{"id":723,"date":"2008-04-14T23:26:27","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T22:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/?p=723"},"modified":"2008-04-14T23:59:23","modified_gmt":"2008-04-14T22:59:23","slug":"the-futurist-theatre-goesdiy-bow-wow-wow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/the-futurist-theatre-goesdiy-bow-wow-wow\/","title":{"rendered":"The futurist theatre goes…DIY Bow Wow Wow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bow<\/a><\/p>\n

As readers of Kill Your Pet Puppy the fanzine will know, our Dear Leader (aka Tony D.) in his previous incarnation as editor of the classic punk fanzine Ripped and Torn [founded 1976] did a fair bit to promote Adam and the Ants in their original and unexpurgated form. Sadly, by the time (late 1979) KYPP No. 1 hit the streets, Adam and his Ants were in decline.<\/p>\n

The decaying Ants released an album called \u2018Dirk Wears White Socks\u2019 which, although pretty ace in retrospect, failed to capture the full on power of the punk Ants. Malcolm Mclaren then got involved and hived off half the Ants to create Bow Wow Wow. Adam retaliated by becoming a \u2018King of the Wild Frontier\u2019 pop star , recycling old Ants songs like Physical (Your So) and Fall Out as \u2018b\u2019 sides on his hit singles.<\/p>\n

Rewind to Bow Wow Wow\u2026 looking for a fresh angle on how to annoy the music biz, Malcolm Mclaren came up with an amusing riposte to the \u2018Home Taping is Killing Music\u2019 which was the then big fear of the music biz . [Now of course it is downloading off the Internet]. So the first single – initially released in June 1980 as a cassette tape only – by Bow Wow Wow was \u2018C30 C60 C90 Go\u2019. Which I duly bought \u2026
\n\"C<\/a>
\nFast forward 28 years and I am quizzing Nic (honorary member of the Puppy Collective for contributions to KYPP online well beyond the call of duty) about the Androids of Mu album. The Androids being part of the \u2018hippy \/ punk\u2019 [aaaaaaaargh] DIY. ATV \/ Here and Now \/ Fuck Off Records \/ Street Level Studio \/\u00a0Zounds \/ Mob \/ Brougham Road etc etc cross-over and – according to Nic- the Androids of Mu\u2019s Blood Robots LP is already fetching good sums (on ebay and beyond) thanks to the increase in interest in the \u2018UK D.I.Y.\u2019 music scene of the late 70\u2019s \/ early 80\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n

You what? So I asked Nic to elaborate, which he did thus wise:<\/p>\n

In the 1990\u2019s, a series of (bootleg) LP\u2019s called \u2018Killed by Death\u2019 came out which compiled tracks from very rare Punk singles from around the globe\u2026They were a bit of a smash hit as they allowed people to hear old rare records that were far too expensive to buy (whenever copies actually showed up for sale), and – as you can imagine – the scarcity of the records had exponentially increased the expectations of what their grooves contained\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Following on from this idea, a man in the USA started a series of CDr\u2019s called \u2018Messthetics\u2019 which compiled tracks from obscure (and rare) UK D.I.Y. singles with each CDr cataloguing a different letter of the alphabet\u2026
\nThe buzz about these\u00a0CDr’s dovetailed with the releases of the Rough Trade \u2018Post Punk\u2019 double CD and a general resurgence in interest in the Post Punk period (spurred on by the rash of bands informed by Gang of Four \/ Delta 5 etc which popped up about 7 or so years ago)\u2026<\/em>
\nThis has been consolidated over the last few years by the Soul Jazz records compilations of Post Punk, and also by a few more bootleg compilations\u2026
\nThe \u2018Messthetics\u2019\u00a0CDr’s have now started to be released as \u2018official\u2019 Cd’s, beginning with 2 volumes of London-based singles, a volume of Midlands singles (one of which – from 1981 – features my good self as part of the cover picture – aged 12!), and a volume each for South Wales and Scotland\u2026<\/em>
\nAs the net widens, people have got wind of the Fuck Off Records \/ Street Level Studios recordings (which all go for quite silly money in the world of Record Collectors), and this has led them to the Androids of Mu\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Nic gave this link to Messthetics\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.hyped2death.com\/frameset1.html<\/a><\/p>\n

I followed it up and said\u2026<\/p>\n

Clunk – sound of jaw hitting floor as AL skims through Nic\u2019s Messthetics link\u2026
\nfor example – He\u2019s Dead Jim – Colour Climax \/ Monochrome World: Aberdeen D.I.Y.-punk 1981-83 (Messthetics #215 CD-R)<\/p>\n

There was an Aberdeen DIY punk scene?<\/p>\n

Struggling for a reference point, I guess this may link to the \u2018long tail\u2019 theory<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.longtail.com\/about.html<\/a><\/p>\n

which goes like this\u2026<\/p>\n

The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of \u201chits\u201d (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. As the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers. In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare.<\/p>\n

Can we claim this \u2018long tail\u2019 as part of our DIY -fanzines, tapes, records- counter culture? As an alternative to mainstream \u2018brand name\u2019 consumerism? The internet as a huge photocopier \/ double tape recorder\u2026 C30 C60 C90 go\u2026 Bow Wow WOW\u2026. see video here<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U291AOW2-Ms<\/a><\/p>\n

Which is the story so far\u2026. DIY \/ Long Tail – same or different?<\/p>\n

A bit bam-boogie and a booga-rooga
\nmy computer\u2019s just like a bazooka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As readers of Kill Your Pet Puppy the fanzine will know, our Dear Leader (aka Tony D.) in his previous incarnation as editor of the classic punk fanzine Ripped and Torn [founded 1976] did a fair bit to promote Adam and the Ants in their original and unexpurgated form. Sadly, by the time (late 1979) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-al"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/killyourpetpuppy.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}