Today marks the 47th anniversary of a very memorable concert in London. The concert which I am referring to is, of course, the Rock Against Racism show at Victoria Park in London. It came at a time, and shared the spirit, of a rising call against fascism in Britain.
At the time, Enoch Powell had not long before delivered his infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech, which was staunchly anti-immigration and voiced opposition to the anti-discriminatory Race Relations Bill. There had been a rise of racist incidents, including chants and jeers directed at black football players. Violence had also erupted, as Sikh teenager Gurdip Singh Chaggar had been killed in 1976.
Adding to all of this, there were a couple of rock stars who had voiced some controversial sentiments. One I had already been aware of, and one, admittedly, I was not familiar with at all until researching stuff for this particular blog entry.
The first musician was Eric Clapton. I had heard that he had Clapton had rather disgraced himself by going on a racist rant during a concert. It happened in Birmingham in 1976, when he drunkenly voiced his support for Powell, railing against “dark-skinned immigrants” and urgently called on people to put a stop to immigration, which he clearly felt threatened white culture in Britain.
Here is a fuller sample from his little speech:
“Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out,” exclaimed Clapton to his captive audience. “Get the w*gs out. Get the c**ns out. Keep Britain white.”
He added a bit more, trying specifically to put some pressure on people in attendance who matched his criteria for being undesirable foreigners:
“Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. So where are you? Well, wherever you are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country. I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country.”
He added: “Listen to me, man! I think we should send them all back.”
This from a man who, while undeniably a talented musician, nevertheless had at the very least borrowed heavily from black musicians to establish a very prominent musical career. So it feels a little too convenient for Clapton to take such a position.
To be fair, Clapton would voice his regret after the incident.
“I was so ashamed of who I was, a kind of semi-racist, which didn’t make sense,” he said.
Not so sure that these comments would suggest that he was only a "semi-racist," as he suggested. Truth be told, they sounded very much like he was full blown racist with those sentiments, frankly. But hey, that's just my interpretation. Clapton also tried downplaying the popular perceptions that he was truly a despicable racist after that incident by explaining, in a way that feels almost cringeworthy, about how he had black friends, and used to have a black girlfriend:
“Half of my friends were black, I dated a black woman, and I championed black music.”
Now, the second musician took me by surprise. It was David Bowie, who in one interview claimed that Britain might just need fascism to straighten things out.
These remarks were documented in a famous interview with Bowie conducted by Cameron Crowe for Playboy, and in David Buckley's biography titled, "Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story,"
Bowie was apparently thinking about running for public office, and did not back away from his fascist leanings. Here, specifically, were some of Bowie's words:
"As I see it, I am the only alternative for the premier in England. I believe Britain could benefit from a fascist leader. After all, fascism is really nationalism."
There was more. In the interview with Crowe for Playboy, Bowie said:
'I think that morals should be straightened up for a start. They're disgusting.' He added, 'There will be a political figure in the not too distant future who'll sweep through this part of the world like early rock'n' roll did. You probably hope I'm not right but I am ... You've got to have an extreme right front come up and sweep everything off its feet and tidy everything up. Then you can get a new form of liberalism.'
The worst, though, was when Bowie seemed to express admiration for Hitler, and suggesting that Britain should just go ahead and get a fascist leader (he seemed to fantasize about getting this job himself) to sweep all of the undesirable elements out of the country, and get that unpleasant phase out of the way, presumably so that Britain could then start anew. Here are his words, specifically:
Christ, everything is a media manipulation. I'd love to enter politics. I will one day. I'd adore to be Prime Minister. And, yes, I believe very strongly in fascism. The only way we can speed up the sort of liberalism that's hanging foul in the air at the moment is to speed up the progress of a right-wing, totally dictatorial tyranny and get it over as fast as possible. People have always responded with greater efficiency under a regimental leadership. A liberal wastes time saying, "Well, now, what ideas have you got?" Show them what to do, for God's sake. If you don't, nothing will get done. I can't stand people just hanging about. Television is the most successful fascist, needless to say. Rock stars are fascists, too. Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars.
Adolf Hitler was a rock star?
Yikes.
As was the case with Clapton, Bowie backtracked a bit after the fact. After people put pressure on him and expressed outrage and disappointment towards him, in other words.
"I have made my two or three glib, theatrical observations on English society and the only thing I can now counter with is to state that I am NOT a fascist."
He might not have been a fascist. Indeed, it sure feels like a lot of his music had some intelligence to it. Still, there were those comments, which did not sound so much like the rantings of someone high on drugs as it did someone who enjoyed a privileged rock star life and was perhaps morbidly fascinated with Hitler and fascism. He even at one point seems to concede that the fascist future that he is predicting might not be popular, but insisted that it would nonetheless happen.
Maybe it was just a phase. Still, it sure seemed like Bowie was seriously flirting with these things.
Given these two incidents, I wonder if a lot of this was not a major part of the influence for Roger Waters in writing many of the themes found in Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Especially Clapton asking the audience if there are any foreigners in the audience, and Bowie's certainty that rock and fascism shared a similar, even perhaps a related, theatricality.
Whether or not these specific incidents inspired Waters and Pink Floyd, they helped to spark a movement within rock to counter this rising tide of fascism. So on this day in 1978, there was a "Rock Against Racism" concert held at Victoria Park in London. Unfortunately, I could not find any decent length videos of this show. However, there is a link to a very short clip of part of the stage performance by punk band The Clash on that day. Also, it seemed fitting to add the video of Clash's "London Calling," which is one of the relatively few songs that I can think of which I must have heard hundreds of times in my life, but never quite got sick of, somehow.
It seemed fitting to remember this anti-racist, anti-fascist concert held in London 47 years ago today.
We sure could use another one right about now. Perhaps on the other side of the Atlantic, in particular.
The Clash - London's Burning (Live at Rock Against Racism at Victoria Park, 1978) #shorts
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/duFy7PdtPD4
Below are the links to the articles which I used in obtaining the information, and the specific quotes, used in the above blog entry:
Eric Clapton’s abhorrent racist outburst Lee Thomas, Sat 22 June 2024:
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/eric-clapton-racist-outburst/
The shocking moment David Bowie called Adolf Hitler a rockstar Joe Taysom, Mon 31 May 2021:
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-hitler-rockstar-comments/
Did David Bowie Say He Supports Fascism and Call Hitler a 'Rock Star'? by Jessica Lee Published Dec. 23, 2020:
In the years after Bowie's death, social media posts highlighted public statements from the 1970's.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rock-star-david-bowie/
1978: Music Unites to Rock Against Racism PUBLISHED: 9 MAY 2022
https://www.marshall.com/us/en/backstage/seventies/1978-music-unites-to-rock-against-racism?srsltid=AfmBOoryBYawBxtvqCUj3t9Yz7l98iW7cUq1cwCCVjP2KPwyyHG74l7n
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