City of the Dead

When did fashion stop being dangerous and youth culture cease being sexy, stylish and subversive? That is to say, when was the last time kids wore clothes that would (literally) stop the traffic and get them beaten up or arrested, like Alan Jones in his Cowboys T-shirt? [1]

I've been asking myself these questions during the Great Confinement: a time when our streets are filled with dread and everyone hides at home, all courage gone and paralyzed.

A time when those who do dare to venture out, do so wearing safety gear rather than safety pins - i.e., disposable masks and gloves, or what we've now learned to refer to as PPE ...

Talk about living in a City of the Dead ... [2]

Notes

[1] See Paul Gorman, The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren, (Constable 2020). Gorman provides full details of how Jones was taken into custody on 28 July 1975 and charged with 'showing an obscene print in a public space' (as well as of the subsequent raid on McLaren and Westwood's store at 430 King's Road), pp. 267-71.

[2] This Clash track, written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, was the B-side to Complete Control (CBS, Sept. 1977). It is particularly memorable for the verse: "What we wear is dangerous gear / It'll get you picked on anywhere / Though we get beat up we don't care / At least it livens up the air." Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group.