So a final word…what do you think?

So, over the last few weeks I have posted pieces talking about this wierd skinny punk bloke with big hair from Manchester who was most famous years ago.

I was wondering how you thought my blog had gone. Blogging is something fairly new to me and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a good job of it. I would like to know what you thought of the content, structure and look of my blog?

The feed back will be useful for me, so I can construct things better in the future!

Finally I would like to thank you all for having a look and commenting!

Something a little more recent of Johnny..

Well now you have seen of the earlier stuff that John has done, heard from the man himself and seen some of the crazy stuff he did involving a honey monster, so I thought that a more modern performance of John would be a good idea. i have looked through a few, and I found them to be a little less vibrant as a performance but his words are still as string as ever. I think it is important for you to see Johnny perform now too as, his more recent performances have been hailed as some of his best. Johnny has openly said he enjoys performing more now than earlier in his career, and I think he gives a different performance. So why not have a little look and let me know what you think!

This footage was taken  in late 2008, slightly more recent than some of the others. That little smile on John’s face tells a story fo me. He is clearly enjoying what he is doing, isn’t that what it’s all about? If he is enjoying giving a performance the audience will enjoy it more too!

Sugar puffs and Johnny…bet you didn’t know that!

Looking around I found something that I didn’t realise that John had done, an ad for sugar puffs, this made me laugh out loud, so I thought that I would put it up for you to see..hope you can have a giggle too!

A music video..TWAT

So I think it’s about time (long overdue I know..sorry!) that I put up a video of Johnny performing.  I am going to put up something old first,

The first one that I am posting is the music video for TWAT, not really a performance visually, but you can hear him verbally. His punk roots are coming through in this video and that’s what I like about it. let me know what you think. Thanks!

A bit from the man himself…

This is a little piece  from early last year when a reporter went to Manchester to speak to and interview the man himself. This appeared on the BBC’s culture show, and I watched it back then, I found it was an insight into Johnny and where he is from. It also includes words from some of the bands he warmed up for back in the late 70′s. John also performs a little extract of Beasley Street, so you can see how his words are put into a performance. Reverend and the Makers also appear as they claim to have taken a lot of inspiration from Johnny, and using extracts of his poetry in their songs. Let me know what you think!

Punk, Rock and Roll and ‘amphetamine psychosis’…

After a period of hallucinations of hedgehogs running on the skirting boards and creepy crawleys crawling up the arms of his shirt John visited the doctor. Popular ‘pep pills’ had caused a problem, one he never saw coming. A sick note stating:  ‘amphetamine psychosis’, a sick note John himself wishes that he had framed.  These so-called ‘pep pills’ were taken by many people simply to make their day better, and were mostly prescribed to mothers to make their days easier.

In an interview with John for ‘The Idler conversations” John recalls the moment he was given this sick note. The attitudes towards amphetamine was so relaxed at the time, the doctor simply said to him, “oh, you’ve been taking too many pep pills.” The problem was not the fact that he had been taking amphetamine at all but purely the amount of the pills that he had been taking. John would not call himself a drug addict at that time, in fact he would have laughed in your face had you told him that, something that we now know to be an addiction. At the time there was clearly a lot less moralising around the subject of an addiction, especially to ‘pep pills’.

And all this before John entered the world of punk rock and roll, all before John’s relationship with heroin.  A lot of people have said that his battle with addiction has given his writing the style, anger and power that it has. I have to say that I agree. John’ s character adds to the strength of his writing, and his character was defined by the drugs constantly in his system.

after a few years out, Johnny was back, clean, and better than ever. He has been known for saying that he now feels much more confident in his performances and much more settled in himself since coming off the heroin. Due to the current punk phenomenon of the 70′s gaining more recent popularity, he has been more popular in the last few years than the last few decades, thanks to the revival of punk.

From looking around fan sites and things, his fans all tend to older (than myself) is the punk revival bringing out the midlife crisis in the 40 somethings out there, reliving their vibrant youth and I think that it’s great that years past his first involvement with punk he is bringing it back to his fans. He has pulled himself right out of that ‘amphetamine psychosis’ spell and made his words hugely influential.

Poet and fashion icon..?

When Johnny was starting out, the fashion industry was much different to now, punk rock as all the rage and music was really becoming a huge culture in the UK. Johnny was in the centre of this new culture creating a name for himself. The type of fashion that he was wearing at the time would maybe now be interpreted as gothic, and is still rather popular today, things like ties, skinny jeans and suit jackets.

I am going to put up some pictures of Johnny so we can see what he wore then and now more recently too.

I love those glasses, they add to his character so much, or are they hiding a hangover haha!

Check out that hair! wow! I wish my hair would do that!

This image scares me slightly if I am honest, not really fashion linked but I think that this picture shows you a lot about his character.

One of the earlier images of Johnny and again he is wearing a tie and dark glasses that identify him so much.

I believe that the clothing that Johnny wears are very much a part of him and how we recognise him today. He has always had a common image but it is one that we link to him and this also has strong links into the culture that he was so involved back in the day.