Punk: Dead Or Alive? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charged GBH

I wondered for years what it meant, especially as the follow up album, "City Baby's Revenge" continued the saga.

Vocalist Colin explains : "We were walking to a pub when we passed the little kiosk that sells our local paper, the Birmingham Evening Mail, and as usual they had a poster with the daily headline written in magic marker behind a metal grille. It said "CITY BABY ATTACKED BY RATS" and Jock (guitarist) remarked "what a great song title". I stole the poster and still have it somewhere in my loft, it should make me a few quid when Sotherby's have their next rock memorabilia auction!" (Burning Britain: The History Of UK Punk 1980 - 1984)

The story is reminiscent of how fellow Brummies Black Sabbath got their name, but that's another story.

Answer: Rudimentary Peni

Rudimentary Peni carved out a niché for themselves, partly because nobody has ever sounded even remotely like them, and also due to vocalist/guitarist Nick Blinko's distinctive lyrics and artwork. They have never split up since forming in 1980, although they only record sporadically.

About the semi-autobiographical novel Blinko says : "The fun is trying to figure out what's true and what isn't! I did used to collect fungi spore patterns, and I did play chess for the county third team, and I continue to aspire to mediocrity. Regression therapy - a cornerstone of the book - seems to skew the imagination occasionally, highlighting old paths in new lights; that is to say, it's not a self-help piece". (The Day The Country Died by Ian Glasper)

Blinko has also published other work and exhibited as an artist.

Answer: Balthasar Gerards Kommando

Frenchman Balthasar was convicted and gruesomely executed for killing Dutch nationalist William Of Orange. He did the deed for a bounty set by Spanish king, Philip II.

The other names are made up. In Dutch brood = bread/sandwich, Gouda is a Dutch cheese, and kip = chicken. Big girl's blouse is a very mild taunt in England. Kelp is seaweed.

The band BGK played super-fast hardcore punk accompanied by leftist lyrics. They toured Europe extensively, and even made it to the USA, where people knew of them through Alternative Tentacles' releases. You can get their entire discography on one tidy CD called "BGK: A Dutch Feast" on Alternative Tentacles.

Answer: 4-Skins

The 4-Skins played their first gig in 1980 supporting The Damned and Cockney Rejects with Rejects drummer Mickey Geggus on drums. They then appeared on "Oi! The Album" put together by Gary Bushell.

Guitarist Tom McCourt describes 4-Skins, and Oi! music as "punk but faster, a lot heavier and more basic, like Black Sabbath meets The Ramones with terrace chants".

Like most Oi! punk bands the 4-Skins got lumped in with the far-right movement, something they've always rejected, describing themselves as apolitical and even claiming to have been involved in "giving the British movement Leader Guard a pasting" on one occasion. Anyone intrigued by the link between ska and punk should check them out.

Minder was an 80s comedy-drama about a London spiv, Arthur Daley, played by comedy actor George Cole, and his minder (bodyguard) Terry McCann, played by Denis Waterman, who also sang the theme tune. It is much-loved by Brits, especially those who grew up in the period.

Answer: William Shakespeare, playwright

Whether Shakespeare actually first coined the word is debatable, but earliest evidence is in his work. One example from Henry IV: "Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, by the Lord, I'll stab thee."

Zounds is a euphemism for God's wounds, once a blasphemous oath. Geoffrey Hughhes points out in "Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English" : "The form so efficiently obliterated the meaning that within a century the nonsensical alternative pronunciation /zaundz/ had grown up".

Zounds had a wonderful eclectic sound that has stood the test of time better than some contemporaries. Frontman, Steve Lake, says in the book "The Day The Country Died":" We were never really a punk band as such. I was really into the whole punk thing - but then again I was really into a lot of other things as well. The thing I liked about the punk explosion, as well as a lot of the music, was that people could do stuff for themselves.. you didn't have to go to music college for a hundred years, you didn't need the best equipment and all that."

Answer: Broken Bones

Tony "Bones" Roberts played with his brother, Terry "Tez" Roberts, in Discharge and was a member for what most people see as their classic period (1980 - 1983). As Ian Glasper succinctly puts it : "They inspired literally hundreds of copycat bands, eventually spawning a sub-genre (discore or d-beat) and they not only helped shape the face of punk but also that of extreme metal, with the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax all citing them as a major influence."

Broken Bones also garnered the respect of metallers. When they toured the US, James Hetfield (Metallica) and Scott Ian (Anthrax) introduced themelves to Bones saying "we're big fans of your band". Bones returned the compliment that night by playing Metallica's "Jump In the Fire", to which he caught site of Hetfield headbanging furiously.

Answer: Finland

Back in the mid-80s Terveet Kädet were the band to name-drop amongst the punk/extreme metal elite, despite nobody being able to pronounce it! They claim to be the first Finnish punk band.

In an interview by Arto Lehtinen and Marko Syrjala for Heart Of Steel, Sepultura/Soulfly member Max Cavalera was asked about his love for the band, and admitted he had wanted to get them to support Sepultura but promoters had vetoed the idea.

The band have never split up, although they've veered from their punk roots towards brooding metal, and have been pretty prolific. Their early stuff in highly recommended for fans of mental European raging hardcore.

Answer: The plant refused to press the first track

On the second pressing, Crass explained: "Once again the violent majority assert their bigoted reality through the silencing of others. "Asylum", an antichrist/feminist statement has been erased because no company would press the record if the track were left intact".

In his book "The Story Of Crass", George Berger says: "When punk ruled the waves, Crass waived the rules and took it further, putting out their own records, films and magazines and setting up a series of situationist prank's that were dutifully covered by the world's press. Not just another iconoclastic band, Crass was a musical, social and political phenomenon".

