On tambourine, on backing vocals... (Day 44 13/02/13)

So, I had the iPod on shuffle (30,000 songs, need a second as this one's full) and 'Bernadette' by The Four Tops came on. And it got me thinking.

Apart from the obvious, "How bloody great is Bernadette by The Four Tops" it made me think of The Redskins.

In 1984 (I know this because I was in a pub in Bootle on my 21st birthday listening to it) The Redskins had a damn fine single called '(Burnt it up) Bring It Down (This Insane Thing)' from their equally great album 'Neither Washington.....Nor Moscow.....But International Socialism'. Burn It Down owed more than  a little to (ie blatantly stole from) 'Bernadette, and an equal amount to (from) Rufus and Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody', which fitted nicely with The Redskins declaration that they wanted 'to walk like The Clash ... sing like The Supremes'.

They were, as their name implies, militantly left wing/communist skinheads and they a a love for classic soul. Lead singer Chris Dean wrote for the NME under the name X.Moore. There were links to the Socialist Workers Party. They were the perfect anti-Thatcher, party band.

But this is pre-amble. Their most important song, their most important moment was 'Keep On Keepin' On'. The song was the sound track to the miners strike in one four minute blast of soul pop horns.

"Can't remember such a bitter time, the boss says jump, the workers fall in line"
"I'm not down but I'm feeling low, they whip us into shape with the threat of the dole"
"Leaders lead us into blind retreat, one by one we take the money, ten by ten we face defeat"
"Full timers back slide to the cry of sell out, sell out"

The moment was The Tube. Live on Channel 4, Friday tea time. As the drums kicked in;
"On tambourine, on backing vocals and on strike for sixteen weeks; a Durham miner"

The Redskins gave the striking miners, the working class being trodden under Thatcher's pet police force, the 'enemy within' as she described them, a voice. Live on television.

We didn't hear a word. The microphone was silent. The band and the union claimed it was sabotage, the programme petrified of the government. The producers have always sworn blind that they didn't know the miner was coming on, the mic was faulty.. I know which side I'm on; it had worked perfectly for the backing vocals on the previous song.

And the point is?

The Redskins. The Beat's 'Stand Down Margaret', Shipbuilding, Crass, The Jam, The Style Council, The Communards, Billy Bragg, Red Wedge, Story of the Blues, Come Back.....

The 80s faced a vicious, spiteful, hate filled Tory government and it protested. In clear, concise, precise terms it said what it felt.


Music is important, it has influence, it changes the way you walk through the world (Saint Joe Strummer again). Take the chance. Make a stand.

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