Anti-Social were a British

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, United Kingdom, formed in 1977. They released one single, "Traffic Lights/Teacher Teacher" on Dynamite Records DRO1, that is now one of the rarest UK punk record releases and was included in

John Peel's Record Box ''John Peel's Record Box'' is a documentary film made by Elaine Shepherd, released on 14 November 2005 on Channel 4. It was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award. __TOC__ Contents The box contains a small private collection of the British radio ...

. They became nationally infamous by advertising for someone to commit suicide live on stage for which the band would pay them £15,000.

Early history and record

In 1974 bass player Matt Smith joined with vocalist and guitar Robert Fern and drummer Johnny Harrison in a band called Maniac, which was later changed to Anti-Social. After gigging for a while, they recorded what would turn out to be a rare UK

single release, "Traffic Lights" backed with "Teacher, Teacher" at Outlaw Recording Studios in

. The single was released on the Dynamite Label (DR01) in 1977.

Paul Morley Paul Robert Morley (born 26 March 1957) is a British music journalist. He wrote for the ''New Musical Express'' from 1977 to 1983, and has since written for a wide range of publications and written his own books. He was a co-founder of the reco ...

reviewed their single in

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

in January 1978, calling it "archaic rock song sneered with incongruous, but violently necessary contempt." Matt Smith left during these sessions (now married to Carolyn Spence who worked at UK's ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

'' magazine) Matt felt that the constant aggression associated with the band was no longer to his liking and was replaced first by Paul Cooper and then by Gabrielle Fern.

Suicide offer

The band's label manager, Bob Green, offered £15,000 to any volunteer who would commit suicide live on stage via a

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

. Nobody took the offer but the Department of Public Prosecutions was angered and the band was arrested.

Epitaph

Band's manager Les Hemmings died in a car crash in the 1970s, while delivering copies of the single to various shops. The Studio Recordings to their follow up single were stolen and their final gig (at the Kingshurst Labour Club) ended with drummer Harrison playing a drum solo on an audience member's head, an offense for which he was later arrested and charged. Harrison phoned Rob Fern the next day to inquire as to whether he was still in the band, to which Fern replied, "There is no band". The 7 inch record now sells for upward of £500 and has thus led to bootleg copies swamping the market (easy to recognize as they have the release date of 1978 instead of original 1977 and have incorrect label credits).

Trivia

Musician

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...

is the son of Gabrielle Fern and step-son of Robert Fern.

References

{{Godflesh English punk rock groups Musical groups established in 1977 Rock music groups from Birmingham, West Midlands