Acme Attractions
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Acme Attractions
Acme Attractions was a London clothing store on Kings Road, Chelsea, London, that in the early 1970s provided a place for many punk and reggae musicians and scenesters to hang out. Shop assistant and manager Don Letts described Acme Attraction as a place "where the interaction between the different factions became more important than selling merchandise, even though at that age it was a deadly combination." History Acme Attractions was inspired by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's Fifties-inspired boutique Let it Rock (revamped in 1972 and renamed Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die). In spring 1974, a radical change saw their shop become Sex, selling fetish wear and Westwood's innovative designs. Acme's owner, John Krivine, decided to venture into clothing with Steph Raynor. In 1974, Acme Attractions initially opened as a stall in the antiques market Antiquarius on the King's Road, Chelsea. While it was owned by Krivine and Raynor its public face was Don Letts who says that A ...
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Don Letts
Donovan "Don" Letts (born 10 January 1956) is a British film director, disc jockey (DJ) and musician. Letts first came to prominence as the videographer for the Clash, directing several of their music videos. In 1984, Letts co-founded the band Big Audio Dynamite with former Clash lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Mick Jones (The Clash guitarist), Mick Jones, acting as the band's Sampling (music), sampler and videographer before departing the band in 1990. Letts has also directed music videos for Musical Youth, the Psychedelic Furs, Fun Boy Three, the Pretenders and Elvis Costello as well as the feature documentaries ''The Punk Rock Movie'' (1978) and ''The Clash: Westway to the World'' (2000). Biography Letts was born in London, and educated at Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School, Tenison's School in Kennington. In 1975, he ran the London clothing store Acme Attractions, selling "Electric blue (color), electric blue zoot suits and jukeboxes, and pumping dub reggae al ...
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The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wake of punk and employed elements of a variety of genres including reggae, dub, funk, ska, and rockabilly. For most of their recording career, the Clash consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer, lead guitarist and vocalist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, and drummer Nicky "Topper" Headon. Headon left the group in 1982 due to internal friction surrounding his increasing heroin addiction. Further internal friction led to Jones' departure the following year. The group continued with new members, but finally disbanded in early 1986. The Clash achieved critical and commercial success in the United Kingdom with the release of their self-titled debut album, ''The Clash'' (1977) and their second album, ''Give 'Em Enough ...
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The Jewish Chronicle
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the Most common words in English, most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant s ...
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The Fridge (nightclub)
The Fridge was a nightclub in the Brixton area of South London, England, founded, in 1981, by Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington, who had run the Roxy during punk music's heyday in 1977. The Fridge closed on 17 March 2010 and has no link with Electric Brixton which opened in September 2011 and now occupies the building. History The Fridge started in 1981, in a small club at 390 Brixton Rd, and later, in 1982, above Iceland in Brixton Road with a radical decor that included beat-up ice boxes and artificial dead cats hanging from its ceiling. Early guest DJs included Keith Barker-Main, later a lifestyle journalist and social commentator. It claims to have been the first British club to have such innovations as video screens and a chill out lounge. The Fridge was at the heart of the early 80s New Romantic movement, and booked such acts as Eurythmics and the Pet Shop Boys before they were well known and drew famous faces such as Boy George, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ...
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The Damned (band)
The Damned are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 by lead vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist (and later guitarist) Captain Sensible, and drummer Rat Scabies. They were the first punk band from the United Kingdom to release a single, "New Rose" (1976), release a studio album, ''Damned Damned Damned'' (1977), and tour the United States. They have nine singles that charted on the UK Singles Chart Top 40. The band briefly broke up after '' Music for Pleasure'' (1977), the follow-up to their debut studio album, was critically dismissed. They quickly reformed without Brian James, and released ''Machine Gun Etiquette'' (1979). In the 1980s they released four studio albums, '' The Black Album'' (1980), ''Strawberries'' (1982), ''Phantasmagoria'' (1985), and ''Anything'' (1986), which saw the band moving towards a gothic rock style. The latter two albums did not feature Captain Sensible, who had left the band in 1984. In 1988, James and Sensible rejoin ...
