garage rock

Garage rock is a subgenre of rock'n'roll that dates back to the late 1950's when amateur bands exploded across the United States. The name comes from the assumption that bands practiced in suburban garages and were often very crude, but this belies the fact that they were diverse in their approaches, ranging from basic one or two chord wonders to very professional acts that even had regional hits. Some bands, like The Monks and The Velvet Underground, were even very experimental in their approach. For example, the Velvet Underground were as much influenced by avant-garde composers like LaMonte Young and Ornette Coleman as they were Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Link Wray and Bob Dylan. While the Monks were less influenced by the Avant Garde, their approach was unusual by using a banjo as a replacement for a lead guitar that gave a wiry sound, lyrics that bordered on surreal minimalistic rants, no use of cymbals and drumming that owed as much to polkas and military marches as they did rock'n'roll.

The most famous characteristics of garage rock are the Fuzztone guitar sound (as used on "The Witch" by The Sonics), Farfisa organ stabs and raw production qualities at odds with the polished production of both major record labels and acts like The Beatles. The Sonics often adopted the production techniques and methods of Link Wray, such as putting a hole in the loudspeaker of their amplifiers to get distortion commonplace in many of the more raunchy R&B based bands. The rough production of garage rock was very influential on many early punk bands, who played and recorded songs in as crude a manner out of necessity.

By The early 1970's, The New York Dolls and The Stooges were part of a new wave of bands influenced by and continuing the crude, raunchy, primitive sound of garage rock at odds with the progressive rock that dominated the music industry at that time. By this time, it was being called "punk" (a term coined by Lester Bangs in Creem Magazine, the first band to call their music thus were Suicide). This lead to a garage rock revival in the late 1970's, which continues to this day.

While this is superficial, it is only intended as a potted guide.

Classic garage rock songs:

Pushing Too Hard- The Seeds
You're Gonna Miss Me- Thirteenth Floor Elevators
Psychotic Reaction- Count Five
Black Monk Time- The Monks
Shut up- The Monks
7 and 7 Is- Love
96 Tears- ? and The Mysterians
Any Billy Childish
Louie Louie- The Kingsmen
The Witch- The Sonics
Boss Hoss- The Sonics

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Hardline

Origin
The Hardline movement grew out of the more politically conscious sections of the Southern California hardcore and punk scenes in 1990. Although one of the basic tenets of Hardline was that it had existed in various forms since the beginning of time, the ideology was largely formulated by Sean Muttaqi of the band Vegan Reich. The Hardline philosophy was said to be rooted in one ethic (the sacredness of innocent life), but in reality the ethos rested on that base and on an idea of an immutable Natural Order. Put in more specific terms, Hardline can be described as a synthesis of deep ecology, straight edge, animal liberation, leftism, and Abrahamic religion.
In practice, the Hardline philosophy forbade its adherents from smoking or chewing any form of tobacco, drinking alcoholic beverages, and using illicit drugs or modern medicines. Furthermore, Hardliners (as they were called) were expected to follow a strict dietary regimen based on the above-mentioned pillars of respect for innocent life and the "Natural Order." To that end, Hardliners ate only foods that were vegan and relatively natural (brown rice over white, evaporated cane juice over white sugar, organic produce over conventional, natural oils over hydrogenated, etc). Human rights issues were also factored into the movement's food politics, and followers were urged to shun third-world cash crops such as coffee, chocolate, sugar, and most tropical fruits. Hardliners included caffeine in their stance on mind altering drugs so the first two items were generally abstained from, but consumption of the last two (and especially the final) was often given more leeway.
In keeping with its Abrahamic view of the natural order, the sexual politics of the Hardline movement were very conservative. Pre-marital sex was frowned upon, homosexuality seen as anathema, pornography abjured, artificial contraception avoided, and abortion militantly opposed. The official Hardline stance on sex was that its natural purpose was purely procreative, but many hardliners played fast and loose with that idea and justified recreational sex within the context of committed relationships as "potentially procreative" by opting not use artificial contraceptives. Interestingly enough, Hardline was always highly syncretic (over time absorbing influences from anarchism, Islam, the Rastafari movement, and a host of other schools of thought) and initially attempted to give its obviously Biblical sexual morals added credibility by claiming a Taoist foundation for them. This appeal to the anti-Western, politically correct, orientation of the punk and hardcore scenes met with little success and the topics of abortion and homosexuality were always sources of tension between Hardliners and their subcultural cousins.

