TV row group face North concert ban

The Sex Pistols punk rock group at the centre of the television swearing storm may be banned from playing at Newcastle City Hall. Meanwhile. Interviewer Bill Grundy was last night suspended for two weeks by Thames Television, after angry viewers complained of four-letter words during an interview with group, the Thames also reprimanded those responsible for the Sex Pistols appearance on the company's Today teatime show on Wednesday

Mr. Grundy's suspension means he will not appear on any of the company's shows, although he was due to front another edition of the Today programme this evening. The statement from Thames came soon after Rank Leisure Services announced it was notifying promoters of the group's current tour that it was cancelling Sex Pistols' appearance at Bournemouth next Tuesday. and appearances at Preston been cancelled.

There is doubt whether Sunday night's concert in Newcastle featuring the group will go ahead City Hall manager Mr. Bob Brown said the concert was cancelled. But later Coun. Arthur Stabler, chairman of the city's arts and recreation committee, said it would go on, if they were given firm assurances about the band's conduct. The concert promoters said they had given assurances but the matter was in limbo.

A Thames Television spokesman said of the programme row, "Precisely what measures have been taken is a confidential matter between us and our staff, but the director of programmes, Mr. Jeremy Isaacs, has expressed his views firmly to all on the last Today programme, describing night's incident as a gross error of judgment caused by inexcusably sloppy journalism."

A Thames spokesman earlier said that some viewers had said they felt sorry for Mr. Grundy. "He was clearly embarrassed by these people and they appreciated what he was trying to do to show what a disagreeable lot of lads they were, and they thought he was right to do."

Angry viewers jammed the 12 lines to the studio switchboard after the programme and Thames broadcast an apology that was repeated last night. But Ray Mawby Tory M.P. for Totnes, claimed it appeared Mr. Grundy was inciting the group. He would be lodging a formal protest with Lady Plowden, chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority.

Before his interview with Thames' current affairs controller, John Edwards, Mr. Grundy said: "The object of the exercise was to prove that these louts were a foul-mouthed set of yobs. That is what proved."

The group at the forefront of the punk rock craze whose followers wear outlandish clothes and make-up have already caused controversy at their concerts. They are billed to appear at Newcastle with three other leading punk rock bands as part of a nation-wide tour, but only a handful of tickets had been sold by yesterday

Coun. Stabler said: "The show is cancelled, until we get firm assurances that there will be no trouble at the concert and that the band will not incite trouble. We must have these assurances, if I thought there was going to be any tomfoolery they would not be allowed in the place."

Mr. Tien Parsons, of the tour promoters, Endals Associates of Birmingham, said: "We sincerely hope the show will go on. We have given firm assurances, I cannot emphasise enough how I feel this has been blown up out of all proportion. All the people concerned, including the band, regret what happened on the television. On stage, they do not incite or offend they are just a straightforward band out to give enjoyment."

4 letter reply to rock ban

The Sex Pistols swearing storm blew up again yesterday when their tour promoter hit-out with a few choice four-letter words of his own. Dave Corke, a spokesman for Endale Associates, Birmingham, laid into Newcastle councillors after they axed the Sex Pistols' booking at the City Hall, which had been scheduled for tomorrow.

The councillors feared that the punk rock group, who swore on a television chat show earlier this week, might cause trouble if they started swearing on stage. "I hate Newcastle councillors for what they stand for and for what they have done to the kids," said Mr. Corke. "They have s on the kids. They are a lot of fat dudes. What do they know about this group? What do they know about punk rock? Sex Pistols are not obscene. These councillors have panicked into thinking they were going to get an obscene group, vomiting over the stage and smashing up their precious City Hall. If they have a party to celebrate keeping us out, let me know, then I can come up and smash a few heads together."

The rest of Mr. Corke's statement was unusable. Announcing the decision to cancel the concert, Coun. Arthur Stabler, chairman of Newcastle's arts committee, said: "We made our decision in the interests of the audience. It was based on information we have about Sex Pistols and the sort of band they are. If they started swearing on stage, we would be forced to stop the show and that could cause fighting. We have to protect the youngsters in the audience. Sex Pistols are the sort of band we can do without. They will not be allowed to play at our hall until they mend their ways."

He said his staff had been worried about having the group in Newcastle even before the swearing row. Three other bands were to have appeared with Sex Pistols, who were to top the bill. The whole concert was called off because it was a group booking, said Coun. Stabler. Youngsters who bought their tickets will have money refunded at the booking office.

