Music & Politics 4, Number 2 (Summer 2010), ISSN 1938-7687.
‘There Is No Authority But Yourself ’:
The Individual and the Collective in
British Anarcho-Punk
RICH CROSS
You must learn to live with your own conscience,
your own morality,
your own decision,...
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Music & Politics 4, Number 2 (Summer 2010), ISSN 1938-7687.
‘There Is No Authority But Yourself ’:
The Individual and the Collective in
British Anarcho-Punk
RICH CROSS
You must learn to live with your own conscience,
your own morality,
your own decision,
your own self.
You alone can do it.
There is no authority but yourself
Crass
Yes Sir, I Will
1983
Introduction
British anarchist punk band Crass’s fifth studio album Yes Sir, I Will (released on the band’s own
label in 1983) was the most challenging and demanding record the group had yet committed to vinyl.1
Its
tone was dark, the musical delivery harsh and disjointed, the political invective stark and unrelenting. The
entire record seethed with anger, incredulity, and indignation. For the moment in which it was produced,
Yes Sir, I Will was an entirely fitting testament to the position in which “anarcho-punk” now found itself.
From its own origins in 1977, this dissident strand within British punk had connected with a new
audience wil
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