PUNK BRITANNIA – BBC Four
Rock Britannia is yet another documentary series about the “filth and fury” of punk rock in the UK but this one at least has the virtue of putting the subject into a wider context.
There is still something ironic about the fact that this kind of sociological study is being conducted by the very institution that banned the first two Sex Pistols singles from the airwaves. When ageing punk rockers look back and recall an oppressive climate of ultra conservatism in the 70s, let’s not forget that the BBC were ,and are, at the heart of the establishment that lend credence to such values. It’s only because three decades have passed that they can be sure that any revolutionary threat to the status quo has been quelled.
Part one (1972-76) focused mainly on the vibrant pub rock scene with bands like Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe and Dr Feelgood. The third and final part (1978 -1981) looked at the “refuseniks and malcontents” of ‘post punk’ which also got burdened with the more insipid label of ‘New Wave’. This was worth watching alone for Gareth Sager of The Pop Group‘s assessment of that band’s sound as “avant-garde jazz meets King Tubby at the roots of hell”.
Among the numerous, and mostly legitimate, testimonies, Adam Ant featured prominently looking and sounding a bit of a prat. I’m at a loss to explain why he should be considered such an authority on the subject. I’m suspicious of a guy who so rapidly set aside any fledging anarchic tendencies to become a dandy pop highwayman.
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Irvine Welch’s superb novel was in sure hands for the transition to the big screen There’s a first rate cast which Boyle directs with real energy and dark humour to show the ups and downs of heroin addiction. Great music too, including Iggy’s Lust For Life and Underworld’s Born Slippy. The screenplay by John Hodge begins with one of the great ‘fuck the system’ monologues:
Made before the first wave of British punk had played itself out this movie is, like the music that inspired it, crude and anarchic. Don’t even begin to look for any plot as this is impressionistic, instinctive cinema that sets its own rules. Adam Ant appears before he became a dandy highwayman and Jordan as punk ‘anti-historian’ Amyl Nitrite. 