The band were monitored by MI5, possibly because they had been courted by the KGB. They were equally revered and reviled in the punk scene, and to my mind one of the most influential bands in popular music, albeit on a small scale, due to the profound way their audience's lives changed after getting into them.

Answer: Major Accident

Major Accident were formed by brothers Paul and Constantine Larkin in 1977. and it was these two who dressed up like Alex in "Clockwork Orange".

The record covers were designed by local artist Paul Dillon, and featured a sinister, bowler-hatted, long nosed chap, all in black and white.

Major Accident were broadcast live on a BBC programme about music in the Northeast, and (as recounted to punk chronicler Ian Glasper) later stopped by the police, who on seeing the gear remarked "Oh, you're in a band. Did you see that crap on TV tonight? God, they were terrible! Nothing but noise. What were they called? Major Accident or something? Anyway, what do you call your band?"

Answer: CCM

CCM were one of the most exciting bands on a very exciting scene. Unfortunately, information about them is hard to get, just like their only full album "Into The Void". Bootleg anthologies are reasonably easy to get though.

They have been described as "the Italian Black Flag", which is a little misleading and refers as much to their confrontational stage presence as much as the music, which is much rawer.

They toured the US with New York freaks The False Prophets, and are apparently fondly remembered by those lucky enough to catch them. Charismatic frontman, Syd Migx, nowadays works as a translator. He did a sterling job on Ian Glasper's punk reference book trilogy.

CCM guitarist, Dome La Muerte, has carried on performing, and in an interview about one his more recent projects (Not Moving) he was asked about having performed on the same bill as Johnny Thunders: "Behind the drug-ridden icon there was a great musician and a romantic.. he thought nobody appreciated his acoustic albums and when I said I thought they were brilliant, he hugged me".

Answer: Flux Of Pink Indians

They started as The Epililectic Fits, one of their mum's suggestions, then The Epilectics, then became Epi-X after hassle The British Epilepsy Association.

They then thought of calling themselves Tribe Of Pink Indians (pink as opposed to red indians), then decided on Flux Of Pink Indians.

Flux's debut EP, "Neu Smell", released on Crass Records in 1981, is a milestone in punk rock. Their debut album "Strive to Survive Causing the Least Suffering Possible" is also must-have for anyone into the genre.

Their second album was refused distribution by certain distributors, and a Manchester retailer was raided for stocking it due to its alleged obscene content, probably due to its provocative title.

Answer: From a Lärm record cover

Extreme Noise Terror started in Ipswich in 1984 with the intent of being "the most extreme hardcore punk band of all time", according to vocalist Dean Jones.

They regularly held gigs in Ipswich, inviting bands like Napalm Death and Carcass, as well as more traditional punk bands. Dean says :"We held gigs at the Caribbean Centre and John Peel used to come with his wife and kids". Legendary BBC DJ Peel was a staunch supporter of the band and invited them to record their first Peel Session in 1987.

The Lärm record in question was a split LP with Stanx. The Lärm side was called "Campaign For Nuclear Destruction". One reviewer had this to say : "LÄRM specializes in those short, sharp political attacks of noise/thrash that amaze/dismay. STANX, too, are political, though their cuts tend to be a bit longer and more tuneful; this distinction is only slight, due to the radicalness of LÄRM's brief blasts. Destroy all music!" Tim Yohannan, Maximum Rocknroll.

Answer: Anti Cimex

Anti Cimex formed in 1981, and are widely regarded as THE Swedish punk band of their time, although that's a moot point (I personally love Mob 47). They split up around 1986, but got back together around 1990.

Punk online encyclopedia Kill From The Heart says: "Anti-Cimex, named after a Swedish insecticide, are one of the most influential hardcore bands to come out of Sweden in the wake of Discharge. Their noisy, high-speed take on the UKHC sound laid the foundation for the modern "Swedish sound."

Their discography is not easy to keep track of, but various reasonably priced anthologies are relatively easy to find, and well worth the effort.

Totalitär were a frenetic Swedish hardcore punk band. "Aldrig mer" and "Varför" are Swedish translations of Discharge releases "Never Again" and "Why?"

Answer: John McCoy (Gillan)

UK Subs formed in 1977 and are still going strong. Band leader and mainstay, Charlie Harper, was already in his mid-thirties in 1977 and is now in his sixties, but still singing "Teenage" without seeming ridiculous somehow.

"Another Kind Of Blues" was the Subs' first album and came out in 1978. It was recorded at Ian Gillan's London studio by Gillan's bassist John McCoy.

"Tomorrow's Girls" was released as a single, and was rather suspiciously voted as "Single Of The Week" in a music paper by Ian Gillan. In "Burning Britain: The History Of Punk 1980- 1984" guitarist Nicky Garrant says : "I'm sure it was mostly to do with it being recorded at his studio, but for me the validation from one of my early heroes was fantastic."

After Gillan split up, McCoy formed Mammoth with ex-Samson vocalist Nicky Moore and a couple of other big lads, hence the name.

Answer: Virus

Wretched chose to sing in Italian after finding their command of English wasn't up to getting their fiery political message across. Although this might have put some Anglophone punks off, those who made the effort were rewarded with raging, noisy punk to equal any band. They released a string of albums and EPs that came with lots of blurb stating their anarchist leanings.

Zig Zag the venue of a legendary squat gig in London where Crass, Conflict, Zounds and many other bands of that ilk played in 1982.

The 1 in 12 club is a members-run venue in Bradford, West Yorkshire that's been putting on gigs and other events since 1981. Warzone is a similar centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland.