Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge

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The music grabs you by the throat and never lets up. Everything about the song captures not only the smouldering hatred and anger spilling out onto the streets but also the unadulterated fear that accompanies anarchism. It is "with anxiety" that "Babylon's burning." The vocal by Malcolm Owen, which surely must rank as the best-ever punk vocal, is uncompromising and threatening. Unlike the more contemplative reggae of Jah War, Babylon's Burning is direct and explosive, like the events it describes. Decades after its release, Babylon's Burning has lost none of its energy, menace or relevance. The angry lyric, explosive guitars and Malcolm Owen vocals combine to make the perfect punk song. As a teenager I had the wonderful job of being contracted to burn the stubble in farmers' fields after the grain had been cut. This cleansed the land ready for replanting. But as we all know, fire can be incredibly destructive. I can recall hundreds of us watching in horror as the grand old building that was my children's school, Morgan Academy, was almost burned to the ground. This June in the UK we have been horrified as we witnessed the terrible death of at least 80 people in the flames of the Grenfell Tower in London. Fox came out of semi-retirement to play Ruts songs as Foxy's Ruts with his son, Lawrence, on drums. Foxy's Ruts supported Bad Manners on their Christmas tour of the UK in December 2006. The results of the fall of Babylon are devastating. In a society built on consumption and consumed with entertainment, suddenly there is no more music – no harpists, musicians, pipers and trumpeters. There are no builders and architects. It is the destruction of creativity. And of marriage. There are no weddings. Again the irony is that when we focus on the fruits rather than the roots, we lose both.

Babylon's Burning Reconstructed (2005) was an album-long tribute to the band's most famous song, remixed sixteen different times by Die Toten Hosen, Don Letts, Dreadzone and the Groove Corporation. The wide range of remixes included beatbox, drum and bass and ambient reworkings.Post Office telephone engineer Jennings met record shop manager Ruffy in 1976 and became interested in punk after discussing the latter's Ramones' T-shirt. Meanwhile, Owen's interest in punk was piqued when he saw the Sex Pistols playing live. At the time, Fox was playing with Ruffy in a funk band, Hit and Run, which included J. D. Nicholas (who went on to join The Commodores in the U.S.) and sixteen-year-old saxophone player Gary Barnacle, who later played on several Ruts songs. Hit and Run were a covers band who released one single, a version of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs' 1965 hit " Wooly Bully". The Ruts' initial history is described in an audio interview with Jennings, conducted by Alan Parker, which appears on the album Bustin' Out. It is not just that Rome is corrupt – it is that she has taught others to do the same. The foundation of modern morality seems to be that we are free to do whatever we want as long as it does not harm others. The trouble is that when we do evil, it does inevitably involve and harm others, not least by teaching them to do the same thing. brought Something That I Said – The Best of the Ruts album (re-released in March 2003 and on EMI Gold in 2005). [1] Babylon (the Roman empire then at the height of its power) seemed to be all-conquering and the Church seemed pathetically weak. The last Apostle, the elderly John, was imprisoned on the island of Patmos. Jesus had not returned. Rome seemed to have conquered all. Christ and his people seemed defeated. But the angel tells a different story. He announces 'Babylon has fallen!' He cites Isaiah 21:9:

The riff is obviously a classic from the moment you hear it. The chorus is brilliant, the vocals are amazing and the end section where it feels as though the notes are going to go up and up, forever and ever, is one of the most exciting pieces of music I will ever play. Who mourns the fall of Babylon? It is the kings of the earth and the merchants who lament. John is using Ezekiel's prophecy against Tyre by stressing the merchants and the traders (Ezekiel 26 and 27). With their latest UK tour sold out in advance and a US tour lined up, the band began work on their second album in early 1980. Having been forced to cancel a number of UK tour dates, the other three band members fired their frontman over his drug addiction, shortly after completing work on their next single, " West One (Shine on Me)". After negotiations, Owen briefly rejoined the band. [1] Rebellion Festivals Ltd - Independent Punk and Alternative Music Festival". Rebellionfestivals.com . Retrieved 21 April 2019. On 16 July 2007, the band reformed for the first time in 27 years, and played a benefit gig for Fox, following his diagnosis as having lung cancer. Henry Rollins stood in for Owen. They were supported by Tom Robinson, the Damned, Misty in Roots, UK Subs, Splodge ( Splodgenessabounds), John Otway; and the Peafish House Band. Fox died on 21 October of the same year, at the age of 56. [8] [9]That was the trouble with having all the wealth in the world tied up in one city and one system. Perhaps again there are lessons for today's world. Is it a healthy system in the United Kingdom when it seems as though everything is centred on and through the city of London? It is interesting that in the arguments about the European Union and Brexit it is economics that dominates the whole discussion. 'Oh no,' say the doom merchants. 'How can we trade if we are out of the Single Market?' Nothing else seems to matter. I'm not saying that the EU is Babylon (even though it includes Rome), but one of the lessons from Revelation is that we should not put all our eggs in one basket, and there are things more important to society than money. The market is not all that matters. In 1987, BBC label Strange Fruit collected together the group's three Radio One sessions for The Peel Session Album: The Ruts. Live albums soon followed, including BBC Radio One in Concert (Windsong) recorded at London's Paris Theatre on 7 July 1979, The Ruts Live (Dojo) and Live and Loud! (Link). [1] 1990s and later [ edit ] Like another Ruts single Jah War, it was inspired by the Southall Riots of late April 1979 when teacher and anti-fascist protestor Blair Peach was clubbed by police and later died of his injuries. Foreshadowing some aspects of Hillsborough tragedy 10 years later, the tabloid press immediately and unequivocally exonerated the police for its role in the incident. Not surprisingly, the Southall Riots became a symbol of police brutality and corruption for campaigners. No one was ever convicted of his murder but an internal investigation, only released 30 years later, concluded that a member of the Special Patrol Group, which had arrived with an arsenal of unauthorised weapons including crowbars and sledgehammers, had hit the activist with a lead-weighted cosh or a police radio. In all of this the message for Christians is the message of James – 'You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near' (James 5:8). We live in a broken world, which we cannot fix and which will not be fixed by any simplistic political, economic or religious solutions. But we do not despair because there is the promise of justice, regeneration and renewal. His kingdom will come, his will shall be done. EXCLUSIVE – Unseen Pics Of The Ruts in North Wales". Link2wales.co.uk. 28 August 2018 . Retrieved 21 April 2019.

On 25 January 2008, Henry Rollins presented The Gig, a short film about the 2007 benefit gig at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. The event, in support of Macmillan Cancer Support, was accompanied by live performances from Alabama 3, T. V. Smith, members of the Members, the Damned's Captain Sensible and Beki Bondage.Two retrospective live albums appeared in 2006. Get Out of It!! featured eighteen songs including a sexually-themed early number by the band, "Gotta Little Number" (also titled "Stepping Bondage") from a London Marquee show on 19 July 1979 (these recordings have also surfaced as Marquee 1979 and Ruts 1979 – Marquee Club). Live at Deeply Vale, featured thirteen songs from a July 1978 performance recorded at the free Deeply Vale festival that was held annually near Bury, Greater Manchester.