19 Facts About Crass

Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement.

Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism, anti-fascism, and environmentalism.

Crass spray-painted stencilled graffiti messages in the London Underground system and on advertising billboards, coordinated squats and organised political action.

Crass played two gigs at the Roxy Club in Covent Garden, London.

Crass countered that their uniform appearance was intended to be a statement against the "cult of personality", so no member would be identified as the "leader".

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Crass afterwards argued that the leftists were largely to blame for the fighting, and organizations such as Rock Against Racism were causing audiences to become polarised into left- and right-wing factions.

Crass tricked the magazine into offering the disc, posing as "Creative Recording And Sound Services".

In 1983 and 1984, Crass were part of the Stop the City actions co-ordinated by London Greenpeace which foreshadowed the anti-globalisation rallies of the early 21st century.

The tape was constructed by Crass from edited recordings of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Crass Records was closed down in 1992 - its final release was Christ's Reality Asylum, a 90-minute cassette of Penny Rimbaud reading the essay he had written in early 1977 that gave him the impetus to form Crass.

In October 2003 the Crass Collective changed their name to Crass Agenda, with Rimbaud, Libertine and Vaucher working with Matt Black of Coldcut and jazz musicians such as Julian Siegel and Kate Shortt.

In 2004 Crass Agenda spearheaded a campaign to save the Vortex Jazz Club in Stoke Newington, north London .

In June 2005 Crass Agenda was declared to be "no more", changing its name to the "more pertinent" Last Amendment.

On 24 and 25 November 2007, Steve Ignorant performed Crass' The Feeding of the 5000 album live at the Shepherd's Bush Empire with a band of "selected guests".

Stations of the Crass followed in October, with new editions of Penis Envy, Christ – The Album, Yes Sir, I Will and Ten Notes on a Summer's Day released in 2011 and 2012.

In June 2016, "The Art of Crass" was the subject of an exhibition at the LightBox Gallery in Leicester curated by artist and technologist Sean Clark.

Rimbaud the initial inspiration for founding Crass was the death of his friend Phil 'Wally Hope' Russell, as detailed in his book The Last of the Hippies: An Hysterical Romance.

Crass have said that their musical influences were seldom drawn from rock, but more from classical music, free jazz, European atonality, and avant-garde composers such as John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Crass influenced the anarchist movement in the UK, the US and beyond.