Example of two creative practitioners from an art form who have been significant

I have chosen to write about 'Johnny Rotten and his band 'The Sex Pistols' as they intorduced the anarchy / rebelious attitude into the uk, but it was Johnny that made the biggest and most well know event occour, that event was when he swore on national televison, it was at this point the general public and the bands fans / audience realised how rebelious both the band could be and also themselves.

The Sex pistols started out as a punk / rock band in the late 1970s and it was all going well for them, they were a new fresh band, who gained alot of publicity, but this was not through doing their music, or even acting, or singing, it was htrough a simple, and short interview that really set the ball rolling for the band, and made a significant change in the music industry from then on.

It was when the Sex Pistols were interviewed by Bill Grundy on the Today Show (ITV Network), on December 1st 1976, at 6:15 pm. Back in the 1970s no one was of course seen to sware or curse on national televison, especially not before after 10pm. But this is where Johny rotten slipped up, and said a rude gesture during the interview about his band. The simple word that was spoken out by Johnny was the simple yet offensive word of 'shit', and that was enough to set the band in stone, so to speak.

Overall it is this kind of thing back in the 1970s which made the music industry what it is today, and without the sex pistols rebelious behaviour I strongly believe that the way in which many other practitoners voice their own opinions on television and also the way in which they perform their music has changed, and by changed I mean that they show their true colours by not worrying who likes them and who dosent but they act,sing,dance, perfrom etc how they want to and because of the sex pistols the art form of music has significantly been changed for the better.

Here is the video of the interview I have spoken about:

I have decided to write about the well known album cover for the band Clash. The album photo was taken by Pennie Smith in 1979, and is the image that is used for the bands album 'London calling'.

The Clash - photograph by Pennie SmithTaken at the New York Palladium, september 21st, 1979.

After the photo was taken Pennie was interviewed and this is what she had to say about the event:

"I remember thinking something was wrong, realising Paul was going to crack - and waited. The shot is out of focus because I ducked - he was closer than it looks" Pennie Smith

This was a significant photo for both Pennie and also the fans of the badn 'The Clash'. This photo really opened the publics eyes to what the bands persona actually was at that time. This also opend the gate for other bands, which meant that many other bands began to inject their full persona into the live music gigs / concerts.

Pennie smith can also see this event as the most significant moment in her photography carrer, because this photo was her most famous. The Clash's Paul Simonon smashing his guitar on stage was seen as an outrageous act, which gave rock / punk music a whole new level, which meant that it was definatly a significant photo for pennie smith to take.

Pennie smith followed The Clash throughout their music carrer. I have looked through the book: 'The Clash - Before & After' which has photos from Pennie Smith within it, including the iconic guitar smash photo which I have explained about above.

Here is the direct quote taken from the front of the Clash book:

"The whole thing started with me being sent to photograph The Clash for a newspaper article, at the fated Royal College Art gig.

Shortly after this I recieved a phone call (reversed, from a call box) from their then manager Bernie Rhodes, asking when I wanted to do the photos.

This is no cheap trick, I thought.

I was interested.

Next tour round I was aksed to do some pictures for a Lester

Bangs feature in the N.M.E, and so it went on.

Several tours (and many miles of film) Later, I thought of

doing a book. Peter Hogan Eel Pie range me up..."Do you

want to do a book on The Clash?"

Here it is.

I can only add that being on the road with the Clash is

Like a commando raid performed by The Bash Street Kids.

I hope this book gives you a bit of that feeling."

This quote is from Pennie Smith (The photograher for The Clash, and the autor of the book 'The Clash - Before & After')

Here are some images I took of the book:

Overall Pennie Smith / The clash are both very significant artists who have both together crafted a certain edge on both the photography world and the british punk music genre as a whole, due to this significant image.