Don't you just love friends? You know, friends who give you that feeling of a light bulb being turned on in your brain? That happened to me the other day, me and my friend were messaging each other music we like and gigs we were going to. I said I was going to see The Fall and we compared favourite tracks, he then asked me if I'd heard of John Cooper Clarke, to which I answered no.
He sent me Beasley Street and I was completely blown away, obviously lyrically (with regards to the social blight during the Thatcher years) but also in his delivery and the sheer brilliance and accessibility poetically. Alright, alright! So maybe a lot of you have heard of him, but remember I was born in the late 80's so have a lot to catch up on.
A skinny man with brown mental hair, JCC is a cult hero from Salford. Now in his 60's, JCC has seen it all and supported the likes of Joy Division, Siouxsie And The Banshees and The Sex Pistols among others.
His political, social, cutting and humorous lyrics hit home at the time, and for me, now and here. It still does. It shows how things never change, ay? After supporting various bands, he started headlining on his own and was dubbed the punk poet or/and The Bard of Salford.
JCC recorded 6 albums (Où est la maison de fromage? in 1978, Disguise in Love in 1978, Walking Back to Happiness in 1979, Snap, Crackle & Bop in 1980, Me and My Big Mouth in 1981 and Zip Style Method in 1982), all a mix of live recordings, studio productions and demos. In that space of time and after 1982 he didn’t record any others. This was due to his self confessed unambitious personality and also his heroin addiction at the time. In an interview with The Culture Show, he said he is now ambitious and it shows in the amount of gigs he does.
Although he had limited success in mainstream music, he was still able to draw people to his shows. With tracks such as Majorca, Evidently Chickentown and (the highest rated chart single for him) Gimmix! Play Loud, JJC is iconic to say the least, a true English poet.
Usually performing his songs acappella, his records mainly centred around musical backing from The Invisible Girls, with percussion from Paul Burgess, bass guitar from Martin Hannett and keys by Steve Hopkins.
He starred in a 1982 film titled 'Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt', narrative between a film, music videos, and a documentary about the poet.
Still performing, check out his website for more information and his many many other fantastic poems and music.
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