Some bands are better than others in a world that judges your T-shirt, says Mark Smith

So I was off to the Barras for a gig on Thursday and got the usual thrills. What is it about that sign, those letters in the sky, that red swoop in the dark? It probably has something to do with the fact the greatest gigs I’ve ever seen have all been in the Barras and I say to the owners: do not change a thing – not the décor, not the bouncy floor, not the bar, especially not the bar, because you’re messing with my memories.

Anyway, I get in through the bag search (the man looks suspiciously at my pills – prescription! I say) and we do what everyone does first, we go to the merchandise stall and check out the Ts. In recent years, because I’m old and tight-fisted, the cost of gig merchandise has put me off, but tonight it’s £25 for a T-shirt which isn’t bad, so we go for the black one with a message in big white capitals across the front: “we don’t need this fascist grove thang”.

If you know your 80s synth, you’ll know now which band we were at the Barras to see: Heaven 17. And if you know your 80s synth, you’ll also know that one of its members, Martyn Ware, was originally in The Human League but there was a falling out and he formed Heaven 17 and they went on to release lots of singles that have become well-known and well-loved. Temptation was the biggest (higher and higher! temptation!) but there was also Crushed By The Wheels of Industry, Play to Win and of course (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang.

One of the interesting things about Fascist Groove Thang is it belongs to that treasured list of songs that were banned by the BBC, in this case because they were worried it libelled Ronald Reagan: “Democrats are out of power/Across that great wide ocean/Reagan’s president elect/Fascist God in motion”.........

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