CRASS
- HOW DOES IT FEEL
(TO BE THE MOTHER OF A THOUSAND DEAD)?
Just as defeat in the
Falklands would have surely ruined Thatcher, so victory did elevate
her to new heights of insufferable grandiosity. Victory was the proof
that she could now offer up to show that her politics, her policies
and her spirit were totally and absolutely right. Thatcher's spirit
was the Falkland's spirit was the spirit of the age - according to
Thatcher.
"We have ceased
to be a nation in retreat," she declared to a Conservative
Party rally shortly after the war "We have instead a
new-found confidence - born in the economic battles at home and
tested and found true 8000 miles away. We rejoice that Britain has
rekindled that spirit which has fired her for generations past and
which today has begun to burn as brightly as before. Britain found
herself again in the South Atlantic and will not look back from the
victory she has won."
All good, stirring stuff,
fully endorsed by The Sun newspaper, of course. But at what cost was
this new-found confidence? Did the British armed forces go to war
with Argentina to liberate the Falklands - for Queen and country - or
for the political salvation of Thatcher? And what of the sinking of
the Belgrano? Being the point at which the war began in earnest,
rapidly escalating the death toll and destroying any chance of a
negotiated peace, was the decision to attack made from a military
necessity or a political one?
Back in Britain, was the
degrading of whole industries and the subsequent mass unemployment a
price worth paying for the establishment of a free enterprise
economy? If Thatcher's vision of Britain was a nation of shopkeepers,
it was also of a nation of Tory-voting, home-owning, patriotic Union
Jack wavers. But if patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel,
was Thatcher's Britain to be a nation of scoundrels?
Three months after the
Falklands war had ended a Victory Parade held in London offered a
glimpse of that vision. As tanks rolled by and soldiers and sailors
marched through the streets, thousands of people cheered, applauded
and rejoiced. With their flags held aloft and their heads held high,
the crowds sang 'Rule Britannia' with gusto as Thatcher - without the
Queen or any other member of the Royal family present - stood there
on a podium like a modern-day Roman emperor, saluting her 'bold young
Britains'. For many, the event was a proud and emotional one but for
others it was hugely unsettling if not extremely frightening.
At the risk of being
strung up from lampposts by a Tory lynch mob, to coincide with the
Victory Parade, Crass released their first, fully considered official
statement concerning the Falklands war. Not withstanding the various
flexi-discs they had issued, How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother Of
A Thousand Dead)? was Crass's fifth 7" single release and
appropriately under the circumstances was a bitter, intense ball of
hate-fueled anger.
The Falklands war had
impacted heavily upon Crass and whilst being confirmation of all they
had ever said regarding the duplicity of governments, it had left
them dismayed at theirs and everybody else's inability to do anything
to stop it.
If, as it had appeared at
the time that the whole Crass/peace/ Anarcho Punk movement was a
force to be reckoned with then why had it been so ineffective when it
came to the Falklands war? Why instead was it that after showing the
massively violent ends to which she would go in pursuit of her
political ideas, Thatcher's star was suddenly in the ascendency? Had
Thatcher actually been underestimated? Was it time now to become even
more strident in opposition? To up the game? To up the ante? To
become even more fierce in condemnation?
How Does It Feel began
with what might have been a description of the tiring, heavy load
that Crass suddenly felt they were carrying; exasperated by the
impact of the Falklands war: "When you woke this morning you
looked so rocky-eyed, blue and white normally but strange ringed like
that in black. It doesn't get much better, your voice can get just
ripped up shouting in vain. Maybe someone hears what you say but
you're still on your own at night. You've got to make such a noise to
understand the silence, screaming like a jackass, ringing ears so you
can't hear the silence. Even when it's there, like the wind seen from
the window. Seeing it but not being touched by it."
It was a thoughtful and
honest admission but instead of showing surrender to such feelings,
Crass were hitting back with a single, screamed question aimed
directly at Thatcher: "How does it feel to be the mother of a
thousand dead?" A thousand lives, or thereabouts, being the
amount lost in the war.