Hardline's relationship to straightedge is a complex one of give and take. When Vegan Reich briefly reformed in 1999, Muttaqi credited the movement with the spread of vegan straightedge ideals in the 1990s. Partially true, vegan straightedge came from 'Hardline'. Hardline was undoubtedly heavily inspired from its inception by straightedge. The original logo of the movement was an outline of a large "X" (the sign most often associated with straightedge) with two crossed M16 rifles inside of it. Additionally, Muttaqi has said in the past that he was first exposed to the idea of fusing veganism and abstinence from drugs by an English punk named Rat (of the bands Statement, Unborn, Talisman, and others). Unknown to most, Rat had coined the term "vegan straight edge" by the mid-1980s. Those with an interest in the history of hardcore music should note that this was years prior to Ray Cappo (singer for the band Youth Of Today) grafting vegetarianism and straightedge after his exposure to Krishna Consciousness. However, Rat was doing little to spread his ideology while Muttaqi was transforming and propagating it. Vegan Reich was many in the hardcore scene's first exposure to ideas about militant animal liberation and the controversy they aroused drew considerable attention to their positions. Those in the subculture who gravitated toward animal-related causes but disagreed with some of Hardline's finer points found themselves becoming vegan straightedge. Indeed, breakthrough vegan straightedge group Earth Crisis initially wanted Muttaqi to release their debut EP "All Out War" on his record label.
Essentially, vegan straightedge and Hardline had a co-genesis with the first birthing the second but the latter popularizing the former. But the complexity of Hardline's relation to straightedge does not end there. As the movement came into its own, many Hardliners decided that their philosophy was so beyond the narrow scene politics of straightedge that the two were entirely different things. The "X" was removed from the crossed rifles logo, straightedge was harshly criticized, and Hardliners were encouraged to leave behind the subcultural ghetto of the hardcore scene. Much of this sprang from the momentum being gained by the more activism oriented elements within the movement. Eventually Hardliners came to consider their network wholly divorced from the hardcore scene. The truth, however, was that the nature of information dissemination in a (mostly) pre-internet media environment made for recruiting from outside of the hardcore subculture next to impossible. Although Hardline served to involve people heavily in political activity, the overwhelming bulk of new members were straightedgers who would with time come to identify primarily as activists instead of hardcore kids.
History
The movement began to attract a fair number of followers of varying degrees of sincerity shortly after the 1990 release of Vegan Reich's "Hardline" EP and the official founding of the movement. Other bands soon formed; the most notable of them being Raid from Tennessee.
In fact, although Sean Muttaqi was still editing the zine "Vanguard" (Hardline's official press organ) and therefore exerting massive ideological influence on the movement, the center of its activities quickly shifted to Tennessee. Many in the Memphis hardcore scene adopted Hardline stances and started editing zines, organizing protests, engaging in direct action against industries that exploited animals, and otherwise acting on their new beliefs. Some of the most notable achievements of Memphis Hardline were organizing the movement's first annual Gathering, founding the long-standing and relatively mainstream Coalition To Abolish The Fur Trade (CAFT), and having a member (Frank Winbigler) win a state-wide power lifting competition.
As things began to fade in Memphis, and Sean converted to Islam and decided to leave the hardcore scene along with Hardline altogether, the movement was gaining attention and momentum in central Indiana. Not wanting the movement to die, but not wanting to be responsible for it either, Muttaqi transferred the editing of "Vanguard" over to a young resident of Indianapolis named Ryan Downey. Ryan put together a fair number of issues of the zine, sang for the bands Hardball and Warpath, and attempted to further move Hardline into the realm of mainstream political activism. After a few years of eating, breathing, and sleeping Hardline ("The General" once famously said that Hardline "allows for recreation" when asked by a new recruit if it was acceptable for followers to watch "Star Trek") Downey decided to devote some time to himself and his spiritual betterment (he had recently been exposed to the Bahá'í Faith through his progressive contacts). The "Vanguard" torch was thus passed to fellow Indianapolis Hardline member David Agranoff.
Under Agranoff's direction the movement made unprecedented inroads into activism outside of the punk and hardcore scenes. Hardliners were instrumental in CAFT, the Animal Defense League, and Vegans For Life. Some were also involved in Earth First!, anti-imperialist organizations, and other leftist causes and groups. Starting with Agranoff's Upstate Hardline chapter, some cells began making direct contact with the general public by hosting educational forums that were essentially lectures on current events but from Hardline's unique spiritual-political perspective. It was also during this period that the Hardline philosophy was refined and many of its stances on varying issues grew more nuanced.
