French Rock

When I was a young kid in the 1970's it was the perceived wisdom in the British music press (when mentioned at all) that "the French could not do Rock", however I knew different. There were two groovy little record shops in Oxford: one was Sunshine Records at the bottom corner of Little Clarendon Street, which sold US and European imports, and next to The Stooges, The New York Dolls and early Alice cooper were "Take It Or Leave It" and "Moroccan Roll" by Les Variations and "Polnarevolution" by Michel Polnareff, all of which looked and sounded exciting enough, to prise my hard earned Saturday job wages out of my hands, the other was Garron Records in the Covered Market which sold Classical Records and European imports like the great Amon Duul II (German), Ange (French) and again Les Variations. One might have passed these by, if it were not for Ange appearing on stage in front of me one night at The Marquee Club in London, with one of the most bizarre acts ever (even for the 70's) and monthly music magazines like Circus and Music Scene, that covered both Les Variations and Polnareff, and created (in me at least) a burning desire to find and possess these exotic Rock'n'Roll artefact's, and following "Rule of Rock #1: If there is one group famous enough to have a record on a proper label, then there are another million somewhere else out there", it was just a question of finding them (a task that is quite hard even today in British record shops!). Then later in the dark days of the pre-punk mid 70's, the only lifeline to real Rock'n'Roll was via Bizarre Records, a shop run in an upstairs room in Paddington, that sold Velvets and Stooges imports from Skydog in Paris, along with pre-punk bands like The Count Bishops etc. So there was my "French Rock Bermuda Triangle", and the beginning of a lifetime search for "lost gems", a task made slightly easier now, with the "Power of The Web"!

This French Rock Social Website is the start of an attempt to gather as much historical information, articles, videos etc, together in one place, via links to the scattered and hidden material out there as well as keep up to date with what's happening now, hopefully with your help. So join in, grab your own page, they're free and very easy to set up, share your favourites, promote yourself, and Let's Rock!

French Rock

27 August 2009

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