The Clash - Clash in Hamburg LP 

Label: No Rock Stars (Unofficial); Year: 20??; Format: Vinyl LP

By 1980 the Clash have blossomed from a relatively small unknown unit from London having played a huge part in the punk explosion of 1977 to a well-oiled Rock'N'Roll machine touring not just the UK but also the European continent. In hindsight they certainly did not change the world but Joe Strummer and the gang certainly changed the lives of thousands of teenagers in the late seventies and early eighties. With success a band gains a lot of new fans and loses some of the old faithful. This bootleg LP of the Clash playing in Hamburg, Germany on May 19 in 1980 was originally released in 1980 and at some point in the 00's the version you are seeing herein came out as a "boot of a boot" so to speak. What I find most interesting about this record and the gig itself is not the music contained on vinyl. First and foremost I am not the biggest Clash fan myself and quite frankly despite the sound quality on this record being quite decent I must say that to me it's just a good rock'n'roll performance, nothing more and nothing less. But with the punk scene getting more and more politicized the Clash gig at the Markthalle has a special place in punk rock history and therefore I decided to translate Rudi Krawall's personal account of that night from German to English as per his piece for the excellent "Keine Zukunft War Gestern" book published many years ago: 

"The best gig I have ever seen, and since then I am the biggest Clash Fan ever. The band was accused of having sold out by having signed to CBS and gradually changing their style of music. The venue was stormed by an angry mob that night but the Clash didn't give in despite a riot, blood and emotions flying high. 

The anger that spilled over that night was not spontaneous and neither a coincidence but rather a result of a gradual built-up. I recall a gig with some local bands in a youth centre nearby Hamburg (Shalom in Norderstedt) and if I am not mistaken Scrubby Kids, Slime, Razors and Kotzbrocken played said night. 

Anyway, someone from the crowd grabbed the mic between the bands and started to shout about the upcoming Clash gig at the Markthalle, and that we should all boycott the show. The main reason was that the ticket price of Deutsch Mark 17 or 18 was way too high compared to other international Punk acts having played Hamburg with ticket prices being somewhere between Deutsch Mark 9 and 12. And on top of that the Crass song "Punk is Dead" was mentioned as well and the fact that the Clash being on a major label were nothing short of money grabbing "revolutionaries". 

A plan was agreed that night that we would all meet in front of the venue in order to prevent anyone from entering the Markthalle. On the night of the gig I arrived on time in front of the venue and a mob of around 70-80 punks had gathered in front of the entrance as planned. More and more kids started to arrive with their tickets in their hands but the punk mob resisted and prevented them from entering. Of course at some point the Security folks realized something was not right and intervened so the kids could get in. It was at the moment when the boycotting mob realized that their tactic was failing when they just started to push against the Security people of which there were maybe six. At that point the boycotting mob grew maybe to about 150 and after having overcome the Security said mob just stormed the Markthalle up the stairs and quickly inside. Some people that arrived a bit late that night got in for free as the Security guys just didn't feel like to bother anymore to avoid more confrontation. "Storming" of gigs became fashionable after the Clash gig and reoccurrences were frequent but never again with such a big following. 

When The Clash finally entered the stage that night the atmosphere was already quite heated. On the one hand you had the kids that paid full price for their tickets in order to see the band, and on the other hand you had the punks that stormed the venue to try to disrupt or stop the band from performing. The Clash figured out quickly what was up and played their songs professionally as if nothing was happening. A lot of the punks kept pushing towards the front of the stage and kept shouting "Punk is Dead" in between songs. The Clash were not bothered by that and kept playing even after some of the punks started throwing stuff at the band or spat at them. 

At some point it seemed that the situation was calming down despite the sound quality getting poorer by the minute as some of the punks managed to twist some of the cables on the stage. With the band still continuing to perform despite everything going on more and more punks gained respect for the band and stopped the harassment until Joe Strummer decided to lift his guitar and smash it against the head of one of the punks up front that kept shouting abuse at him. That obviously caused a major stir and I remember some punks climbing up the stage only to be wrestled by the band's roadies. Thereafter the band played a few more songs and the show came to a quick end. After the gig I stood outside the Markthalle with some of the Barmbeker Punks and we noticed two cop cars pulling up. After the police entered the venue they came out about five minutes later with Joe Strummer handcuffed in their company. Two of my friends came up with a quick improvised version of "Police and Thieves" for good ole' Joe and the whole story was all over the tabloid newspapers the next morning."

"I hate" Clash badge. Source: "Keine Zukunft War Gestern" book 2008

With so much of the Clash' history having been covered in books, magazines and what not relatively little coverage has been given to the gigs the band played in Mainland Europe hence despite the music on this bootleg not being the highlight me thinks this is an interesting little anecdote from decades ago. And remember Punk is Dead! 

