LETTER FROM BRITAIN
'Recession rock' on the radio (cf. "My City Was Gone," "Allentown" or "Out of Work") may call forth condemnations from America's urban mayors-many, I notice, on holiday in Florida at the time of com rnent-in The Wall Street Journal. But t'aint so in Britain; we had a billion har bingers of No Future back in the late `70s and now that we've arrived where it isn't we have synthpop by the school-full.
LETTF.R FROM BRITAIN
DEPARTMENTS
THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED HIT PAY DIRT
by Cynthia Rose
'Recession rock' on the radio (cf. "My City Was Gone," "Allentown" or "Out of Work") may call forth condemnations from America's urban mayors-many, I notice, on holiday in Florida at the time of com rnent-in The Wall Street Journal. But t'aint so in Britain; we had a billion har bingers of No Future back in the late `70s and now that we've arrived where it isn't we have synthpop by the school-full.
That’s right; as Elvis Costello is fond of remarking lately, every kid in Britain is still in some band—it’s just that they can’t afford guitars anymore. Casios and the correct couture have remained constants on the music scene all through ’82.
With the synth syndrome has come renewed prominence for the art colleges of the U.K., whose long association with pop continues. Just cast an eye back over the previous twelve months—their influence pervades, fyom Roxy’s Avalon through ABCfrom the Institute of Contemporary Art’s phenomenally successful Urban Rap art show (which showcased post-punk cartoonery) to ventures such as Club Scopitone.