Jaz cover issue low res - Flipbook - Page 5
Sheila Rock
As soon as our public relations people
sent it out everyone from the BBC,
national newspapers, Reuters, radio, TV
and international media reacted. But
the BBFC were silent. I think that they
had assumed, that a 19-minute film by
an unknown indy filmmaker, would be
of zero interest instead it was poised to
become a major news story and then
they killed it.
8pm that evening the BBFC finally
issued a response saying that they hadn’t
banned Visions of Ecstasy, that they
had some concerns over the film and
were still considering it. They said I was
deliberately seeking publicity and that
they would make an announcement
when they had made a decision. That
was it, the story was dead. I had made
the error of not waiting until I had their
decision in writing. What they had said
to me verbally was irrelevant as I had no
proof. It was a valuable lesson.
What followed after that was a
protracted period of trying to get the
BBFC to commit to a date for the hearing.
This was difficult for several reasons, not
least that there were now a lot of people
involved including five members of the
VAC, the BBFC’s legal team which was
now headed up by heavy-weight lawyer
Richard du Cann QC, while our barrister
was the Human rights champion
Geoffrey Robertson who had been
assisting QC in the obscenity trial of OZ
magazine. A lot of people to coordinate
and the BBFC changed the hearing date
numerous times which made it difficult
to coordinate interest in the hearing.
I took advice from our PR people that
in order to generate press again we had
to have something, or more importantly,
someone to generate focus in what
was by now an old story. In the end we
targeted public figures like Tony Benn,
and the man who Margaret Thatcher
said was “probably the greatest English
judge of modern times”, Lord Denning.
Much to my amazement he talked to
us and although he wouldn’t comment
specifically on Visions of Ecstasy did
allow us to quote his view that as far as
he was concerned the law of blasphemy
was a dead letter.
So armed with some quotes from
important people, press interest slowly
began to pick up. The Independent
newspaper then ran a big profile piece
which in turn generated interest from
The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian,
and Michael Winner wrote a piece in
support of us for The Sunday Times. This
ensured that by the day of the hearing,
that all the main UK and international
media would cover it.
The hearing was like an informal,
surreal trial, both sides were represented
by barristers, the five members of
the VAC were the jury and I was
metaphorically in the dock. Alongside
me in support was Steven Severin who
had written the soundtrack, the ‘Beastie
Girls’, Louisa Downie and Elisha Scott,
most of the crew and friends. There was
animosity between James Ferman and
Robertson which I don’t think helped
my case particularly. Ferman though
made it plain that he hated the film and
then initiated an absurd discussion as to
whether or not Louisa had been wearing
underwear when she straddled the
Christ-like figure though she was in a full
length white habit the whole time so the
question was completely irrelevant (btw
the answer is no).
Later in the hearing a number of
witnesses were called to give opinions
in support of me and these included the
director Derek Jarman, the historian and
art critic Marina Warner, and amazingly,
the writer and playwright Fay Weldon
who was also a member of the VAC, so
her appearance was a real shocker. Yet
despite all of these and other witnesses
the VAC ruled against me by a vote of 3
to 2 with the result announced in January
by which time no one cared.
It’s difficult to convey just how
miserable the year (1990) following the
ban was. There was a serious recession
going on in the UK and most of the big
publishers I worked for were cutting
back. Separately, all the brouhaha around
Visions of Ecstasy had taken over my
life the previous year and naively I had
just assumed it would all come right
somehow. Previously, like a cat, I had
always survived whatever life threw at
me, but with Visions of Ecstasy these were
events I couldn’t control. I lost my flat and
a lot of stuff, which with hindsight was
through my own stupidity and hedonistic
lifestyle. My eye wasn’t so much off the
ball, it hadn’t even seen the ball.
I did though around this time start
going out with Eileen Daly who would
become my muse and with her help
and support I started to get back on my
feet. We found a flat in Soho (then my
spiritual home) and through a series of
epiphanies came to the realisation that
if I couldn’t make my own films then I
could at least release the films I liked.
From that realisation Redemption Films
evolved as an idea to become a reality.