Running parallel to, but largely outside of, Agranoff's current was an attempt by some Hardliners from Massachusetts to establish an intentional community in Hawaii. The effort quickly failed due to personality conflicts (especially the ongoing debate among group members as to whether or not cooked food was natural enough) and a distinct lack of required agricultural and engineering skills.
In mid-1998 the movement experienced a massive internal upheaval as Sean Muttaqi returned to Hardline and with a group of new followers issued the eighth edition of "Vanguard" without warning Agranoff or the rest of the extant membership. "Vanguard" number eight announced the reorganization of the movement under the authority of the newly-created Hardline Central Committee (HCC) and castigated Agranoff and his comrades for softening the network's ideology through their refinement and development of it. Chapters were instructed to report to the Committee for evaluation and were told in no uncertain terms that they would not be recognized as cells until they submitted to this review. Also in the issue was a document about the stages through which the Hardline revolution would progress which was presented as being from 1990, but had never before been seen and was suspiciously contemporary feeling.
Many chapters (including Agranoff's) opted to leave Hardline entirely and instead established a new activist network called Education For A Sustainable Future (ESF). ESF differed from its predecessor in that it took no stances on sexual politics, was not a membership organization, and was entirely based in activism instead of subcultural activity. Much like Hardline, ESF had a holistic world view -- but it managed to skillfully avoid many of the old movement's pitfalls and could thereby successfully integrate itself into the greater progressive milieu.
Those who remained with the HCC steered Hardline in increasingly Islamic and Islamist directions for close to a year. After that, the Committee published "Vanguard" number nine which announced the formal dissolution of the movement. According to the zine, Hardliners would remain ideologically committed but would no longer act as an official organization and would instead function as an underground network of infiltrators into other revolutionary organizations, movements, and subcultures. This phase of the network's revolutionary plan was outlined in "Vanguard" eight.
It would appear that those Hardliners left standing decided that radical Islam was the tendency ripest for infiltration and almost immediately after the publication "Vanguard" nine founded Ahl-i Allah (The People Of Allah). The infant group's website featured old "Vanguard" articles that had been slightly rewritten to fit the organization's interpretation of Islam and new writings of a decidedly more Muslim bent. The Ahl-i Allah has since reorganized itself as the Taliyah al-Mahdi. In spite of both the Islamism of the new group and the critism contained in "Vanguard" eight of the affinity with neo-paganism the old movement developed during Agranoff's tenure, the Taliyah surprisingly continues the Hardline tradition of syncretism. The masthead of the group's website features Arabic writing, a yin-yang, I-Ching trigrams, and two crossed pieces of mediaeval Chinese weaponry. An essay the group distributes promoting veganism from a Muslim perspective is called "Live Ital," an obvious nod to Rastafarianism.
At its height, the Hardline movement had chapters all over the US, Europe, South America, and Australia.
Subcultural Activities
Among the bands who adhered to the Hardline ideology aside from Vegan Reich were Raid (Tennessee, US), Statement (UK), Recoil (Tennessee, US), Pure Blood (Tenessee, US), New Dawn (US), Uprising (New York, US), and Talisman (New York, US).
Bands with some Hardline members were Day of Suffering (North Carolina, US), Ecorage (Essen, Germany), Birthright (Indiana, US), Eighteen Visions (California, US), Abnegation (Pennsylvania, US), Absence (Italy), Força Vegan (BRA), Warcry (Indiana, US), Contempt (New York, US), Beta Minus Mechanic (New York, US), Race Traitor (Illinois, US), Framework (New York, US), Captive Nation Rising (California, US), Gatekeeper (New York, US), Sunrise (Poland), Pressure (California, US), Warpath (Indiana, US), Talisman (UK), Slavearc (UK), Path Of Resistance (New York, US), Hardball (Indiana, US), Pain Runs Deep (Poland), Healing (Poland) and The Farthest Man (New York, US).
Hardline publications included the zines "Praxis", "Destroy Babylon", "Contention Builder", "Declaration", "Unveil The Lies", "Defense, Rescue, Survival", "S.E.A.L." Straight Edge Animal Liberation, "Caring Edge", "Vanguard", "Eco War", "VoiceboX" and "Vision of Strength".
Whilst there has been no single, systematic criticism of Hardline it is essentially a form of deep ecology. Many of the arguments and standpoints of the Hardline are taken apart by Murray Bookchin in his seminal work Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm (1997) ISBN 187317683X

