The Damned at Brockwell Park

The Damned at Brockwell Park, 4 August 1984

During the early 1980s, the Thatcher Government was unable to gain control of the Greater London Council (GLC) - the people of London insisted on electing Labour's "Red Ken" Livingstone - so Thatcher decided to abolish it. The GLC and Londoners campaigned against abolition, but eventually it was closed down. In it's dying weeks, a series of free events were arranged. On 4 August a massive festival was held in Brockwell Park, Brixton - featuring The Damned, Spear of Destiny, The Fall, Benjamin Zephaniah, Strawberry Switchblade and others.

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The 1980s and 90s in the UK were the time of Thatcher, mass unemployment, the Printers and Miners Strikes, and Poll Tax Rebellion.

Culturally, supported by a benefits system that allowed creative talent to bloom (and cheap transport), there was an explosion of music, alternative comedy, cooperatives and community theatre.

Campaigns around the Miners Strike and the opposition to the Poll Tax in particular drove a spirit of solidarity and class consciousness throughout communities across the country.

Concurrently, new technologies, for example the launch of the first AppleMac, with its 6 inch screen and Pagemaker software, enabled a new method of design in posters and campaigning posters burgeoned.

We have reproduced some of those posters - posters we saw on many peoples' walls at the time.