Quirks, dangerousness and charm
Hawkwind’s vow to play for free in the 70s bred with punk’s DIY ethic to begat the “crusty†movement. Ian Abrahams looks back at Britain’s 80s and 90s counterculture festival bands - many of which, such as The Levellers and Ozric Tentacles, thrive today - and details their vinyl output
As we wander through our summers of corporate festivals and mega events, it’s increasingly hard to remember that once there was a network of festivals criss-crossing the country through the summer months that prided themselves on being free. They started among the protests against the ticket prices at the 1970 Isle Of Wight festival, found proper form in the mid-70s Windsor Free Festivals – and their government-sanctioned successor at Watchfield – peaked with the Stonehenge Free Festivals, and descended into hard drugs and heavy policing as the 80s ended.
At their core was a do-it-yourself ethic that bound together the tribes of hippie and punk. These movements would slowly coalesce, spawning something different, something that came to be known as the “crusty”, stereotyped as convoy-travelling anarchists with their dogs and a thirst for Special Brew and drugs. At one extreme was the nihilistic and destructive “brew crew” but, for the best part of the 80s, these were simply folk who had found a different way of life on the road in antiquated buses and whose music – part space-rock, part punk and part dance – was informed by Hawkwind and Here & Now, and The Clash or Crass.
It can be argued that Hawkwind was the glue that bound these festivals together. Their presence inferred continuity …
by Ian Abrahams
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