. If you were into them at the time and were attracted by the aura of mystique which they so successfully managed to shroud themselves in and always wanted to know more about this strange yet hugely influential band of subversives then this book is essential reading.

Crass were unique in what they did and they inspired a whole generation of young people (including myself) to question and critiise authority. They provided a radical alternative to mainstream pop culture and the first generation of punk bands themselves. But because their views were so politcal and so extreme (Reality Asylum...oh dear...whose going to hell?) they damned themselves to being perpetual outsiders attacking a social system that they did not feel part of and did not want to be part of. Their uncompromising stance on everything from war to religion gave them an esoteric appeal which if you were not one of the initiated, made them virtually unaccessable to anyone outside of the hardcore punk fraternity of the early 1980s.

I personally didnt think Crass as a band had a very powerful sound. That fuzzy guitar sound and Steve ignorants Hoarse political ranting in fact made them sound very brittle and whiney. The band "Conflict" got it right as they merged the politics of Crass with some very potent hardcore punk music which made them sound not just angry and aggressive but also very strong and powerful; an ungovernable force to be reckoned with (Increase the Pressure).

Crass attacked everything, could see good in nothing and besides stencilling "Anarchy, Peace and Freedom" on their banners offered very little as how to practically bring about social change and alter the status quo. Of course... they were anarchists, so they wanted to live in an Anarchist society free of war, poverty, capitalism, exploitation, religion...etc. But they didnt really tell us how to realistically bring this new society about. However despite their shortcommings what they did do was plant the seed of thought and possibilty in the minds of the many young punks who were into them at the time and gave us plenty of food for thought. You could say that Crass were the forerunners of the Anti-capitalist movement which took off in opposition to globalisation in the 1990s.

Politically naive perhaps but i think their heart was in the right place and i just wish they had of made themselves more accessible to a wider audience as they did have something very important to say. Despite their radicalism, cynicism, and militant opposition to "the system" and anything remotely connected to the established order of things, Crass provided a generation of disaffected youth with a voice and a set of values and beliefs which at their core were virtuous and good. Who can argue with bring an end to war and creating peace and freedom? Crass radicalised my mind as a young man and their influence on my thought and lifestyle lasts to this very day. I dont hold onto a utopian dream of an Anarchist society, i think most of us have relinquished any such unrealistic notion of that happening. But we can choose how to live our personal lives. The one important thing that Crass and many like-minded Anarcho-punk bands of that era tended to overlook was the fundamentally competitive nature of human beings. We can only keep our competitive natures in check and not allow that aspect of human nature to overrride or eliminate our capacity to care and empathise with our fellow man. Crass may have been too political, too angry, too aggressive, too naive, too extreme, too anti-commercial and without enough broad appeal to make their presence known in the wider sphere but those who they did influence, they influenced in a big way. Read this book and discover the the Anarcho-punk and social revolutionary phenomenon that was Crass. Its essential reading for anyone who was into the hardcore punk/ anarcho-punk of the early 1980s and whom were influenced by Crass. Its also essential reading for the young anarcho-punks and political idealists of today. George Berger has done a very good job, this is a solid, fascinating and intimate read.

Anarchy and peace? Perhaps some day.

Without your walls I am alive
This is not the story of Crass, it is, rather, the author's perception of what Crass were, filled out with anecdote. On one occasion he goes so far as to make a comparison between Crass and Adam and the Ants, which says it all, really.

Crass were quite simply beyond labels, as they would have wanted it to be. Their strength lay in their cutting lyrics, their startling graphics, and their application of an anarchist philosophy to the music business.

The Crass message is timeless; it is just a pity that those that it is aimed at do not get to hear it.

I'll make no subscription to your paradise...