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There was a term… We liked to bandy around… Like we knew anything… About anything… Plastic Punks… Which meant… Not real… The Police… Were plastic punks… Strictly speaking they weren’t punks at all… Although they dressed like punks… Designer punks… What they played… Was a sort of reggae… White reggae-boys… Plastic reggae… In other words… They were hated and despised… In that first… proper phase of punk… But as the new wave… Before waves… Were strains of fake virus… They were genres of music… And before that… genres of film… Rushed in… They became popular.
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Hugely popular… Especially with the girls… Jo Cass liked the Police… And Madness… Who started as ska… And became just pop… Spiky blonde poster boys… Perhaps… They carried everything before them for awhile… And then disappeared… At the height of their popularity… Made their lolly… And cleared out… Like proper corporatists… Actually… Easy to see now… Not quite so easy to see then… Even though all the clues were there… Like they always are… Punters could be plastic too… Another term of abuse… Like there were really any proper punks anyway… Well, maybe the pistols originally.
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And they rejected the label outright… Rejected all labels… They knew how the game was played… From the get-go… And still folded after one album… Never properly arrived… Before they were gone… That is some impact… For something that never really was… Anything… Makes one think… Shows the vulnerability of the establishment… To get so shook up… Over a four-piece… Mere teenagers at that… What are they so afraid of?… Their playbook cannot be particularly advanced… If a bunch of disaffected teenagers can work it out… Or was the disaffection… Also an affectation?
France & Vincent 