Rudi Krawall's Original Text in German. Source: "Keine Zukunft War Gestern" book 2008

Photos and Ticket from the Clash Markthalle Gig. Source: "Hamburg Calling" book 2020

AC/DC - Dirty Big Balls 2-LP

Label: Fuck The Mother Records (Unofficial); Year: 1989; Format: Double Vinyl LP

So, about time AC/DC get an entry on this blog of mine as they truly were my very first musical love back in 1979 when my parents out of nowhere decided to gift me the "Highway To Hell" LP for Christmas said year. But more about that when I will be reviewing that classic record. As a matter of fact the concert on this Double-LP bootleg was recorded three weeks prior to me getting my introduction into rock'n'roll. As one would expect with a bootleg the sound quality isn't great but in all fairness it's not horrible either hence making this an enjoyable trip down memory lane. If you're into Bon Scott-era AC/DC then you pretty much know what to expect and that's exactly what you get delivered on this cheaply made bootleg which I have gotten many years ago at the warehouse of a record store owner back in good ole' Switzerland. The concert was recorded on December 3 of 1979 at the Eissporthalle in Berlin and was according to Jeff Apter's "AC-DC 1973 - 1980 The Bon Scott Years" book the last gig on the Highway To Hell tour of Europe. According to the AC-DC.net website support act was Judas Priest and a ticket cost 18 Deutsch Mark. Bon's voice is pretty beat but that's hardly a surprise considering how non-stop the band toured. Still, the songs deliver despite the bootleg quality and I for one have no idea if it was just somebody recording it on a tape recorder close to the stage or whether it is taken from the soundboard as the drums are pretty loud. One of you sound experts out there could probably clarify this as the whole concert is also to be found on Youtube. I for one found myself tapping with my feet throughout my listening experience today and AC/DC with Bon Scott were one of the best rock'n'roll bands ever, period. RIP Bon. 

Ramones - L.A. Explosion Ten Inch

Label: Fan Club; Year: 200?; Format: Vinyl 10"

In August 1976 the Ramones played for the first time in Los Angeles, and two of those shows took place at the Starwood in West Hollywood – a club that would be instrumental in forging many musicians’ careers in the years to come. Many moons later some bootlegger has managed to get their greedy hands on decent sounding recordings of the show from August 16 of said year, and a bootleg 10” was born by the name of L.A. Explosion. Make what you want of bootleggers but I for one am grateful for this piece of wax as it delivers twelve tracks of the Ramones in their early days yet sounding like a well-oiled machine already. The probability of these recordings to have ever appeared somewhere legitimately has always been very slim, and in this day and age with all four of the original members unfortunately no longer with us it is simply out of question. Rest assured that when putting down the needle on this little treasure you will not only feel like you are traveling back in time by nearly forty years to a period in time when the term punk wasn’t even coined, and Los Angeles was waking up from an overdose of English disco and glam rock but that you feel like you are actually witnessing a time when kids couldn't wait any longer for something new to kick off, and the Ramones had all the answers for them. We all know that it wasn't just LA that needed a proper kick up its arse, and that these four New Yorkers really got the ball rolling for which we ought to be grateful to this day. 

Motorhead - Pussies & Beer - Rock N Roll Tour LP

Label: Fan Club; Year: 199?; Format: Vinyl LP

So, ladies and gentlemen here is the fiftieth entry on this blogspot, and my intention was to celebrate that with an entry of Motorhead, my favorite band. I didn't want to bore you with an entry of one of their regular albums though, and believe me those will follow in the future, but instead I opted for something more special for your amusement. What we've got here is a bootleg LP of a show Motorhead played in November 1987 (Line-Up: Lemmy-Wurzel-Phil Campbell-Phil 'Animal' Taylor) at the Fryshuset in Stockholm/Sweden. If anyone can fill me in who came up with the outstanding artwork for this LP, I would be very grateful. I have tried finding information pertaining to this particular bootleg online, but to no avail. Judging by the fact that the LP was not included in 1994's Collector's Guide to Motorhead, I would assume that the record came out no sooner than the mid '1990s. Anyway, that's all collector scum talk, let's get to the bare basics here. Eleven songs are to be found on this platter, and if one looks at the song titles it just seems weird to not see certain song titles, but considering this was taken from their 1987 tour let's not forget that they of course had a far smaller repertoire to chose from. Still, all their classic albums were out by that point and so it should come as no surprise to find certain all time classics on this live recording, which for a bootleg actually boasts very decent sound quality including great comments by Lemmy between the songs. Hey, you can't go wrong with the artwork, Motorhead's timeless classics, and drunken Swedes shouting "Lemmy, Lemmy, Lemmy.." on top of their lungs.

Sex Pistols - Screen on the Green Cinema, Islington, 1976 EP

Label: Unknown; Year: 2007; Format: Vinyl 7"

An interesting little platter here from the good ole' Sex Pistols. When I put it on for the first time I was dreading that the sound quality would be so bad as with many Pistols bootlegs, but to my surprise I discovered that the three songs on this EP are actually of decent sound quality, and are taken from a gig in 1976 in north London. (Don't Give Me) No lip, an original by Dave Berry makes up for a great cover version and is one of the tracks found here, amongst 'Submission' and 'No fun'. I do believe that there is a second EP from the same gig floating around, but I am not a die-hard collector of the Pistols, and will leave that up to the Rotten Army. Not a bad boot at all if you can find it somewhere cheap.