Shows have also been cancelled at Bournemouth, Preston, Lancaster, Norwich and Birmingham, and the future of one at Derby tonight is now uncertain. Sex Pistols hit the headlines after appearing on Thames Television's Today teatime show on Wednesday. Angry viewers jammed the company's switchboard with complaints about four-letter words during an interview with the presenter of the show, Bill Grundy. Thames have publicly apologised for the incident. Mr. Grundy has since been suspended for two weeks and other staff have been reprimanded by Thames's director of programmes for "inexcusably sloppy journalism."

Punk—a four letter word

Young people follow fashions in clothes, films and music. The latest fad, nurtured by the music press, is punk rock. Albert Watson puts one view.

Is punk rock the most frightening turn pop music has ever taken…? Is it corrupting youth and ushering in an age of violence and anarchy…?

You can’t … New York coat rack, but history should enable us to get punk rock into perspective.

Remember—the uproar 12 years ago when the Beatles … the imagination of a generation and frightened the parents of that generation.

Storm broke out still further in 1966, when the first production of … West … music … was hailed by Time magazine as the most important event in pop history since Edison invented the phonograph.

… That should tell us something.

Musically speaking, these young bands have yet to prove that they have anything to offer. Most of the punk rock I have heard … little that wasn’t said by the early Stones and Who in the mid-sixties. They look like outrageous trash. Alice Cooper in his heyday—and look how harmless he is nowadays, playing golf with Bob Hope.

In the youth clubs, the punk rock look is just beginning to catch on—for teenagers … another uniform. The skirts, safety pins, the haircuts … the punks are about as threatening to society as a glass …

The well-publicised extremists who go to dances in their underwear, pierce their ears and noses with safety pins, are just a tiny minority sought out by photographers. They are about as typical of today’s scene as … was to …

The aggressively repeated “naughty words” heard on London TV this week … nothing new. A spate of obscenity in pop lyrics … for years. Punk rock represents a … show-biz scene, like Lou Reed and Robert …

Punk rock is something which the media is in the process of … What is true is that today’s teenagers are making a punk scene which is … a sign of healthy protest and frustration. For this, the Establishment should be grateful rather than contemptuous—a lively sign in the flagging rock world.

The Sex Pistols

We want to hear the Sex Pistols

WITH a sense of anger and frustration I read in the Chronicle that Councillor Arthur Stabler and his committee had decided, in their infinite wisdom, to cancel the concert due to be given by the Sex Pistols.

As far as I can ascertain this decision was made on the basis of media reaction to language used during a television interview with presenter William Grundy, who has since been suspended.

Several points of complaint arise in my mind. Mr. … said cancellations and Grundy’s interview…

Grundy said he approached the band with the intention of exposing them and, I quote, a bunch of yobs. It seems obvious that this man tried and succeeded in trying to provoke the reactions he duly received.

He approached his “material” not as an impartial reporter, but with a heavy bias borne out of contempt and ignorance of his subjects.

I am totally out of favour with this type of publicity overkill the band resorted to but nevertheless a provocation did occur. I have a certain amount of sympathy with parents in their regard for protecting their children from this language. But does this mean we, the said parents or guardians, have never used such words or even sworn?

These words are extremely common in street and factory life. Outrage and sweeping under the carpet will not make the realities go away.

How can he take a decision to ban the Sex Pistols when his criteria of judgement is so radically different from that of an audience likely to go to see the Pistols?

He and people like him are robbing a whole generation of their freedom of choice. The Sex Pistols may not be everyone’s cup of tea but every right to go. Media over-coverage has told us what to expect (as if we didn’t know) and it is OUR decision as to whether we attend or not.

Mr. Stabler said in your paper: “These are certainly not the type of people we want in this city.” Who are these mysterious “we”? Someone should tell Mr. Stabler such people are already in his fair city in any bar or working men’s club.

Ignoring through ignorance is to create a minority with a perfectly legitimate grudge and frustration.

Too long have we been a voice in the wilderness with our cause pushed to some ridiculous pipe-dream transit attempt to discredit music.

I, we, feel alienated from conventional politics, standards, life-style, etc., considered decent and normal.

In finale it seems Mr. Stabler and his committee have condemned by falling victim to their own media propaganda.

We’re not all yobs. I count myself as a fairly articulate educated person, but find myself feeling frustrated and slightly bitter.

— Andrew Musk, Busty Bank, Burnopfield.

Give the Punks a chance

I ASKED last week what your views on the Sex Pistols were — and how you reacted to the news that their concert in the City Hall had been banned by the City Council.