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100 Club Punk Special
The 100 Club Punk Special (sometimes referred to as the 100 Club Punk Festival) was a two-day event held at the 100 Club venue in Oxford Street, London, England on 20 and 21 September 1976. The gig showcased eight punk rock bands, most of which were unsigned. The bands in attendance were each associated with the then evolving punk rock music scene of the United Kingdom. Historically, the event has become seen as marking a watershed moment for punk rock, as it began to move from the underground and emerge into the mainstream music scene. Promotion In early September 1976, concert promoter Ron Watts approached Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, the leaders of the new British punk rock scene, and proposed that they headline the event. After that, they presented the idea to The Damned and The Clash, both of which quickly agreed to participate. Siouxsie Sioux directly approached Watts and requested to join the line-up as well. McLaren then volunteered the Stinky Toys ...
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The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and "the most widely-read masthead in the country." The newspaper is published in compact print form from Monday to Saturday as ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and on Sunday as its sister newspaper, '' The Sun-Herald'' and digitally as an online site and app, seven days a week. It is considered a newspaper of record for Australia. The print edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' is available for purchase from many retail outlets throughout the Sydney metropolitan area, most parts of regional New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland. Overview ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' publishes a variety of supplements, including the magazines ''Good Weekend'' (included in the Saturday edition of ''Th ...
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The Roxy (Covent Garden)
The Roxy was a fashionable nightclub located at 41–43 Neal Street in London's Covent Garden, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy. History The premises had formerly been used as a warehouse to serve the Covent Garden wholesale fruit and vegetable market. In 1970 they were converted to a late-night bar called the Chaguaramas Club. At that time it was owned by record producer Tony Ashfield, who had several hits with 1970s reggae star John Holt, with whom he formed a company called Chaguaramas Recording Productions, probably after Chaguaramas Bay in Trinidad. The Roxy was started by Andrew Czezowski, Susan Carrington and Barry Jones. The space was small, and spread out on two levels, which contained little more than a bar and a dance floor. In December 1976, Czezowski organised three gigs at the Roxy. They financed the venture with borrowed money (Jones, a musician, pawned his guitar to stock the bars, and hire sound equipment, etc.). The fi ...
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Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of the group Generation X. Subsequently, he embarked on a solo career which led to international recognition and made Idol a lead artist during the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" in the United States. The name "Billy Idol" was inspired by a schoolteacher's description of him as "idle". Idol began his music career in late 1976 as a guitarist in the punk rock band Chelsea. However, he soon left the group. With his former bandmate Tony James, Idol formed Generation X. With Idol as lead singer, the band achieved success in the United Kingdom and released three studio albums on Chrysalis Records, then disbanded. In 1981, Idol moved to New York City to pursue his solo career in collaboration with guitarist Steve Stevens. His debut studio ...
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Generation X (band)
Generation X (later known as Gen X) were an English punk rock band, formed in London in 1976. They were the musical starting point of the career of their frontman Billy Idol, and issued six singles that made the UK Singles Chart and two albums that reached the UK Albums Chart. History Formation During the punk rock movement in London in late 1976, William Broad, a 21-year-old guitar-playing university drop-out from Bromley and associate of the Bromley Contingent; the drummer John Towe, a West End music shop assistant; and at Broad's suggestion, having already met via an advertisement previously placed in the ''Melody Maker'' by Broad seeking other musicians – Tony James, a 23-year-old university graduate bass player from Twickenham and former member of the London S.S. all replied to an advert placed in the ''Melody Maker'' by John Krivine, the owner of a fashion clothing shop called ''Acme Attractions'' on the King's Road in Chelsea, seeking musicians to form a new West L ...
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Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley's contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a global figure in popular culture to this day. Over the course of his career, Marley became known as a Rastafari icon, and he infused his music with a sense of spirituality. He is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and culture and identity, and was controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms. In 1976, Marley survived an assassination attempt in his home, which was thought to be politically motivated. He also supported legalization of marijuana, and advocated for Pan-Africanism. Born in Nine Mile, Jamaica, Ma ...
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Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted as an infant and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. After attending college, she worked various jobs—as a dancer, a Playboy Bunny and a secretary (including at the BBC in New York)—before her breakthrough in the music industry. Harry co-formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City. The band released its eponymous debut album in 1976, and released a further three albums between then and 1979, including ''Parallel Lines'', which spawned six singles, including " Heart of Glass". Their fifth album, ''Autoamerican'' (1980), afforded Harry and the band further attention, spawning such hits as a cover of "The Tide Is High", and " Rapture", the latter of which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one i ...
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