Punk or Funk?

I was looking at all these punks appearing in Croydon. Punks were new. They wore safety pins and looked hard. I saw some getting on a bus in Addiscombe. A girl had hair like a chimney brush. I could not take my eyes off her. I was simultaneously scared and attracted. It was 1976, a year before the Queen's Silver Jubilee and the Sex Pistols blasted the punk subculture globally.

I didn't really like punk. I liked Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Roxy Music, Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Glenn Miller, Gershwin. Then The Stranglers released Go Buddy Go. I loved it. I didn't know about The Meteors yet, the originators, one of the funkiest bands of all time. The Stranglers, pub-band turned punk and accused of bandwagon-jumping, hadn't yet suckered me with Golden Brown and Strange Little Girl. But I sensed greatness, and I bought in, defending them in teenage musical merit debates with passion. It's a blues, actually.

Well the boys and the girls all dancing around Dancing all night to the crazy sound Well it's the newest thing to hit the fan The boys and the girls are holding hands I said go buddy go buddy go buddy go buddy go go go...

I could not get it out of my head. The Stranglers followed up with better, but then a couple of years later came 2-Tone, which was both Punk and Funk. This rescued me from my confusion. At last, a music I could love wholeheartedly, I could sing, I could dance, and I could 100% feel the lyrics. In 1981, as the nation faced disaster, we found a popular voice.

Terry Hall, the deadpan hero, prosecuted by his neighbours for noisy late night sex.

This town, is coming like a ghost town All the clubs have been closed down This place, is coming like a ghost town Bands won't play no more too much fighting on the dance floor Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town? We danced and sang, and the music played inna de boomtown This town, is coming like a ghost town Why must the youth fight against themselves? Government leaving the youth on the shelf This place, is coming like a ghost town No job to be found in this country Can't go on no more The people getting angry This town, is coming like a ghost town This town, is coming like a ghost town This town, is coming like a ghost town This town, is coming like a ghost town The Specials

Thank the God of Funk for 2-Tone and Ska and Terry's carnal yelping.