Crass
“Shaved Women”
From Best Before 1984
(Crass Records)

Crass’s early releases crystallised the fierce DIY politics that defined them. Their 1978 debut The Feeding Of The 5000 ignited censorship battles and pushed them to found Crass Records for total autonomy. Their first single on their own label, the Reality Asylum/Shaved Women double A-side, triggered a police obscenity investigation while introducing their radical “pay no more than…” pricing. Produced by Penny Rimbaud, “Shaved Women” turns field recordings of clattering train carriages into a propulsive rhythmic engine, mirrored by a thudding bassline and jagged angler guitar riffs. Eve Libertine’s howling vocals phase in and out – returning with force by the end of the track. If you had only ever heard punk described this is how you would imagine it sounded. Still as ferocious and as raw as when it was first released.

Action Frogs
“Drumming Up Hope (Ferret Skank)”
From Bullshit Detector One
(Crass Records)

The Bullshit Detector compilations, the majority of which were made up of home recorded tracks sent into Crass by young fans, were pivotal in establishing the early anarcho-punk scene and its DIY sensibilities. Many of the acts featured on the three Bullshit releases would go on to become stalwarts of the anarcho milieu (Alternative, Amebix and Napalm Death to name but a few); others, like The Action Frogs, would never be heard of again. Pushing the boundaries of amateurism to new heights, The Action Frogs’ drummer, who sounds like they are playing two upturned plastic buckets, struggles to keep up with the simple guitar chords that repeat and go nowhere for the duration of the track’s giggly one minute, four seconds. Certainly recorded in a teenager’s bedroom, The Action Frogs sound like The Shaggs, minus the overbearing parent. A wonderful piece of youthful enthusiasm that speaks to the power of DIY culture to embolden creative expression, regardless of musical virtue.

The Mob
“No Doves Fly Here”
(Crass Records)

An early Crass Records release, Somerset trio The Mob deliver a goth-tinged slice of space-rock melancholy. “No Doves Fly Here” is an anti-war lament steeped in Cold War dread, with Mark Mob’s haunted vocals hanging over a Hawkwind-esque synth atmosphere filled with crashing guitars. The West Country’s answer to Joy Division, staring down nuclear annihilation.

Chumbawamba
“Revolution”
From Cease & Resist: Sonic Subversion & Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979–86
(Optimo Music)

While inspired by Crass’s DIY anarchism, many second and third wave anarcho acts ditched Crass’s pacifism for a more combative class politics. At the centre of this shift stood Chumbawamba. “Revolution” also marks an early shift in Chumbawamba’s sound: a driving rhythm section, shared vocals, and pointed political polemics that foreshadow the band’s later output. A stonking piece of sonic propaganda.

Dunstan Bruce
“Fucking Expensive”
From Fucking Expensive EP
(Heavy Medication)

Dunstan Bruce (formerly Chumbawamba's frontman) and now frontman of the agit-power-pop trio Interrobang‽, remains committed ‘to the trouble’. This track, a piece of simple electronic pop, part synth strings and plodding house bassline is turned into a questioning critique of the values we attach to things and ideologies through Bruce’s half spoken vocal. This should have been a huge pop hit.

Passion Killers
“Start Again”
From They Kill Our Passion With Their Hate And Wars
(Sealed Records)

Remastered from early demo tapes and released in 2025 on Sealed Records, this is the first LP by Passion Killers, the proto-Chumbawamba act featured on the Bullshit Detector series. Less than two minutes of bubble gum pop fury, this track is a powerful blast of 77-style punk whose grumbling rumbling bass is central to the track’s magic.

Read Seth Wheeler’s feature on the anarcho-punk archive at the MayDay Rooms here. A version of the essay appears in The Wire 503/4. Wire subscribers can also read it in our online magazine library.