Salvation Magazine Issue 1 - Magazine - Page 17
Grey Organization
E MADNESS
but insisted they were the real deal. As a
band Crass have their place in history, as
do the Anarchist Street Army, but there’s
always a feeling with a lot of those people
that when you all end up in the police station, their mommies and daddies are gonna turn up with the family lawyer - “an old
verview, admittedly with a bit of friend of Dad” - and they’re gonna walk.
personal opinion and inverted Toby Mott in interview tends to play down
snobbery. The cultural effects and their middle class background, and really
ripples of a decade tend to spread out in the it’s not anything of which to be ashamed,
subsequent decade(s). The punk aesthetic but it was there. Did they mean it, the anof the late 1970’s was ever evident in the ti-consumerist stance, the dislike of the art
1980’s. Mostly it was a sense of possibility, establishment? Who knows? In reality the
that you were not, as pre punk, restrained attack on Cork Street garnered all involved
by class, finances, accent, education. Bands, a great deal of free publicity; it was very
actors, writers, artists, with regional ac- Malcolm McLaren.
cents, and often strong attitudes, began to
gain traction, appear on TV, to set tastes. January 2022. So, the big question perhaps.
The establishment, in terms of old white The Grey Organisation at the Mayor galguys in boardrooms, were seen to be fight- lery. Is there a winner and a loser? Have
ing a rear guard action. The former punks the barbarians entered the city or have
of the 1976/77 era were now making deci- they sold out to the man? More paradox.
sions in record companies, fashion houses, Probably both, and neither. Both sides have
PR, publishing, and other media. Curious- moved on and things change, in many ways
ly they were also infiltrating trading floors, the characters are different people. There’s
hedge funds, and financial institutions, but a sentiment, always been strong in the UK,
it was, in reality, the same “can do” attitude that our former heroes are supposed to
that motivated. The GO were more second be locked forever in that certain moment
wave punks, those irritating more middle when we revered them. If they change in
class types who arrived late to the party any way, say by selling butter in TV ads,
es before pleading “not guilty” and being
freed without charge..... Details on the legal
and due process of the incident is sketchy,
the inference being that the establishment
moved against them from a sense of paranoia and a lack of a sense of humour.
La Soul’s genre defying Three Feet High
and Rising. The GO disbanded in 1991 and
members pursued solo projects. At the time
of writing original member Toby Mott is
curator, archivist, and de facto spokesperson for the former collective.
In the years that followed up until their cessation as an entity in 1991 the GO embraced
a diverse, and eclectic, set of projects. They
were picked up by PR supremo of the 1980’s
Lynne Franks, allegedly the inspiration for
the TV series Absolutely Fabulous. They
modelled for Katherine Hamnett and for
Yohji Yamamoto. They undertook work for
major brands such as Swatch and Brutus.
They designed artwork and t-shirt images for the Labour party. They were photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe and
appeared in the films of Derek Jarman. In
short they encapsulated that 1980’s spirit
of random and unusual collaborations in
the continuing spirit of punk. From a more
legitimate art perspective they were more
active in New York, possibly because the
UK art scene was bearing a grudge about
the grey paint, or possibly because the New
York art scene of the time was just more
maverick. In the USA they also worked on
music videos - then a relatively new thing
- and album/CD covers; most notable De
O
we feel cheated and disappointed; but why?
The Grey Organisation had their moment.
They did some good stuff, made some decent art, put on some cool events. Personally, I was a bit suspicious when they went
to the Zanzibar after the Cork Street attack,
but they certainly didn’t owe it to anyone to
head for Stepney or a lock in in Ladbroke
Grove. They did stuff. Real, tangible stuff.
Toby Mott still seems inspired by the creative process; he gets excited in interviews
talking about fanzines, that grassroots
thing again.
The Grey Organisation was, and is, a good
story. Psychic TV, Yohji Yamamoto, Lynne
Franks, De La Soul, Swatch and the Anarchist Street Army.... Who’s gonna arrange
the table settings? Contradictions and no
rules, we need more of that in this era of
non platforming and rigid woke adherence.
It was the 1980’s. Bleak but with alive with
possibilities. Black and white, but also DayGlo. Let me put it this way......
“It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was
the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of
belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of light, it was the season of
darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was
the winter of despair.”
Salvation/15
