JOHN COOPER CLARKE is an English performance poet from Salford, Greater Manchester; he is often described as a punk poet, having initially achieved recognition in the late 1970s during the flourishing punk movement.
His recorded output has mainly centred around musical backing from The Invisible Girls, which featured Martin Hannett, Pete Shelley, Bill Nelson, Paul Burgess and Steve Hopkins. ‘Ten Years In An Open-Necked Shirt’ remains his most popular and successful published work.
Clarke has opened for such acts as the Sex Pistols, The Fall, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello, and New Order (on the occasion of their May, 1984 Music for Miners benefit concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall). His set was, and still is on occasion, characterized by lively, rapid-fire renditions of his poems, which were usually performed a cappella. He opened for Be-Bop Deluxe on their 1977 U.K. tour and later for Rockpile on their 1979 U.S. tour. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Clarke enjoyed some chart success in the UK with the single “Gimmix! Play Loud”, and subsequent album Snap, Crackle & Bop. In 1979 he applied to join actors’ union Equity, but as there was already a member named John Cooper Clarke, he joined under the name Lenny Siberia.
Often referred to as “the bard of Salford”, he usually refers to himself on stage as “Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle”. Having released a handful of records into the early 1980s, Clarke performed his live act less frequently, and spent much of that decade battling a heroin addiction. He made an appearance in two UK adverts for Sugar Puffs in 1988, taking second billing to the Honey Monster. More recently, Clarke has turned some of his stage act away from an emphasis on performance poetry and towards more of a stand-up-oriented affair, but poetry is still very much a key part of his performance. He also supported Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros. He can often be seen supporting The Fall on British tours or performing as a headlining act in his own right. He also duetted with a poem entitled Last Resort with Reverend Jon McClure at a Reverend and the Makers concert at London’s Spread Eagle, which Later was released as the b-side for the band’s single “Heavyweight Champion of the World”. Clarke also recorded a song with the band entitled “Dead Man’s Shoes”. Clarke’s recording of “Evidently Chickentown” from his album Snap, Crackle & Bop was also featured prominently in the closing scene of the The Sopranos episode Stage 5. A live performance of the same poem appears in the film Control with Clarke portraying himself in a re-creation of a 1977 concert where he supported Joy Division, despite having aged 30 years since the events depicted in the movie. Clarke had a “domestic partnership” with singer Nico in the 1980s.
Clarke appeared in a 1982 music documentary compilation Urgh! A Music War, where he performed his poem “Health Fanatic”. The film featured live performances of main-stream artists (The Police, The Go-Go’s, Pere Ubu, XTC, Devo) as well as more obscure bands (The Alley Cats, Invisible Sex, Athletico Spizz ‘80, Chelsea) using concert footage from around the world. For many people, this was their first introduction to the works of John Cooper Clarke. He also starred in another 1982 film titled Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt, produced for the Arts Council of Great Britain and Channel 4. Somewhere between a narrative film, a series of music videos, and a documentary, the film features interviews and performances by the poet.
His poem “Out of Control Fairground” was printed inside Arctic Monkeys single “Fluorescent Adolescent” CD, which was released on 9 July 2007. The poem is also the inspiration behind the single’s video in which clowns brawl. Another poem was printed inside the 10” release of the same single. Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys has said he is very fond of Cooper-Clarke’s work and takes inspiration for lyrics from his poems. A version of his poem “Evidently Chickentown” is performed at the start and end of the video for Joy Division’s “Transmission” single which shows John Cooper Clarke reading the refrain and third verse from the poem whilst coming down escalators and then walking in the Manchester Arndale Centre.
FRANK SIDEBOTTOM Well where shall I start… Frank’s first appearance on record was an interview on a promotional 12” record for a computer game thingy called ‘The Biz’ on the ace ZX Spectrum! this interview also appeared on the game cassette. This had an effect on Frank and it then became Frank’s ambition to become a superstar and appear on Top Of The Pop’s… I think!
Frank recorded a promotional cassette of some of his favorite songs, but he had to be careful not to let his mum find out so he started to convert his shed into his showbiz HQ. When the people at EMI listened to the tape they decided to give Frank his own label called Regal Zonophone to release his fantastic records on. The first was a re-recorded version of his Franks Firm Favorites promo cassette and it was renamed Frank Sidebottom sings Franks Firm Favorites EP. This was followed by various showbiz gig’s and radio appearances. In December of 1985 Frank’s second single called Oh Bilmey It’s Christmas hit the shops it had a picture of Frank and Frank’s new friend Little Frank on the cover and came in 7” and 12” versions which was fantastic and included cover versions and some songs written by Frank. More dates were planned and Frank was becoming a Superstar around Timperley where he lives and still his mum knew nothing of his double life! At this point Frank also started his fan club which was to become the best most tops fan club ever to come from Timperley. Frank and his band recorded his last single for Regal Zonophone in July 1986 which was his Sci-Fi EP which again had loads of tracks on it and came out on 3 formats this time including a shaped picture disc, which had a picture of Frank and Little Frank dressed as Batman and Robin and Frank also designed the covers for the 7” and 12”.
The single failed to make the top 40 but only just! (well maybe not) But Frank was well on the way to becoming a showbiz legend. Frank had to leave Regal as some of the other artist’s complained that….. .... Frank was getting all the superstar treatment and it was not fair!
So Frank joined In-Tape a local Manchester label so it was easier for him to get out to meetings and back home without his mum getting suspicious. The first release from this new deal was Christmas Is Really Fantastic and followed by a Freddie Mercury EP and finally the Timperley EP.This also helped Frank get on to various children’s TV programmes and to secure a deal to write for the brilliant Oink comic. Frank also became a writer for Rodney Rodney a football fanzine, which was another of Frank’s big loves, with Altrincham FC being his main team. From his shed (his showbiz HQ) Frank also recorded Radio Timperley and Frank’s World which usually went out on Manchester’s Picadilly Radio! Later in 1987 Frank setup his own record label Sidetrack which managed one release by Billy and Barry Belly. One year later Frank released his first LP 5.9.88 and this was followed one year later by 13.9.88. Things were going well for frank and without letting his mum know anything about his showbiz stuff, frank signed up to do a TV show for yorkshire TV. A pilot episode was filmed and a six part series was put in to production. The TV show did well and was very funny but some bad scheduling resulted in some bad figures so the show never managed a second series. Things progressed well for frank with some more singles and long players but in the end franks mum decided it was time to get himself a job so she managed to get frank full-time work at Hot! the people who made bob the builder and pingu! This worked well for frank as he loved playing. It was in 2004 that Frank started to get the showbiz bug again and so he started to do the odd gig and then dropped the bombshell to Hot! that he was leaving how would they cope without him but they let him go anyway and that’s how frank has returned to showbiz. We have re-launched sidetrack and setup not only this site but franks own (franksworld) and there is one for little frank as well! With new releases planned and tours, frank is back on the scene and ready to take the world by storm! (that’s if his mum lets him!)
