JOHN COOPER CLARKE
English performance poet John Cooper Clarke has the type of wit and clever retort that one wishes they were capable of conjuring every time you were at the brunt end of society’s brashness, arrogance, hypocrisy, idiocracy and general mean-spiritedness.
From behind his dark shades, with his mess of hair and stick thin figure, is an absolute spitfire of satire, wit and undeniable charm, delivering his poetry with the same fed up and frustrated feelings that characterised the 70s UK punk scene from which he also came to the fore. Alongside his in-your-face compatriot rebels delivering their anti-establishment sentiments with both vigour and aggression, Clarke also channeled the message with eloquence and cohesion. He spent much time touring this period with seminal punk groups such as Sex Pistols, New Order, Joy Division, Elvis Costello with some of these acts actually playing second fiddle on bills to Clarke who is still considered a stalwart of the movement.
After a decade long addiction to heroin during the 1980s Clarke returned in the 90s free of the habit and back to his best, outlasting the initial decline of punk music and remaining just as influential on the recurring wave of punk that has sprung into the consciousness of a new generation. Clarke’s poem Out Of Control Fairground was the inspiration behind the daring and insane A Clockwork Orange, ultra-violence style Arctic Monkeys video clip for their hit Fluorescent Adolescent, which features violent clowns embarking on a spree of beatings and destruction. The young group even included the poem’s lyrics in the single sleeve.
These days Clarke is back to touring, performing with his inimitable style at festivals throughout the UK and Europe and his work has left enough of a cultural imprint that it is studied within UK and Irish university courses – a testament to the relevance of his social commentary and his creative spirit. (IS)
March 29, 9.30pm, The Basement, 7 Macquarie Place, Circular Quay, $25+BF, 9251-2797, thebasement.com.au
