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Episode details

Radio 4 Extra,10 Sep 2015,30 mins,

Too Much Fighting on The Dance Floor

Contains strong language.

Available for over a year

Why was British music in the late 1970s and early 80s so tribal and so violent? If going to a musical gig now is about having fun and enjoying a “party” atmosphere, it used to be very different. It was an era when music was taken very seriously. For many, it defined who you were. Writer Paul Morley says: “Back then, the music you liked was a matter of life and death." It was common for musical differences to end in violence. Peter Hook, of Joy Division and then New Order, says, “There were riots all the time at gigs." And it was a time when politics played a much more prominent role in popular culture. Neville Staple of two-tone group The Specials recalls the havoc caused by the far-right National Front. “We used to get a lot of conflict at our gigs.. .we always used to get the NF," he says. Adrian Goldberg looks back at a culture divided by haircuts, clothes, class and politics. What did this tribalism say about Britain then? Featuring: Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order; Peter Hooton from The Farm Pauline Black of Selecter Neville Staple of the Specials Clare Grogan of Altered Images Plus music journalists Paul Morley, ex New Musical Express, and Garry Bushell of Sounds. There's also a stellar soundtrack from the era. Producer: Jim Frank First broadcsast on ѿý Radio 4 in September 2015.

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