History Music / Crass

Formed in 1977 out of Dial House (an open-house community near Epping, Essex), '''Crass''' were an English PunkRock band that promoted [[UsefulNotes/{{Anarchism}} anarchy]] as a political ideology, a resistance movement, and a way of life, and attracted controversy multiple times through the duration of their career - even to the point of causing an international scandal. The band formed when Dial House founder Jeremy Ratter started jamming with then-resident Steven Williams (who took the names of Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant, respectively) after the former saw a gig by Music/TheClash and was inspired by Joe Strummer telling his audience to start their own bands if they thought they could do better. Penny and Steve produced "Do They Owe Us a Living?" and "So What" as a drum and vocal duo, and chose the name Crass as a reference to a line [[note]] "the kids are just crass" [[/note]] in ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' by Music/DavidBowie.

* HeroicBSOD: When Crass was recording ''Christ - The Album'', the Falklands war had begun and ended, causing the band to question their relevance as a political band. Fortunately, they pulled everything together and managed to come back with a vengeance...[[SubvertedTrope until their breakup in 1984]. [[DoubleSubversion However, they were planning on breaking up that year anyway, so...]]

* CapitalismIsBad: Like most Anarcho-Punk bands they identify capitalism as a system of slavery that most people aren't even aware of.

* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: Contrary to many other protest musicians the band really lived up to its name. They actively tried to cause revolution by not joining a major label and making their audience think about life as it is. They also live in a commune to this day where they make their own bread and supplies and effectively live outside society. When it became clear in 1984 that they won't reach their goals by that date they disbanded themselves.

** ''The Feeding of the 5,000'' shows a drawing of a bombed out city in Ireland during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.

* HeroicBSOD: When Crass was recording ''Christ - The Album'', the Falklands war had begun and ended, causing the band to question their relevance as a political band. Fortunately, they pulled everything together and managed to come back with a vengeance...[[SubvertedTrope until their breakup in 1984]], [[DoubleSubversion however they were planning on breaking up in this year anyway, so...]]

** ''Stations of the Crass'' is a pun on the Catholic rite of the Stations of the Cross. It's also a reference to the graffiti campaign Crass had been conducting around London's underground railway system... including subway stations. The original cover artwork depicts an example of the band's graffiti.

* TakeThat:
** Much like the ProtestSong example before it, most (if not all) of what Crass put out could count. For a specific example, however, the aforementioned two minutes of silence as a result of ExecutiveMeddling on ''The Feeding of the 5,000'' was titled "The Sound of Free Speech" as a jab towards the label and pressing plant that gave Crass grief over the track.

--> ''They Realized that their god was dead so they reclaimed power through the bomb instead''

** The album that song is on (''The Feeding of the 5,000'') begins and ends (if you don't count Asylum, that is) with "Do They Owe Us a Living?" and "Well?...Do They?" - which are different recordings of the ''exact same song''.

*** The following movement, a parody of the hardcore bands they were mocking here, was entitled "The Five Knuckle Shuffle" on the 2011 remaster (all movements were untitled on previous versions; note, however, that the movements are mistitled on the first disc of the remaster, referring to the indices of the original CD issue rather than the indices of the remaster. The titles are mostly correct on the second disc, with the exception of "Burying the Hatchet" being unlisted).

** Demoncrats is basically a poem about the futility of dying for god, patriotism, or democracy.

''From those who have died for some others' privilege.''\\

''Tease me, tease me, make me stay, in my red high-heels I can't get away!"''\\

* PrecisionFStrike: Crass' use of profanity wasn't placed without thought, rather, it was quite deliberately placed in order to prove a point.

** Crass has also taken potshots at Music/TheSexPistols and Music/TheClash, whom they see as people who didn't live up to the punk spirit. The re-issues of all their albums in the 2010s have a quote by Johnny Rotten on each back cover: "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!", referencing the fact that Rotten went on an episode of ''Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere''.
** "Asylum" is notable for being such a vicious insult to Jesus Christ that workers refused to press ''The Feeding Of the 5000'' due to its blasphemous content.

** "Systematic Death" comes from a similar perspective. From birth on the husband and wife the song focuses have been slaves to capitalism and to tradition. And when they're about to get their promised reward of being a pair of homeowners the system drops it's bomb, and they don't even get that.

