#steel pulse

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

Steel Pulse

Klu Klux Klan (1978)

[nononobodyunderstands]

Rock Against Racism, 1978.

[musickickztoo]

David Hinds  *June 15, 1956

[theunderestimator-2]

Steel Pulse photographed for their 1978 single "Ku Klux Klan" by Dennis Morris: "I have taken many controversial images; this is one of them. The record company thought it was too controversial and it was never used.. It is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London!"

blackhistorymonth.org.uk: "Steel Pulse was formed in 1975 in Birmingham, England, specifically the inner city area of Handsworth. The founding members were schoolmates (…) from working class West Indian immigrant families, and none had much musical experience… They initially had difficulty finding live gigs, as club owners were reluctant to give them a platform for their “subversive” Rastafarian politics. Luckily, the punk movement was opening up new avenues for music all over Britain, and also finding a spiritual kinship with protest reggae. Thus, the group wound up as an opening act for punk and new wave bands like the Clash, the Stranglers, Generation X, the Police, and XTC, and built a broad-based audience in the process. In keeping with the spirit of the times, Steel Pulse developed a theatrical stage show that leavened their social commentary with satirical humor; many of the members dressed in costumes that mocked traditional British archetypes (Riley was a vicar, McQueen a bowler-wearing aristocrat, Martin a coach footman, etc.). Steel Pulse’s first single for Island was the classic “Ku Klux Klan,” which happened to lend itself well to the band’s highly visual, costume-heavy concerts. It appeared on their 1978 debut album, Handsworth Revolution, which was soon hailed as a classic of British reggae by many fans and critics.."

allmusic.com/ : "The number is tightly wound around a dangerously thumping bass line and David Hind's searing delivery. The extended version is even more musically militant, the instruments now weapons in the engineer's hands, the rhythm even more threatening. This remains Pulse's most enduring classic."

(via)

[big-low-t]

1983

[musicmags]

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

Record Mirror

Steel Pulse (1978-06)

[pillsquad]

Posted by @britcalling on instagram — members of Steel Pulse, The Clash and Sex Pistols demonstrating outside National Front Leader Martin Webster’s house in 1977.