We are the Flowers in your Dustbin

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When the innocence of youth culture collides with the skepticism and sensationalism of mass media.

Synopsis:

This film celebrates the life of punk and the true motivators of the original scene, now seen on camera with their legendary stories of how it all began.   The teenage youth of the 80’s, whose bigger goal was racial harmony and speaking up against the oppressive establishment.  Fighting for a life that’s worth having, as there were no jobs, and utilized music as a way of life and the uniforms set them apart.  However, this uniform also made them a target for the media.  Still to this day street punk and the idea of racial harmony has a distorted reputation.  This film will rewrite the history books with the original icons of the scene.  We celebrate punk almost 50 years, which is still as relevant today as it was then, and has continued to move many generations throughout the world, to speak with an independent voice.  Interviews include Gary Bushel of the gonads and the daily mail, and UKs got talent.  Cass Pennant with celebrated film “football factory” and author of several books. Paul Hallam publisher of old dog books.

Cockney Rejects

Cockney Rejects are an English punk rock band that formed in the East End of London in 1978. Their 1980 song “Oi, Oi, Oi” was the inspiration for the name of the Oi! music genre.

 

UK Subs

Formed in 1976, UK Subs were among the earliest in the first wave of British punk, with vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain’s R&B scene, the mainstay of the band.

Sham 69

Sham 69 is a punk rock band that formed in Hersham in 1976. The band was one of the most successful punk bands in the United Kingdom, achieving five Top 20 singles.

Specials

The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 Tone and ska revival band formed in 1977,  combining ska and rocksteady beat with punk’s energy and attitude.

Angelic Upstarts

Angelic Upstarts are a punk rock band formed in 1977. The band espoused an anti-fascist and socialist working class philosophy, having released eight studio albums in their first decade alone.

Infa Riot

Infa Riot is a punk rock band formed in 1980 in North London, England by vocalist Lee Wilson and guitarist Barry D’Amery. The name Infa-Riot is an abbreviation for “In for a Riot”.

The Last Resort

The Last Resort are a name synonomous with the Oi! movement both as a shop catering for those of the skinhead persuasion and lifestyle in the ‘80’s.

 

 

   

   

Sample of Voice Over from We are the Flowers in your Dustbin

Teenage warning:Punk, politics and youth culture

Words are the most important things about punk. If I just wanted to pogo, there’s hundreds of bands I could go and see-that’s just as bad as Disco. What I’m interested in is people who tell the truth. That’s what I believe in.

                                Jimmy Pursey(1977)

The mood was tense even before the violence erupted. As a benefit concert organized on behalf of six political activists arrested in the summer of 1978 for conspiring to cause explosions with persons unknown”, the vagaries of the charge and the drawn-out prelude to the trial-which ran from September 1979 – served only to affirm the seditious and conspiratorial  mind-set of Britain’s anarchist millieu. Among the 500-strong crowd of punks, skinheads and veteran politicos gathered inside London’s Conway Hall, any semblance of a good night out had already been tempered by the politics underpinning the event. his was less a gig than a point of reckoning. The state had conformed to type, it seemed, the “system” was closing in: “Beware, the thought police are coming.

A feminist and libertarian band originally from Brighton; Rondos, a Dutch group of ultra leftists with revolutionary aspirations. Among the audience, meanwhile, a contingent of skinheads aligned to the far-right British Movement (BM) took up position, provoking skirmishes and feeding off the evermore repressive atmosphere descending over the hall. The police came and went, with the gig’s organisers assuring them that the situation was under control, before a call was made to members of the anti-fascist “squads” formed within the ranks of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) to mobilize a response. Come ten o’clock and it arrived: a tooled-up mob of battle-hardened anti-fascists forced their way into the venue to beat the Nazi skins into submission. Bottled smashed, fists flew, and the once bullish sieg heils that had punctuated the evening were stifled amidst the chaos. In the aftermath, with Crass unable to play their set, so the police returned with ambulances in tow to tend the wounded and pick over the debris strewn across a blood-stained floor crackling beneath the crunch of broken glass.

The events of 8 September 1979 may not have constituted a typical Saturday night-out in the late 1970s, but they were sesonant of a time in which youth culture, popular music and politics intertwined in complex, exciting and often ugly ways. Taken altogether, the identifiable subcultural styles (punks and skinheads), the visibility of political “extremes” (anarchists, revolutionary socialists, fascists), the backdrop of perceived crisis and impending authoritarianism, the violence and the meshing of politics and culture all combine to form a recognizable snapshot of Britain on the eve of the 1980s.

What was Punk revolting against, in what ways, why, and to what end?

This film urges historians to take youth culture seriously. If we return to the Conway Hall in 1979 then we find not just a political benefit, a pop gig and a punch-up, but a portal into the construction of personal identities, a forum for expression and dissent; an altenate site of information, communication and exchange. Integral to the current study, therefore, is the positioning of youth culture as a space for social and political development. That is, youth culture should not be understood simply as a model of consumptions, or a product of media invention, but as a formative and contested experience  through which young people discover, comprehend, affirm and express their desires, opinions and disaffections. This, arguably, was made explicit with the emergence of punk, whose early protagonists raised and standard of “Anarchy in the UK” and set themselves but one criterion:”Does it threaten the status quo?”