Not only was this a raw
and emotive question but also painfully piercing and accusatory. When
her own son had gone missing in the Sahara Desert at the start of the
year, Thatcher was shown on national television shedding a tear for
him as any mother might whose child was in danger. No such tears had
been shed and no remorse shown, however, for the starving and dying
H-Block prisoners the year previously; the pleas of their mothers and
wives calling for clemency falling on deaf ears. The blood of those
Irish prisoners was on Thatcher's hands though it appeared to hold no
meaning to her nor to any of her fellow Party members, almost as if
the responsibility was not theirs.
In comparison, Thatcher
was all too ready to claim responsibility for the victory in the
Falklands but in doing so, Crass were saying, she should also be held
responsible for the deaths: "You smile in the face of death
because you are so proud and vain, your cruel inhumanity stops you
from realising the pain that you inflicted, you determined, you
created, you ordered - it was your decision to have those young boys
slaughtered."
As pacifists, Crass were
obviously sickened by the war's main perpetrator, advocate and prime
beneficiary - Thatcher. How Does It Feel ends with the whole band in
unison and then just Steve Ignorant alone spitting out once again
their furious refrain, this time sounding for all the world as though
it was being directed personally at Thatcher: "1, 2, 3, 4 -
we don't want your fucking war! 1, 2, 3, 4 - you can stuff your
fucking war!"
Continuing the
anti-Falklands war theme, two more songs were featured on the
flipside, both featuring Eve Libertine on lead vocals. The first,
entitled The Immortal Death was a meditation on the relationship
between war and sex: "Ah, those rotting young men who all did
their duty are sinking away in the sea. And they've missed, just for
them, the 'Invincible panties' displayed in The Sun, page 3."
This being, of course, a reference to The Sun's jingoism and the use
of page 3 models to encourage the soldiers by flashing breasts and
knickers.
The second song, entitled
Don't Tell Me You Care, was Crass at their most virulent; perhaps,
even, at their most virulent ever. The song starts with the words
"You shit-head slimy got-it-alls," and then just
gets better from there: "You crap-eyed ghosts with greasy
balls. You wicked matron stabbing hard, grabbing while the going's
good... You shit-head slimy make-it-alls, with dead meat dripping as
you walk. Don't talk of justice or respect, you shit-soaked armchair
moralist... You shit-head slimy got-it-alls, crap-eyed ghosts where
maggots crawl, tired old jerk-offs with your bodyguards. Those
muscle-pimps with forty-fives, you gutless automatic butchers,
bullet-shitting dumbhead hookers... You shit-head greedy
have-it-alls, you cheat and lie and jargonise that your success is
also ours, that what you take you take for us..."
Delivered with caustic,
incandescent fury, following the war this was exactly how a good many
people hoped that Crass would respond to Thatcher and her supporters.
Having had the time to weigh up the subtleties and the ins and outs
of the war, this was Crass's thorough and thought-out assessment.
There was no debate to be had, no exchange of views or opinion; just
absolute and righteous condemnation. There was no message to be
imparted, no call for action; just unbridled, unforgiving anger: "You
dead meat eyesore death-pushers, look elsewhere for your
arse-lickers. The face that stares back from the mirror reflects the
reality of your horror. So don't tell me you care, shit head. You
betray the dead now as you curse life. Eat your own shit, leader of
the nation. Piss off to your Downing Street fortress. Leave us out of
your MADNESS. Buy your own Vaseline, grease your own arse, shit in
your own backyard, suck your own turds. THIS IS OUR WORLD."
Don't Tell Me You Care
was an exhilarating piece of soul-bareing, made ever more heartfelt
by Eve's vocal delivery. It was an impassioned scream of disgust
perfectly reflecting how a great many people felt. However, daring to
express such opinion that ran counter to the prevalent mood of
pro-Conservative patriotism meant running the gauntlet of accusations
of disrespect, disloyalty and treachery. No doubt for this reason a
lot of people were choosing to keep their head down though that's not
to say that what Crass were bravely saying wasn't precisely what
those same people were all thinking.
