"The Bromley Contingent" the first ladies and men of punk

[snowqueen]

The Bromley Contingent were a group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols. They owed their name to Bromley, the neighbourhood in London where some of them lived. They helped popularize the fashion of the early UK punk movement

The group included Siouxsie Sioux, Jordan, Simon 'Boy' Barker, Debbie Juvenile (née Wilson), Linda Ashby, Philip Salon, Simone Thomas, Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall, Tracie O'Keefe, Steve Severin, Tony James, Billy Idol and Sharon Hayman. Soo Catwoman was also associated with the Bromley Contingent, although she does not consider herself to have been a member[1].

The Bromley Contingent attained a degree of notoriety when Sioux, Severin, Thomas and Barker appeared on ITV with the Sex Pistols to be interviewed by television journalist Bill Grundy in December 1976. Goaded by Grundy, Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones used the word "****" on Thames Television's early evening television programme Today, as well as calling Grundy a "****ing rotter" after the interviewer made a rather inept attempt at "chatting up" Siouxsie. Although the programme was only seen in the Thames Television region, the ensuing furore occupied the tabloid newspapers for days and shortly after The Sex Pistols were dropped by their record label, EMI.

Many of the Bromley Contingent went on to form bands themselves including Siouxsie & the Banshees and Generation X. Arguably they had greater influence than Malcolm McLaren's shops and Vivienne Westwood's designs in shaping the development and look of the early UK punk movement. The fashion statements made by Siouxsie Sioux, in particular, incorporating fetish and bondage clothing, and her innovative style of makeup, continue to live on in punk and goth fashion.

defantly fashion icons of there time with their outrageous (for the time) clothes and style

B)

 

[snowqueen]

In the picture are Debbie Juvenile, Siouxsie, Steve Severin , Linda Ashby, Soo Catwoman, Steve Barker &, Sharon .

Says Johnny Rotten in his biography commenting on the fashion element. "At first it was just the boys.. (but) slowly... it came together. The first girls to join in was the Bromley Contingent, Siouxsie &The Banshees and people like that. They joined in for a more fashionable reason. They were into the Roxy Music look of sophisticated elegance. Eventually they got bored with that ,so they started to rip their fishnets and wear plastic bin liners. They got their name from Bromley, a suburb of south London. After a pistols concert, they'd invited all of us over to their house for a party...(Siouxsie was topless, knickerless, and wearing tights, stilettos and an apron while carrying a whip !!!... Punk77) We discussed how this whole thing should be approached, and what we should be thinking about...we were definitely pointing the direction."

 

[snowqueen]

Original Sex boutique assistant and yet another style guru. Jordan became one of the most outrageous and sussed Punkettes on the London Scene.

from punk 77 and flickr

 

[snowqueen]

Adam Ant and Jordan attending the premiere of Saturday Night Fever.

punk turns 30

 

[jeansandtshirt]

"Linda! Linda!" (sorry, having Sid and Nancy scenes going through my head)

Thank you for the pics. I really love images from that era. Had to have been an interesting time.

 

[justaguy]

What a nice surprise finding this thread! Was a huge fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees from the beginning and remember reading about this "the Bromley Contingent" group of fans that followed the Pistols from gig to gig. Was so fascinated and really developed my interest in England and their music scene from that era.