A musical and stylistic form that redefined popular both in Britain and beyond. If not quite signalling a mythical year zero, then the emergence of the Sex Pistols in 1975-76 offered a critical moment of departure that has since come to shape our understanding of the 1970s. The Pistols tore open the cultural fabric, trashing the past and confronting the present to better refine the future. “A soon as I saw them (the Sex Pistols) I knew!

Directed by

Sandie West

Cast

 

 

Cass Pennant Cass Pennant
Himself
Garry Bushell Garry Bushell  Gonads
Gary Lammin Gary Lammin
Ex Cock Sparrer
Charlie Harper Charlie Harper
UK Subs
Neville Staple Neville Staple
Specials
Dave Parsons Dave Parsons
Sham 69
Steve Whale Steve Whale
The Business
Micky Geggus Micky Geggus
Cockney Rejects
Mensi Mensi
Angelic Upstarts
Lee Wilson Lee Wilson
Infa Riot
Paul Hallam Paul Hallam
Odds and Sods
Tim Wells Tim Wells
Punk Poet
Matthew Worley Matthew Worley
Himself
Roi Pearce Roi Pearce
The Last Resort
Riaz Khan Riaz Khan
Himself
Garry Johnson Garry Johnson
Punk Poet
Terry Hayes Terry Hayes
East End Badoes
Martin Veneer Martin Veneer
Himself
Lyrics for Title Track for Flowers
Lyrics Garry Johnson/ Sandie West
Music Sulo Soren Karlsson
WE ARE THE FLOWERS IN YOUR DUSTBIN
They were the creatures that time forgot
Who teachers said they would fail and rot
A united army in a divided nation of many tribes
The lost generation written off by the scribes
But they could fight and they could sing
They were the flowers in your dustbin
The politician swears on the bible
     sings a line from a hymn
           a bully boy born to win
                but it wont be him pulling on boots and marching in
As always throughout history
           it will always  be
                  the flowers in your dustbin
The Black and white faces dressed to kill
In all the wrong places chasing the thrill
It was our generation under attack
Side by side and fighting back
The politician tried to shut us up
            and shout us down
                 but the gang is here in every town
                       were going nowhere were hanging around
We always are – we always were the flowers in your dustbin
They were the flowers in your dustbin
Tossed on the scrapheap
                   nowhere to sleep
We always were – we always are the flowers in your dustbin
But we could fight and we could sing
Unlike flowers we will not wither we will not die
Were the flowers in your dustbin
We`ll last a life-time
There is no last time
We`re always be the flowers in your dustbin
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
 PRESS
  • “We arrive at the gig as punk all-stars The Crunch warm up the crowds with a blast of four fan favourites from The Clash’s eponymous debut album. Fronted by singer-guitarist Sulo Karlsson (Diamond Dogs), and rounded off by lead guitarist Mick Geggus (Cockney Rejects), bassist Dave Tregunna (Sham 69) and drummer Terry Chimes (The Clash), the super-group joyously bash their way through Janie Jones, Career Opportunities, Garageland, and White Riot, and it’s clear from the get-go everyone here is in for a special night.”
    Matt Stocks, Classic Rock
  • “Sulo’s powerful voice, complemented by Idde’s backing vocals, warns us that no matter how much we try to believe in something, and no matter how much we try to avoid the grim reaper, we can’t escape our fate. A catchy and dramatic chorus, and the spot-on instrumental input by Mick, Dave and Terry underline this. 5/5”
    Claudia A, Music-News.com
  • “As with their first album this is catch pop-rock that mixes in a punk edge to it. It’s a great song – one that you can happily listen to again and again. Idde Schultz’s backing vocals work well with Sulo Karlsson’s harder lead vocals. A great song and one that promises great things for the new album.”
    Ant May, Planet Mosh
  • “The Crunch release a new single, ‘Neon Madonna’, ahead of their new album due in April. The band are a bit of punk/alt rock supergroup as the line-up includes the Clash’s drummer Terry Chimes, Sulo Karlsson of the Diamond Dogs and Mick Geggus of the Cockney Rejects. This song has a reggae beat to anchor the song to and a glorious pop rock chorus. The Crunch are very good indeed and sound nothing what you would expect given the various bands the members come from. More please! ****”
    Jason Ritchie, Get ready to rock me
  • “They were not disappointed. The Crunch came out snarling with ‘Busy Making Noise’, title track from the new album and used every last minute of their collective 120-odd years of rock n roll experience to make this an intimate yet dynamic experience. The gig built to a thrilling climax with an encore of the excellent rocker ‘Runaway Son’, and an emotional, riotous ‘Garageland’ from Terry’s days with The Clash as a set closer. There was nowhere to go after that and the band departed in triumph.”