Whereas Ian MacKaye (in the second recording of Out Of Step by Minor Threat) stressed that "this is not set of rules" Hardline is to be seen as a very strict ascetic doctrine.
Hardline was harshly criticized for their stance on sexuality i.e. maintaining that homosexuality, bisexualty(and even masturbation according to some Hardline literature), is unnatural and therefore wrong, their opposition to abortion, and the open promotion of violence as a method to protect animals and humans against further oppression. This stance was often misunderstood to promote violence against gays.

Hardline is as much indebted to anarchism and Abrahamic religion as it is Straight edge.

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Pimp my ride

A television programme which applies the conventions of home decorating programmes to cars. A damaged late model ( though sometimes older) car is rebuilt and fitted with everything from spoliers and bodykits to almost camp touches that are supposed to reflect the owner's personality. These can, more often than not, be seen as tacky, vulgar, tasteless and even unsafe. These touches include panelling over rear windscreens, pick up beds filled with monitors or in car chandeliers, for example.

Criticisms of the show are that it's more style than substance in both its presentation, content and the finished vehicle being campily over the top, having its practicality diminished by reduced luggage space in the trunk. Also, very little (if any) practical instruction is given on how to do something like lower your car's suspension safely or make your own grille insert. Instead it focuses on fancy post-production techniques, shots of the finished car at outrageous camera angles and the owner's reaction to it.
The show has also been criticised for glorifying sexism by implicitly glamourising the sexual exploitation of women and gay men by the use of the word "pimp", making it socially acceptable by changing the meaning to something else. To-wit: rebuilding a car. By extension, it is argued that it perpetuates the stereotype that connects African-Americans with criminality and violence.

"Pimp my ride" is a show that should be called "Camp my Ride" instead, considering what they do to the cars.

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greenwich

Greenwich (UK) is a Borough in South East London, which is famous for Greenwich Mean Time The former Royal Naval College, The National Maritime Museum and Greenwich Town centre (among Other Things). Despite the borough's significant place in British naval and scientific heritage, it is one of the most deprived areas of London.

Greenwich is one of the most deprived broughs of The East Thames Corridor.

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Protect and Survive

An information campaign created by the British government during the cold war, designed to inform people of what to do in the event of a nuclear strike. Consisting of a leaflet and public information film (which was to be broadcast on national television during a national emergency), the campaign was heavily criticised for being fatalistic and bleak in tone. Especially in the instructions given on what to do if someone dies while sheltering from fallout, for example:

“If anyone dies while you are kept in your fallout room, move the body to another room in the house. Label the body with name and address and cover it as tightly as possible in polythene, paper, sheets or blankets. Tie a second card to the covering. The radio will advise you what to do about taking the body away for burial. If however you have had a body in the house for more than five days, and if it is safe to go outside, then you should bury the body for the time being in a trench, or cover it with earth, and mark the spot of the burial. ”

On the other hand, the campaign was criticised for being a waste of taxpayers money and misleading, even deluding the public into a false sense of security. As by following those instructions, the public assume they'll be safe. The booklet was never distributed and the series of films were never shown, hence comedians such as Ben Elton ridiculed it in shows like The Young Ones as useless and a waste of money.

