Love Bites

Five decades after the anarchy and attitude of punk exploded onto the UK's music scene, Chris Packham meets the people who, like him, were touched by its energy and ideas.

As punk spread across the country, Chris hears how it changed, adapted, and became a way to fight back for different people. For Mark Jordan, punk allowed him to experiment and discover his sexuality, even though it meant being beaten or attacked almost daily in Liverpool.

For others, like Pauline Murray from County Durham, punk offered an escape from the bleak North East of the 1970s. She went on to form the band Penetration. Anything could kick off at a Penetration show - and it often did. The violence, spitting and chaos were part of the thrill, the danger and excitement that made punk feel so alive for Chris and fellow punks.

In Nottinghamshire, Dr Alastair Gordon found his voice through anarchic, anti-establishment punk. It was a culture that took on racism, sexism, and homophobia head-on.

In South London, British Pakistani Ausaf Abbas found punk to be a powerful political vehicle too, opposing racism and fascism on the streets of Britain. He and his friends formed Alien Kulture, Britain’s first Asian punk band, in 1979 and performed at many Rock Against Racism events.

For journalist and writer Garry Bushell, who coined the term “Oi!” punk, the movement was about true working-class identity though he admits it also attracted football hooligans.

As punk splintered and spread, it meant different things to different people. But it also took a darker turn. Right-wing skinheads and fascist groups latched on, and the violence that once felt chaotic and thrilling began to turn uglier, harder and more dangerous.

In episode 2 of A People’s History of Punk – Love Bites, Chris Packham discovers that it wasn’t just the violence that was tearing punk apart, it was something much deeper.

Produced by Perminder Khatkar
Sound Design by Melvin Rickarby
Music by John Cranmer
Executive Producer: Helen Lennard

A True Thought production for BBC Radio 4