Formed in 1977 out of Dial House (an open-house community near Epping, Essex), Crass were an English PunkRock band that promoted [[UsefulNotes/{{Anarchism}} anarchy]] as a political ideology, a resistance movement, and a way of life, and attracted controversy multiple times through the duration of their career - even to the point of causing an international scandal. The band formed when Dial House founder Jeremy Ratter started jamming with then-resident Steven Williams (who took the names of Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant, respectively) after the former saw a gig by Music/TheClash and was inspired by Joe Strummer telling his audience to start their own bands if they thought they could do better. Penny and Steve produced "Do They Owe Us a Living?" and "So What" as a drum and vocal duo, and chose the name Crass as a reference to a line [[note]] "the kids are just crass" [[/note]] in ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' by Music/DavidBowie.

::The following movement, a parody of the hardcore bands they were mocking here, was entitled "The Five Knuckle Shuffle" on the 2011 remaster (all movements were untitled on previous versions; note, however, that the movements are mistitled on the first disc of the remaster, referring to the indices of the original CD issue rather than the indices of the remaster. The titles are mostly correct on the second disc, with the exception of "Burying the Hatchet" being unlisted).

** ''Where Next Columbus''

** ''Asylum''' is notable for being such a vicious insult to Jesus Christ that workers refused to press ''The Feeding Of the 5000'' due to its blasphemous content.

** ''Systematic Death'' comes from a similar perspective. From birth on the husband and wife the song focuses have been slaves to capitalism and to tradition. And when they're about to get their promised reward of being a pair of homeowners the system drops it's bomb, and they don't even get that.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: While they were always rather avant-garde by punk standards, early material tends to play this relatively straight. By the time of ''Penis Envy'', ''Christ: The Album'', and ''Yes Sir, I Will'', however, they were definitely averting it or at most [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagging]] it.

::This movement was entitled "The Five Knuckle Shuffle" on the 2011 remaster (all movements were untitled on previous versions).

-->''"But no one ever changed the church by pulling down a steeple, and you'll never change the system by bombing number ten''\\
''Systems just aren't made of bricks, they're mostly made of people; you may send them into hiding, but they'll be back again!"''\\

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: While they were always rather avant-garde by punk standards, some of the early material plays this relatively straight. By the time of ''Penis Envy'', ''Christ: The Album'', and ''Yes Sir, I Will'', however, they were definitely averting it.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: While they were always rather avant-garde by punk standards, some of the early material plays this relatively straight. By the time of ''Penis Envy'' and ''Yes Sir, I Will'', however, they were definitely averting it.

* LoudnessWar: The remasters aren't the worst examples out there, but they are still pretty loud. However, they are often considered to have better sound quality than the original issues of the albums despite this, and they have a lot of bonus content that isn't on other issues of the albums (however, there is also some content on the original issue of ''Stations of the Crass'' that isn't available on the remasters, though it is available for download). Which versions you prefer will often be a matter of personal taste.

* LoudnessWar: The remasters aren't the worst examples out there, but they are still pretty loud. However, they are often considered to have better sound quality than the original issues of the albums despite this.

* {{Pun}}: The remasters are given the title "The Crassical Collection".

* EpicRocking: "Yes Sir, I Will" by Crass, clocking in at over 40 minutes to become the longest punk song ever (!). Although it is technically supposed to be all one song, the song is split into multiple tracks (seven, to be precise) and doesn't play like a single, flowing 40-minute opus. The longest individual track, however, is just over twenty minutes long. The album was composed and released as a continuous piece of music because of the band's conception that all political struggles were interrelated (a concept often called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality intersectionality]] in academia), as Penny Rimbaud explained:

** The band themselves might dispute this. ''Yes Sir, I Will'', despite its fiery protest elements, argues that everything the band has ever written is a love song.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: From the lyrics to ''Yes Sir, I Will'':
-->How many times must we hear rehashed versions of Feeding of the 5000

** That, and a rather enthusiastic promotion of an abusive relationship:

* FadingIntoTheNextSong[=/=]SiameseTwinSongs: Crass ''loved'' this trope. Some songs would have an obvious break between them, however many others would simply fade out into feedback until a drum beat or guitar riff started the next song up. This reached its logical conclusion in the album ''Yes Sir, I Will'', in which all tracks are connected apart from a side break between vinyl sides and are often considered different parts of a single song to boot.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: In the remaster of ''Yes Sir, I Will'', one of the movements is named "The Five Knuckle Shuffle". (Earlier pressings of the album didn't list the titles of the movements).

* LoudnessWar: The remasters aren't the worst examples out there, but they are still pretty loud.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong[=/=]SiameseTwinSongs: Crass ''loved'' this trope. Some songs would have an obvious break between them, however many others would simply fade out into feedback until a drum beat or guitar riff started the next song up.