By and large you don’t seem to care very much for the band or the Punk Rock genre — which is a healthy sign — but one interesting letter came from a Mr. .... Elliott, aged 18, of Glebe Avenue in Benton.

He writes: “I would suggest that the essence of the situation is whether or not our pseudo-altruistic councillor has any right to cancel the Punk Rock concert on the grounds that it might cause a personal injury when he seemingly endorses concerts by such emetic groups as the Bay City Rollers, who were renowned for inciting riots at their concerts even before they were invited back here to give a second concert — which, predictably, degenerated into a mad melee of hysterical teenyboppers causing goodness knows how much damage to each other and to the City Hall.”

“Now I freely admit that I have heard very little Punk but I think that being over the accepted age of responsibility — 18 — I should at least have the chance to see these groups to form my own opinions.”

“In the case of younger fans, the decision whether or not to let them witness live Punk should rest with their parents who, we are told, always know best, rather than with some naive councillor who apparently thinks that swearing from the punksters will corrupt us more than the same bad language we can hear from any of the actors in the blatantly obscene movies so popular at cinemas today.”

“And if the councillor’s answer to this is ‘at least you have to be 18 to see them’ then, all I can say is, if he is really as ignorant and as out of touch as all that, he has no right to be in charge of any committee at all.”

“Give Punks a chance!” Point taken, Elliott-person.

I’d just like to underline my point of last week — that the Sex Pistols (agreed it was a phone interview) seemed just as turgidly unpleasant as the interviewer Grundy seemed to find them.

Violence, obscenity and sheer bad manners for their own sakes are no excuse and should not be allowed to masquerade in the name of entertainment.

If we all treat them as mindless loonies, they might all go away. And the quicker the better.

Unnecessary language

MAY I through your column reply to Mr. Musk’s letter regarding the Sex Pistols. He states in his letter that we want to hear the Sex Pistols, surely what he does mean is “I want to hear the Sex Pistols.”

In which case he can cordially invite them to his own home, on Busty Bank.

As far as his statement that foul and filthy language is permitted in any bar or workingmen’s club, it is totally untrue, as respectable managers and club stewards do not condone this.

May I respectfully ask Mr. Musk if he himself used this type of language in his local pub, namely Burton House, Busty Bank, during which time my cousin and her husband, Peggy and Albert Browell were the licensees?

My answer is no or he would have been out on his neck. Foul language is only an ignorant way of expressing one’s self and totally unnecessary in public.

— W. C. Neil, Newcastle.

Children need protection

In reply to the letter from Mr. Andrew Musk in the Evening Chronicle, dated December 8, re Sex Pistols, the decision to ban this group was taken by experienced officials and myself. The action being not the bookings had been in the main made by youngsters in the 10–13 years age group. Had it been an adult audience maybe a different decision could have been taken.

These children needed protection from this type of show. After having made this decision we have been fully supported by the national press, Sir John Read and other cities who have refused to allow this show to go ahead. Their reaction to myself — published Journal, Saturday, December 4 — their treatment of the Derby councillors, the obscenities they allegedly wrote on the walls of the toilets and dressing rooms in the North London theatre surely proves that the action taken by this city was correct.

I would suggest to the writer of the letter if he wishes to see the show that he book a place in Burnopfield, perhaps in a telephone kiosk, and his is the only letter of protest.

— Coun. A. F. Stabler, chairman, Arts and Recreation Committee.

Support for Sex Pistols

I FEEL I must express my utter amusement at the two letters in the Evening Chronicle (December 15) in reply to Mr. Musk’s comments on the Sex Pistols.

I really can’t believe W. C. Neil’s implication that swearing is never heard in pubs and I don’t think anybody else will take him seriously either.

When Mr. Musk says that “we want to hear the Sex Pistols” he speaks on behalf of responsible young people like myself and many of my friends who endorse his sentiments entirely.

In reply to the other letter from this naive councillor person I absolutely refuse to believe that the audience would consist mainly of 10–13 year-olds. Don’t be so absurd.

Further, I trust it is not a sign of complete inefficiency in the Civic Centre that Coun. Stabler believes there to have been only one letter of protest. I had a letter published on page four of the Evening Chronicle on December 11, the principles outlined in which are supported by the vast majority of people I have spoken to since, and which I hope he will now take the trouble to read.

I sincerely hope, sir, that you will publish this letter to make up for the publicity Coun. Stabler is afforded.

— Peter J. Elliott, Glebe Avenue, Benton, Newcastle.