While somewhat fatalistic, it suggested that surviving a nuclear attack was possible and desirable. This was lambasted by British radical communist historian, E.P Thompson, who wrote Protest and Survive in response.

The film was created by Richard Taylor cartoons (the same company that made the legendary Charley Says series) and was narrated by the Shakesperian actor, Patrick Allen. It consisted of Voice-over narration, stills photographs and simple (if somewhat kitsch) animation. It was very simple to follow and very clearly laid out, which made it more chilling to watch. However, Allen does have the comically patronising line:

"Oh, don't forget your tin opener and bottle opener."

The Patronising nature of the film, as well as its fatalistic tone and grim content was wide open for ridicule. Especially with it being at odds with the kitsch animation style. The Harcore punk band, Discharge, wrote a song of the name name, criticising the campaign. Comedians also ridiculed the leaflet and PIFs, attacking the percieved hypocrisy of the government creating the conditions for nuclear war, yet trying to placate the public and the critics of the propaganda campaign that a war won't escalate if the government has a nuclear arsenal (Mutually assured destruction's not mad enough?). HM government was effectively accused of fudging the issue , as the Bomb Episode in The Young ones illustrates:

NEIL: Seriously, we ought to do something about this bomb! I'm going upstairs to get the incredibly helpful and informative "Protect and Survive" manual! Nobody better touch this while I'm gone!

Neil discovers the bomb

RICK: What are you doing?
Neil is reading his survival manual while painting himself white with a paintbrush
NEIL: Oh, painting myself white to deflect the blast!
RICK: That's great, isn't it, Racial discrimination, even in death! What are these? indicates a few lunchbags on the table

Rick's arrival after making his demands to Maggie Thatcher

NEIL: Oh, sandbags!

The table now has a drape over it saying, 'KEEP OUT, FALLOUT'. Mike enters carrying food in both hands
MIKE: Neil, where's the table?
NEIL: Oh, good. You got the provisions.
MIKE: Yeah
NEIL: No, not on the roof man!, put it in the food zone! Anyway, it's got to be tinned if it's going to survive ten years of fallout!

Excerpts of The Young Ones episode, Bomb

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Ford Prefect

A car made by the British division of the Ford Motor Company, built between 1938-1959 (not including the period of World War 2). It was basically a four door version of the sit up and beg Ford Popular, which like its two-door counterpart, is popular on the hot rod circuit since the 1960's. It was lightweight, rear wheel drive and mechanically simple.

The Second incarnation was the 100E, which bore a resemblance to scaled down 1955 Chevrolet. A more advanced design that used a monocoque construction and a McPherson Strut front suspension. However, it still used the outdated flathead (sidevalve) engine that was in production until the early 1960's. It was replaced by the Ford Anglia 105E in 1959.

Incarnations of the Ford Prefect:

1938-1953 sit up and beg
1953-1959 100E (Which looks like a scaled down 55 Chevy

Trivia: The car gave Douglas Adams the inspiration for the character of the same name in Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy .

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Four Minute Warning

A warning of an impending Nuclear attack on the United Kingdom, which would be given if one was detected by Radar at RAF Fylingdales in Yorkshire. During the Cold War, The British Government estimated that if an air attack was launched from the then Soviet Union, there would only be four minutes to respond (possibly even less).

What would happen was if an attack was confirmed, the warning would be given either by RAF High Wycombe (Near London) or Longley Lane (Near Preston). This would be forwarded to Fighter command, the police and the media.

The Police would get the message, "Attack Warning RED" over the same telephone lines as thosed used for the Speaking Clock, then activate the air attack sirens over local telephone lines. The rationale was that in using the speaking clock, it cut running costs and allowed a fault to be detected in time to give a warning.

The media would simultaneously interrupt programming to transmit a warning message teling the public to take cover, which was to be broadcast on all television and Radio stations. The actual message itself was recorded by the chief continuity announcer of BBC Radio 4, Peter Donaldson. It was accompianied by "Dalek" music and strong pulses of light. The existence of this warning message was officially confirmed by the British government on New Years Day 2006, even though it was an open secret in the BBC.

The Four Minute Warning was much derided by critics as completely pointless, as surviving a nuclear strike was neither possible or desireable.

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