Visions of Ecstasy though was far from
dead. Indeed, people say that God works
in mysterious ways and sure enough
within months of losing the case I was
contacted by the lawyer Mark Stephens,
then head of the law firm Stephens
Innocent and now partner at Howard
Kennedy, to see if I would be interested
in challenging the ban, the BBFC and
the UK government. This would mean
taking the case to the European Count
of Human Rights. What happened next
and the ongoing battles with the BBFC
would have a profound effect on my life,
Redemption and the path of censorship
in the UK which I will cover in issue 3 of
SALVATION.
The Past
as a Selfie
S
ound and Vision, Sheila Rock.
The title is important. It’s the
1980’s as she captured it on
film, to a debatable extent
her impression of what was
important to her, and those who commisioned. Now context is huge here. We
are dealing with a pre internet world,
where information of all types was
shared by traditional media. Dealing
with bands , fashion, style movements,
and popular culture media here means
“style magazines” - essentially a new
type of publication that I’d submit grew
out of the counterculture publications
of the 1960’s and the punk fanzines of
the 1970’s.
Foremost amongst these were
The Face, and I-D Magazine which
spawned a plethora of others. In many
ways directories, they were an essential source of information pertinent to
music, fashion, new tribes, and the personalities within those. To give a more
practical description - if you wanted to
know where the cool kids in Liverpool,
London, Birmingham, Manchester,
etc, hung out bar and club wise, what
they wore, and what bands they were
in, or followed, then you needed to buy
The Face or I-D. With an emphasis on
music/bands Sheila Rock was foremost
amongst The Face Photographers. As
you look at her photos you’ll do a lot of
“Oh she took that photo then”.
Fashion tribes ostensibly ended
around the same time that the internet
accelerated its ascent. Currently young
adults, 16 - 30 ish, in the main adopt an
outfit based on comfort and conformity.
Jeans, sportswear, hooded tops, trainers;
its a global ubiquitous uniform across
most of the globe, even those younger
or older wear the same uniform - with
minor differences. The bands these
people follow wear the same uniform.
The 1980’s was predominated by fashion subcultures. The decade contained,
to name a few, Teddy boys, punks, soul
boys, skinheads, rockabillys, Ska fans,
New romantics, fashion bikers, mods,
Taboo crowd, Goths, fetish types, Hip
Hop, post punk, Metalheads, Hair rockers. There were many more and they
usually had splinter groups and cross
pollinations too. Each of these groups
had their own fashion, haircuts, bands,
clubs, shops, designers, personalities,
diarists, spokespeople, and a variety of
hang outs, social mores, sexualities, and
- though vague - political allegiances
Sheila Rock’s photos do a pretty good
job of illustrating many of these fashion
gangs and - particularly - the bands
that provided the all important music
that filled dance floors and implanted
life lasting memories. When you look at
the photos, if you weren’t there or don’t
know that history, it’s a huge collection
of people with unusual clothes (ie no
hoodies, trackie bottoms, or trainers)
and weird haircuts. But scratch deeper,
listen to the music, research the names
and tribes, and you get a fabulous story
of the distillation of all that had come
before - since the post WW2 period -
and a blue print, like a slightly out of focus map, of what was to follow and who
was to make it happen and create its
soundtrack and visuals.
Criticisms. Most things are down to
personal taste and personal reasons.
Thus I’ll give a personal view which is
only that. For me there are a few big
ommisions - unless I somehow missed
them. Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren seem to be missing, as
does Leigh Bowery. Rap and hip hop
don’t get much mention. Adam photographed without the Ant(z)s. Kevin
Rowlands without Dexys. No Culture
Club and Boy George. Pete Burns in
Dead or Alive? That said it’s Sheila
Rock’s 80’s Sound and Vision, NOT
mine. It’s a lovely book. It provides numerous starting points for more research (where you will undoubtedly
find anyone the book has not included). It passes that litmus test for a review copy ..... shall I pass it to a friend
or am I going to keep it forever? I’m
gonna keep it forever and sometimes
when I have visitors I’m gonna use it
for reference ie ..... “Here’s a picture of
that wanker from Kensington market”.
Published by Francis Lincoln,
Hardback, 336 pages £32.00
- Dave Edmond
Salvation/3