I used to joke Crass was a lie and people only liked them because it was inspiring to hear Penny Rimbaud’s erudite and high-brow prose sung in a tough-guy, working class accent like Steve Ignorant’s.
I used to joke Crass was a lie and people only liked them because it was inspiring to hear Penny Rimbaud’s erudite and high-brow prose sung in a tough-guy, working class accent like Steve Ignorant’s. The Day the Country Died seemed to have reiterated this sentiment and so did this documentary. I was just kidding guys.
The truth is, Penny only wrote about half of Crass’s songs and although that includes “I Ain’t Thick, It’s Just a Trick,” Ignorant was not thick either. He wrote Crass classics like “Do They Owe Us a Living,” “So What?” and “Mother Love.” I think he plays up the Ignorant persona because it’s charming and it gets him what he wants, sort of like a coquettish blonde girl. Steve Ignorant was not a puppet. He was a puppeteer.
Since Crass, Iggs has done performance art and puppet shows (see?), and made weird things with stained glass, but my favorite non-Crass thing he’s ever done is his wood carvings. They’re all over Dial House today. Here are some of my favorites:
About everything at this house was found in a “skip” (the dumpsters you rent when you’re doing demolition–I bet Gee saw that orange rake head and thought, “That would go nice in Iggs smiling head sculpture.”) Doesn’t it look like a Gaham Wilson drawing?
This is what your insecurity looks like.
I usually hate when British people do ethnic stuff, especially African, but he pulled this off.
A guy kneeling down and peering between his hands. I have no idea what this means. Maybe he wants to see the world through vagina shapes?
The obesity epidemic is starting to take over Britain the way it took over America yet Buddha “keeps smiling his inimitable smile.”
And the winner is, cancer’s footless son, “Ratty” (I made that up).
Like ‘em all
Ratty works – the rest suck.
ANOK4U2!
Buddha sucks.
your all cunts
ratty looks like those mummies from i don’t know where (polynesia? south america? they’re all the same to me.)
oh great, it’s crass week, huh? I guess I’ll be back on the 8th.
I listened to Penis Envy. It bored me. Too trebly. Too woman-y. What else make this band worthwhile besides them all being hippies that take famous shits? There was that phone message where Steve Ignorant threatens the dude from Turbonegro but that’s not really a reason to care about wood carvings. Them shits are all over Wisconsin.
NICE DOC, NICE POST.
FUCK ALL YOU TOSSERS.
TWATS
@flux
The name’s Crass not Clash. Feel free to take a longer break.
What is the deal with all the cock sucking Crass post this summer? Did you guy’s just “discover” them or something?
I think I’m going to drop Street Carnage in favor of Hipster Run-off. Sure HRO thinks everything is a joke but at least I won’t have to get dick slapped with stories about the hippies that ruined punk with their unrealistic primitive scio-political exceptions about how the world should be run.
^^^^^ I’m seething with anger!
anyway I love the crass posts It’s kinda funny I took the lyrics serious and ended up in pretty much the same place as them. I never knew that they lived on a farm that they squatted or anything. I never was much of the fan boy type but it’s very exciting for me to find out now. Hell I am even a woodworker and live on land with carvings and sculptures all over the place. I could be wrong but we seem a little more laid back out here. We eat meat, have internet, and you can even watch T.V. if you want.
I love these. Crass remains canonized in my mind. My condolences to all the bitter haters who are so pissed at life that they can’t even enjoy a few whimsical carvings. Jeez.