4 Skins - One Law For Them

4 SKINS - ONE LAW FOR THEM

Charles and Di. "She is pure," said Di's father, implying a virgin was being supplied to the Royal Court. "Do you lover her?" asked a journalist of Charles. "Yes," he replied "Whatever that means."

The curious thing regarding the royal wedding celebration of 1981 was that there was really no visible objection to it from any quarter. In comparison, just the year previously in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, violent protests had broken out on the day of the Dutch Queen's coronation between squatters and police. Under the slogan 'No house, no coronation', the squatters and their various supporters had attempted to disrupt the proceedings, resulting in full-blown rioting.

At the time of the last major royal event in Britain (the Queen's silver jubilee in '77) the Sex Pistols had, of course, released God Save The Queen and famously sailed down the river Thames past Parliament on Jubilee night, playing said song. For their efforts, they could have (and should have, according to some people) been tried for treason.

Years later it would emerge from officially released government records that Thatcher had been under the impression that riots could indeed seriously disrupt the royal wedding, particularly following the riots in Toxteth, Moss Side, and Brixton. So great was her fears that she had seriously contemplated arming the police and making available army camps for the detention of the anticipated large numbers of arrested rioters.

The reality, however, was that as the country buckled under a media barrage of royal romance and patriotism, all was quiet - even on the Punk front. In fact, the best Punk broadsides that summer were emerging not from the politically conscious Crass camp but from the supposedly apolitical Oi! scene. One Law For Them, the début single from the 4 Skins, for example, being a record that can only be described as an utter classic.

Benefiting hugely from the patronage of Garry Bushell, the 4 Skins were one of the most prominent of Oi! bands, revelling in the imagery of skinhead menace. Though no strangers to accusations of condoning mindless violence, it was their involvement with the gig at the centre of the Southall riot that sealed their reputation and ultimately became their undoing.

Built on a bubbling bass line and chugging guitar chords, One Law For Them was a howl of objection to the unfairness within society: "One law for them - another law for us!" Judging by the picture on the cover of the record depicting a crowd of gentlemen in top hats and ladies in summer head wear at (what is probably) Royal Ascot, the "them" in question is obviously the rich, upper class.

This was one of the first times that class division and inequality had been presented so well on a Punk Rock record. However, whilst the "us" was obviously the (probably white) working class, on close listening to the lyrics, the "them" could just as easily be interpreted to mean the rioters of Brixton and Southall - black and Asian youth, in other words.

This ambiguity was quite typical of Oi! and was the very thing that put paid to it being in any way progressive. For all that, One Law For Them was still a very good record and should be acknowledged (if only for the record's sleeve itself) for putting forward class as an issue within British society.