"COME INSIDE BOY - THEY CALL THIS FUN !"
After my early childhood "glam" leanings (Slade, Sweet and early Queen stuff like Seven Seas Of Rhye) my interest in music
was very much rekindled by the punk thing, although I was a little bit too young to appreciate it, even though I managed
to see the Bill Grundy incident live on TV. Through both BBC Radio One and TOTP, I picked up on other bands like The Buzzcocks,
The Skids, The Stranglers, The Police, The Damned, The Ruts, UK Subs, Stiff Little Fingers and a number of other punk
and new wave bands.
Some time into 1980 & I remember hearing a reference to Killing Joke on the TV when Nicky Horne
mentioned an up and coming gig of theirs on ITV, but I still hadn't heard anyhting by them. One evening
in April 1980 I finally got to hear the track "Change" from what was a 2nd John Peel session. I thought okay but maybe it
was not representive of their darker side ??? By this time I had heard the mighty UK Decay "John Peel" session which
was fantastic & both bands featured in ZigZag magazine's readers poll.
Most of the summer of 1980 was spent listening to the more hardcore punk bands we had discovered such as Discharge and
Crass but during August I'd came across a copy of West London's Allied Propaganda fanzine
and this had a prominent feature on Killing Joke. From what I read about the band, especially their attitude
and lyrics articulating frustrations really convinced me this that I had to check them out. Killing Joke were not my
first band "obsession" but I sensed that there was something entirely different about them.
"WATCHING THE DECOYS OF ALL DESCRIPTION"
Check out the Killing Joke pages from Allied Propaganda below :
At the earliest available opportunity, I headed off down on the number 65 bus to the Beggars Banquet record shop in Richmond
and bought the Turn to Red 12" and Wardance/Pssyche 7" singles - I can clearly remember the buzz and anticipation to this
day ! I'd been a regular customer at the Richmond store since getting my hands on the legendary Crass/Poison Girls 7" single
back in May 1980 and was rather impressed that the wonderful Bloody Revolutions fold out poster sleeve adorned the shop
window for quite some time.
After taking in my first ever gigs during 1980 (UK Subs at the Fulham Greyhound and the Music Machine plus a very late Discharge
gig also at the Music Machine) I was desperate to see Killing Joke perform live - this finally happened when the first album
tour reached the Lyceum in the Strand. I was excited enough before it was announced that Discharge (and Fad Gadget) would be
supporting !!!
Eventually the band hit the stage, cue general mayhem ... Youth screams "This is the night for rockers ...PSSSSSSSSSYCHE" !
Well, well, well, some 30 years later and Jaz Coleman is reading Allied Propaganda Issue 3 ... what can I say !!!
More Killing Joke stuff.
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