As someone who was a teenager in the 70's the specials,jam,rejects,members,upstarts,ruts,slf etc etc were the backdrop of a period of great economic uncertainty and awful politics that really went on from 77 right till the middle of the 80's !!

However the music had aggeression, humour and most importantly a diy anti authority attitude !!And still sounds fantastic today and head and shoulders above current bands !!

I can't remember the last time i haed something in the charts that had all these qualitites !! The punks would have goobbed on pop idol and trashed the big brother house if it had been introduced then ! Instead of sitting at home wanking over something really bland like bon iver or rufus f*** wainwright thr current youth should be marching on no 10 forming radical punk bands, pulling bloody big stunts and ranting at the nation and trying to get change !! Alas shite like computer games, mtv ,internet 4 x 4's,worsening education and lack of ambition has killed any chance of that ever happening !! discuss !