Punk Days

Part documentary, part musical journey and part coming of age, PUNK DAYS is the story of a mixed race, working-class kid growing up in 1970’s London, plagued by racism, who finds hope and liberation in the power of Punk Rock.

"Love Music, Hate Racism" poster for Rock Against Racism
 
  • Punk Days is the vivid, unique autobiographical story of a poor mixed race kid growing up in a grim ‘70s London plagued by extreme racism, who finds liberation in Punk Rock that detonated a youth rebellion against a rotten society that promised no future for its new generation, only stifling social control and rancid dreams of past glories long dead.

    There is no future
    In England’s dreaming

    Don’t be told what you want to want to
    And don’t be told what you want to
    need. There’s no future, no future
    No future for you.

    It was the summer of ’77 and I was a rebellious 16 year old: the Labour government was on the rocks, the Nazi National Front was on the rise, and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations were rudely undermined when the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save the Queen’ went to the top of the charts, and was promptly banned by the BBC. The Pistols’ ‘Anarchy in the UK’ exploded like a depth charge, blowing accepted musical rules out of the water. The Clash’s debut single ‘White Riot’ pointed us to a different future. But what exactly was a White Riot? Wasn’t that what the Enoch brigade and NF thugs would like to do to us given half a chance?

    ‘There I was waiting for the band to come on I was surrounded by hundreds of Sieg-Heiling skinheads. Then Sham 69 leapt on stage, and the Hitler chants reached a frenzy, drowning out the opening song. Behind me there was an almighty crash, as the bouncers threw a skin through the entrance-hall’s plate glass doors. All hell broke loose’

  • Download the digital programme, including production information, interview and full credits.

    Download Programme (PDF)

  • Rich Mix, London 14 June 2026

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    Albany Theatre, Coventry 26–27 June 2026

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Video


Gallery

ROCK AGAINST RACISM CO- FOUNDER ROGER HUDDLE TALKS HISTORY, POLITICS AND MUSIC IN THE 1970s. (Click on image)

Ticket for Greyhound, Park Lane Croydon "X-Ray Spex"
 
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Spirits of the Black Meridian