1977 THE FILTH AND THE FURY

I remember back in the summer of 1977 a mate of mine dragged me off to manchester uk, for a night out. little did I know. That I  would witness a life changing event. We caught the 192 bus into the centre of the city, nothing new about that, this was my city, my playground.  I remember walking down oldham road and all these PUNKS were all going in the same direction. We finally got to our destination a grubby little club in collyhurst, mega rough, windows boarded up, and dog shit everywhere. Great, anyway there was a massive Q to get inside this hole. Inside it was packed and the DJ was pumping out THE STOOGES, NEW YORK DOLLS, SEX PISTOLS, THE RAMONES, it was brilliant. The first group on were SUBWAY SECT. They were great, a blast of fresh air, I just loved how shambolic they were, and how badly they played their instruments and sang outa tune, nobody else seemed to notice them. But I thought they were great. Next up were the SLITS, wow I fell in love with PUNK, there and then. I didnt think they were as good as SUBWAY SECT. But boy oh boy did they have sex appeal and buckets of attitude it was great. By this time it was really sweaty and roasting hot, and the atmosphere was ELECTRIC. I guess thats why it was called the electric circus, full of freaks, looking for kicks in the dark underbelly of the city. The next and final group on were...... THE CLASH by now we were at the front of the stage, within spitting distance, and everyone was spitting, it was gross. I think they started with WHITE RIOT, and the whole place just exploded, everybody was pogoing it was throbbing. Up to this point the night had been a real eye opener, now it all made sense this was music for kids like me. This was culture, our culture,this belonged to us. Sure it couldnt last, but it was here, and it was now, and it felt so good. If I had to list the best gig I ever went to, this was it. THE CLASH delivered. MUSIC. IMAGE. MESSAGE. If you dont have any music by by these 3 artists quite simply. Sorry to say this, but your music collection, just aint up to scratch.