Destroy! The influence of punk.

As a punk provocateur, design obsessive, and relentless shape-shifter, Spizz emerged from the chaos of late ’70s Britain with a DIY ethos and a sci-fi imagination that still defies categorization. He’s never fit the mold, not as a punk frontman, not as a designer, not even as a radio host.

In this episode, we trace his wild trajectory: from gatecrashing the Birmingham Punk Festival to supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees, from four ...

Jon Savage’s journey into the heart of youth culture began at Cambridge University, where he turned his back on a career in law to pursue his passion for music and cultural criticism. 

From his early days writing fanzines in the 1970s to his influential roles at Sounds and Melody Maker, Savage became a defining voice in the world of punk and beyond. 

His landmark book England’s Dreaming captured the essence of punk, which, for Savage...

Neville Brody was told at art school that he had “no commercial potential.” Instead of conforming, he built a career on defying expectations, reshaping graphic design, typography, and branding in the process.

“You can’t be radical in every situation, but you can bring radical thinking into a commercial framework.” (Neville Brody)

From pioneering font design to creating some of the most distinctive record sleeves of the 1980s, Brody’s...

Growing up in a small seaside town just north of Liverpool, artist Brendan Dawes was always determined to make something of himself. Leaving school at 16 with no formal qualifications, he found himself propelled forward by the rise of revolutionary computer technology and a passion for Acid House.

"The computer was like this amazing box where I could make creative things. I always wanted to make stuff in some form, back then it...

DJ, producer, musician, and founder of one of the most influential independent record labels, Daniel Miller began his journey in 1976, just as punk was shaking Britain to its core. Returning to London that spring, he threw himself into the movement, drawn to its urgency, rebellion, and creative freedom.

Hearing The Ramones’ debut on John Peel’s radio show was a revelation, and solidified his love for music that defied convention. A ...

In 1984, industrial music legends Cabaret Voltaire released Sensoria on the Some Bizarre record label, the first single from their sixth album, Micro-Phonies. The song mixed driving beats and multicultural rhythms over a winding soundtrack and a hypnotic vocal.

The Cabs, as they were known, never sought fame in the traditional sense; instead, they just thought it was important for you to listen. For them how things were presented wa...

There’s an urban myth that OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) were “discovered” by Lindsay Reade, the wife of Factory Records founder, Tony Wilson. 

As a local Manchester celebrity and TV presenter, Wilson was often inundated with cassette tapes from bands wanting to get on one of his shows. He kept them all in a shopping bag in his car and would often throw the rejections away, allegedly. 

As the story goes, Lindsay reached int...

The day Malcolm Garrett walked into Virgin Records in 1977 and bought Anarchy in the UK was a revelation. The Sex Pistols, and punk, were a modern manifestation of his Dadaist dream, and seeing them playing on TV that day changed his life. 

From that moment on he knew he was destined to bring his artistic vision to the masses and went on to create some of the most daring and original work for multiple punk, post-punk, new wave, and ...

Filmmaker and video director Peter Care has spent a lifetime reimagining his craft. In the early 1970s, inspired by documentary filmmakers such as Ken Loach and cinematic auteurs such as Kenneth Anger and Luis Buñuel, he started the Sheffield Independent Film Company, which grew to be the largest film production company outside of London. 

Seeing a live performance by industrial music artists, Cabaret Voltaire, changed his career tr...

At 17, inspired by the defiant spirit he saw in the various music magazines of the day, Anton Corbijn picked up his father’s camera and never looked back. By 1979, he was in London, capturing a photo of his beloved Joy Division at Lancaster Gate tube station. A year later, Ian Curtis’s death would transform the image into an icon, and cement Corbijn’s place in photography’s rock-n-roll hall of fame.

“ I like people finding my work s...

The work of acclaimed narrative designer and world visionary, Alex McDowell, has probably touched every corner of our lives. Beginning with an early career at street-style magazine i-D, he quickly moved on to music videos for Depeche Mode and Iggy Pop, record covers for Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as game design for the BBC, and continues to fall forward even today. 

The incident that started it all was when he put on one of ...

Stephen Mallinder has been pushing the boundaries of music since he cofounded Cabaret Voltaire in 1973, long before punk even opened the door. The band’s influence has reached far and wide since those early revolutionary days inspiring many of the music industry’s most creative artists, including, Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche Mode, and helping set up musical “signposts” for house music, techno, and hip-hop to follow. “We were influ...

Peter Saville is arguably one of the 20th century’s most important artists. Growing up in 70s Manchester, inspired by the influence of punk, Saville seized the opportunity to change the world. Cofounder of legendary Factory Records, his groundbreaking design work for New Order and Joy Division inspired generations and influenced culture for decades.

"I saw my work as signposts, where I thought things were going, my work was no...

On December 1st, 1976, the Sex Pistols appeared on English national television cursing and swearing obscenities. The “Bill Grundy incident,” riled a nation, incensed one man to destroy his TV, and inspired multiple generations of aspiring cultural revolutionaries to change the world.-

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