How Does It Feel came in
the usual wrap-around, fold-out sleeve but unlike other Crass
releases there were no copious sleeve notes to pour over. Apart from
what was being conveyed in the songs it seemed there was nothing more
for Crass to add, so other than Gee Vaucher's artwork the sleeve was
in all black. As though behind the anger, Crass were in mourning.
On the inner sleeve that
held the actual record were the lyrics along with a reproduction of
First World War poet Wilfred Owen's famous elegy, Anthem For Doomed
Youth, along with a quote from writer/philosopher Hermann Hesse's
book If The War Goes On. And then lastly, a quote from John Lennon.
The obvious one, really, and none more so fitting: 'War is over if
you want it'.
Being a free flexi-disc
that was easily distributed, Crass's earlier release that year of
Sheep Farming In The Falklands had the potential of falling into the
hands of practically anyone venturing into a record shop. For all
that, due probably to the fact that Crass denied at the time that
they were behind its release, the only people to receive any flak
over it was Rough Trade, the distributor of Crass records.
Following a Conservative
MP raising the matter of the flexi-disc in the House of Commons after
receiving a complaint about it from a constituent, Rough Trade were
written to by the Select Committee on Sound Broadcasting asking them
to desist in distributing the disc as it contravened regulations in
broadcasting samples of speeches taken from the House of Commons.
Rough Trade simply denied any involvement with it and forwarded the
letter on to Crass, who hopefully had a good giggle about it. With
the release of How Does It Feel, up stepped another Tory MP taking
umbrage with Crass.
Having heard the record,
or possibly having just read the lyrics, Tim Eggar, the Conservative
MP for Enfield North in Essex, requested the Attorney General
prosecute Crass under the Obscene Publications Act. For reasons known
only to himself, Eggar then issued a press release informing the
mainstream media of his action, thereby entailing huge publicity for
the record. Eggar and Crass were then invited onto a live radio
programme to debate the issue whereupon not only did Andy Palmer make
mincemeat of Eggar but Eggar immediately and very successfully
revealed himself to be an hysterical fucking idiot.
Years later, Crass would
include a sample of the debate on a compilation album of theirs,
making for hilarious listening: "The accusations that have
been made against us are that the record is obscene," starts
Andy Palmer in a calm, polite manner "I consider that
Margaret Thatcher, her government, Mr Eggar and all who support her
are responsible for sending young men to be slaughtered, which in my
view amounts to premeditated and calculated murder."
In a very posh and
pompous tone of voice, Eggar replies: "Well, look. What I
object to extremely strongly is the actual language used in the last
song. Now (addressing the host DJ), I know you have had to
consult your lawyers over exactly what words I can repeat because
you're frightened of the legal consequences of me reading out the
words in that last track. Now that's, now that's, now that is how bad
it is." Eggar's brain sounds as though it's about to
explode: "And it starts off, the last song starts off with
the words 'You shit-head slimy got-it-alls'. And then it gets worse
from there."
What elevates it all to
high comedy is the fact that Eggar talks exactly how a 'shit-head
slimy got-it-all' might be imagined to talk like.
That same week of the
radio debate, during Prime Minister's question time in Parliament, a
Labour MP asked Thatcher if she might take some time off that
afternoon to listen to the record How Does It Feel To Be The Mother
Of A Thousand Dead? Sadly, Thatcher failed to respond to the question
though it's probably fair to presume she wouldn't have been very
amused.
Soon after this,
prosecution charges against Crass were dropped, apparently following
the decision by the Attorney General that How Does It Feel did not
contravene the Obscene Publications Act, although a more likely
reason being that someone in government didn't think it wise to give
Crass more 'oxygen of publicity'.
Following their bout of
self-doubt regarding the effectiveness of what they, Anarcho Punk,
and the wider peace movement were doing, Crass's brush with the
higher echelons of power acted as a spur for them to step up a gear.
Now was not the time to
waver.
Now was the time to go on
the attack.
