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basis of discourse formation resonated with other attempts to come
to terms with an increasingly disorganized and complex world. In
Britain, for example, the period saw increasing industrial unrest,
soaring unemployment and inflation, and the seeming collapse of
much of the country's social fabric, most famously the miners' strike
of
, which coincided with the Arab oil embargo imposed as
a result of the Arab-Israeli War. This necessitated the introduction
of a three-day working week in the factories and saw a country
periodically reduced to candlelight. The then prime minister, the
Conservative Edward Heath, called an election in
1973
-
4
, to force the
issue of the unions' power, which he lost to socialist Harold Wilson.
Wilson's government, and that of James Callaghan who took over
the premiership two years later, though more conciliatory to the
unions, fared little better than that of Heath. The discontent gener-
ated by this unhappy set of circumstances would lead eventually
to a vote of no confidence in Callaghan's government, and the sub-
sequent election of a Conservative government under the leadership
of Margaret Thatcher.
It was in these circumstances that Punk emerged, bringing
together a heterogenous mixture of avant-garde art practice, pop
music history and proto-deconstructivist style. Punk was a fully
articulated subculture, with a distinctive visual style involving a
bricolage of elements such as fetish clothing, teddy boy gear, ripped
and torn items and, unfortunately, Nazi uniforms (though these
were eschewed fairly early on). It also developed, partly through
necessity, a distinctive graphic design style, which found expression
in record sleeves, publicity and in 'zines, the xeroxed and collaged
publications which were one of the most distinctive developments
to come out of Punk. The most famous 'zine, 'Sniffin' Glue' (illus.
45
1974
),
49
edited by Mark Perry, was exemplary in its use of roughly
put together found material and hand-written /drawn graphics.
Jamie Reid's graphics for the Sex Pistols' record covers and publi-
city material employed similar techniques to great effect.
50
His
