Pride: Background & Context

Music and Culture in the 80s

The 1980s was the most controversial decade in modern British history. It was the decade of the Falklands War and the miners’ strike, the expansion of the City, the great council-house sell-off and the ascendancy of Margaret Thatcher. Yet, these were also the years of individual aspiration and cultural diversity. More than ever before, Britain was a land defined by owning things and buying things, by designer labels and High Street brand names. 

The Eighties did not begin on January 1 1980; they began on May 4 1979 with the arrival of Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street. Queen Elizabeth may have reigned but it was Thatcher who ruled the Eighties. A decade of big politics and big hair. 

The Eighties can appear endearingly unfamiliar. The Eighties were more subtle and significant: there would be no Katie Price without Samantha Fox, no Lady Gaga without Madonna, no Simon Cowell without Stock, Aitken and Waterman and no David Cameron without Margaret Thatcher. The Eighties marked the death of one Britain and they hinted at another Britain to be born. 

Music

80s British music was built on the post-punk and new wave movements, incorporating different sources of inspiration from subgenres and what is now classed as world music in the shape of Jamaican and Indian music. 

Popular post-punk-rock bands that found success in the 70s included 'Siouxsie and the Banshees' and 'The Psychedelic Furs'. Their success continued through to the 80s. Members of Bauhaus and Joy Division explored new stylistic territory as Love and Rockets and New Order respectively. The second generation of British post-punk bands that broke through in the early 1980s, in, tended to move away from dark sonic landscapes. Some, such as Gang of Four, shifted to a more commercial new wave sound, while others moved into Gothic rock or became early examples of indie rock. 

Culture

As a decade, the 1970s spelt doom. British youth culture had been discredited by punk. A monumental recession followed the Labour government’s “winter of discontent”, threatening the prospect of no jobs for years ahead. For Britain, the Swinging 80s were a tumultuous period of social change when the young wrested many levers of power away from the over-40s. London became a creative powerhouse and its pop music and street fashion the toast of world capitals. All because a vast dance underground had been gagging for a very sociable revolution. 

An optimistic movement emerged that the press dubbed the New Romantics, based on a London club called the Blitz. Its soundtrack was a pounding synthesised electro-pop created for the dancefloor by a studio seven-piece called Visage, fronted by Steve Strange. But the live band who broke all the rules were Spandau Ballet.  

As the last of the Baby Boomers, the so-called Blitz Kids were concerned with much more than music. In 1980 they shook off teenage doubt to express all those talents the later Generation X would have to live up to — leadership, adaptability, negotiating skills, focus. Children of the age of mass TV, these can-doers excelled especially in visual awareness. They were the vanguard for a self-confident new class who were ready to enjoy the personal liberty and social mobility heralded by their parents in the 60s. 

Amid the whirl of 1980s consumerism, what you bought and what you wore became an integral expression of your identity, your values and even your politics. And one magazine in particular captured the mood of a generation. The glossy pages of The Face championed street fashion and club culture and became a source of inspiration for many British youngsters.  

Youngsters and adults alike experienced uprising technology such as digital watches, Sony Walkmen and arcade/computer games. Magazines and big-name stars were all the talk, and Madonna was arguably on top.   

Music and Culture- 1984

'But to musicians on the left Margaret Thatcher was an irresistible super-villain who threw all the conflicts of the time into sharp relief.' This quote in itself summarises and expresses political attitudes towards Margaret Thatcher in and prior to the 80's that were expressed to the general public through music. 

Music typically carries the role of crowd pleasing, uplifting and entertaining. However, in 1984 music took a political stance against Margaret Thatcher and her conservative government. In an article featured in The Guardian, we are told that Penny Rimbaud of anarcho-punk radicals Crass once stated "I think Thatcher was an absolute fairy godmother. Christ, you're an anarchist band trying to complain about the workings of capitalist society and you get someone like Thatcher. What a joy!" This sarcastic remark about joy and appreciation for Thatcher's government is just a snapshot of the extremist hate and beliefs towards her government. 

In this performance by Linton Kwesi Johnson previous to Thatcher's election, he expresses the poor treatment of the conservative government towards minority races and cities within the Northern region of the country. This preach was released within an EP that was released on the Election Day of 1979, the cover of the EP featured Thatcher's face on a swastika, suggesting that her government promotes natzi ideologies. 

Gay Rights in 1980s Britain

The 1980s was a decade of intensified homophobia due to the Conservative Government being in opposition to the LGBT community. LGBT Rights came to prominence after the decriminalisation of homosexuality between 1967 and throughout the 80s.


1980 -  The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act decriminalised homosexuality with two men aged over 21in private Scotland.

1980 - The first Black Gay and Lesbian group formed in the UK.

1982 - The Homosexual Offences Order decriminalises sex between 2 men the age of 21 "in private" in Northern Ireland

1984 - The first openly gay politician, Chris Smith.

1987 - The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is founded to promote acceptance for transgender people.

1987 - Margret Thatcher attacked LGBT community saying there was "no such right"

1988 - UK Prime Minister, Margret Thatcher, introduces Section 28 of Local Government Act 1988. The act states that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish materials with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretend family relationship."

1988 - Sir Ian McKellen comes out on the UK's BBC Radio in response to the governments proposed Section 28 in British Parliament. Stonewall UK is formed. ( a charity for the LGBT community)

1988 - London Pride parade was double what it had been in previous years (it increased to 30,000 marchers).

1989 - The number of gay and bisexual men convicted for consenting same-sex behaviour was almost as great as in 1954-55, when male homosexuality was totally illegal and when the country was gripped by a McCarthyite anti-gay witch-hunt.

Mining Communities post 1980's coal closure.

Mining Communities in 1980's Britain 

Easington is a village in Durham which was founded with the specific purpose as serving as a mining community to house miners who worked in the nearby colliery. This village was one that was heavily influenced by mining and the expectation for most children (mainly boys) was that they were to go to work in the mines post-education. Easington was also a filming location of Billy Elliot. 

Following the closure of the colliery, Easington felt separated from the rest of the UK and there was a shared perception of anti-government and anti-establishment. In an article by the Independent, it shows the story of Douglass, whose grandfather and father were involved in previous disputes with the government, representing these disputes almost as if they were wars, showing how much these mines meant to their life and families. This conflict bared with it the idea that the government was against Easington which only furthered their anti-establishment beliefs. "We lost badly, but she didn't win". 

Easington in the current day, according to statistics from ILiveHere.co.uk, has one of the highest rates of unskilled workers and rates of people who accept welfare payments in the UK.  

Many of the mining communities, post closure of the collieries, are deprived and decaying many turning to drug addictions as their community collapses. 

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The backlash that miners faced when in opposition against the authorities was a muddled issue. In many cases it is safe to assume the police where just following their orders; However, one case at the British steel coking works in Orgreave, South Yorkshire during June of 1984 would indicate that the police may have overstepped their boundaries on occasion. During this incident, around 10'000 NUM pickets (including the leader, Arthur Scargill) assembled to halt the transfer of coal into the plant, when they were pushed back by around 5000 police officers. During the incident, riot gear and horses were used and furthermore the South Yorkshire police were sued for over £400,000 for malicious prosecution and assault. Even the tamer confrontations between miners and police probably increased hostilities between the two groups for decades. Therefore, one evident aftermath of the miner's strike is an increased sense of hostility between the authorities and working-class families (especially families that were supported by any of the pits that closed). This can be reflected in the 2011 riots, as those rioters were primarily from working-class families. 

https://goo.gl/5rCgEZ