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Jenny Woo

Bootgirl Power – By Jenny Woo

When I was thirteen years old, I was miserable. I had acne, I had only hand-me-down clothing from my older sister (who was 3 sizes smaller than me), I had no friends, and worst of all, I felt like I didnt belong in any crowd. I was exposed to pictures, music videos, and songs from major mainstream pop stars, and I just could not relate. I had no idea what they were singing about. The supposed universal topics of broken hearts, dancing, and the expression of teenage sexuality all seemed like distant and irrelevant subjects to me. I knew that I would never look like them, I would never live their lifestyle, and more importantly, I knew I never wanted to be like them. I felt lost, different, and profoundly alone. Then, one day, my life changed forever.

I was in junior high, eating alone in front of my locker as was my usual routine, when I came across an old fanzine lying on the floor of my school hallway. One of the other students in the school had probably been reading it and accidently left it behind. Having nothing better to do, I started flipping pages. My eyes caught an image that I had never seen before in my life a woman with spiked up blue hair, studs all over her black leather jacket, and wailing on a guitar. It was a picture of Bekki Bondage, and that was my first exposure to women in punk rock. I decided then and there that instead of unsuccessfully trying to fit in all the time, I would do my best to stand out. I was inspired by Bekki outrageousness, her energy, her unfaltering self-confidence, and I made it my own mission to find that sense of passion and assurance in myself. I ripped the picture out of the magazine and pasted it into my locker as a reminder, and I’ve still got the photo after all these years.

Going punk was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. Instead of trying to squeeze myself into whatever teenage girl fashion there was at the time, I cut my own path and made my own clothes. I found that by creating my own aesthetic, I avoided a lot of the societal pressure placed on adolescent girls to look and act a certain way. Instead of focusing on my body image, I embraced the fact that I was a unique person with a multi-dimensional world view and personality. Through bands such as The Wednesday Night Heroes, Cock Sparrer, and Riot 99 I learned to triumph the values of authenticity, independence, and critical thinking, and I have no doubt that this subculture helped me create the strong sense of self that I have today. Punk rock is a potent medicine that I would prescribe to any young woman going through a crisis of confidence.

However, as the years went by I found myself getting more and more interested in oi! music, and eventually cropped in as a skinhead. I still loved punk, but I no longer felt the need to spike my hair out in a million different directions in order to show the world that I was different. I already felt the difference on the inside, and I wanted to find a subculture whose values incorporated not only the importance of being distinct, but also a sense of community, a sense of self-pride, and a sense of loyalty. I love the fact that oi! music is still working-class DIY music, but I also love the fact that behind its

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Sex Pistols, Too fat to reform

John Lydon told an Oxford audience that all religion is “vile, poisonous and idiotic” and spoke of his exposure to paedophile priests as a young boy.

The former Sex Pistols and current PiL front man was speaking to an audience of around 300 at Oxford University’s Sheldonian theatre on Monday evening (December 8). It was his final public appearance to promote his 2014 autobiography, Anger Is An Energy.

During the talk, the punk icon took a swipe at Mick Jagger for his “embarrassing” performance at Glastonbury last year. Discussing his musical future, Lydon said he’d give up music “only if I got bored with it, and as long as there’s human being in the world, I’m not going to get bored”.

When interlocutor David Freeman asked if there was an age limit on performing, he replied: “No, only if you’re Mick Jagger. Did anybody see last year’s Glastonbury? I mean come on Mick… it’s not about age here, its about the show off bullshit… I wanted the Stones to give us the juice, the stuff that really put them there in the first place.”

He added: “But no, it’s Mick in ladies’ tights and his testicles are frocked and he’s running around like a speed freak and then there’s the band looking incredibly embarrassed and wearing the awful, I call them Tommy Hilfiger kind of colours, like Cliff Richard-on-holiday wear. And if I turn into that… then you’re all welcome.”

Asked about a possible future for the Sex Pistols however, Lydon replied, “Oh no, that’s finished. I mean have you seen us? I mean We’ve all put on weight but Mr Jones here [guitarist Steve Jones] is coming it at 500 pounds! And I did the butter advert!”

On a more serious note, Lydon also said in his talk that he was put off singing because of his mistrust of priests. “My early childhood, as far as singing goes, was spent deliberately not knowing how to sing, because I was raised a Catholic, and yeah, those priests were at it. So what you would do is everything in your heart and soul not to be co-opted into the choir because that meant the priests had direct access to you. And once that happened to you there weren’t nothing you could tell your mum and dad, because it would be mortal sin to accuse a priest of any wrong doing.”

He continued: “All religion to me is vile and poisonous and idiotic. They spend all their time trying to make you believe things that can’t possibly be true. Sounds a lot like the Tory party.”

The punk icon also lashed out at Simon Cowell and Bob Geldof, calling Cowell “our worst enemy” and saying Geldof was “open to corruption”.

The appearance was Lydon’s last in promotion of the book. The message of the autobiography, he told the audience, is that “self pity is for arseholes”.