We Can Be Heroes
London's New Romantics documented by Graham Smith
YOUTH CLUB / PYMCA
c. 1979-1981
It was about rebellion, creativity, originality, being yourself and having a damn good time doing it. - Graham Smith
These pictures, taken from Graham Smith's book We Can Be Heroes: London Clubland 1976–84, chart the rise of London’s club scene from punk in the late 1970s to the New Romantics in the 1980s, as seen from an insider’s point of view.Smith chronicled these captivating times and characters in his unofficial role as house photographer of the London clubs. Designing the record sleeves of many of the scene’s key members, Smith was at the heart of this vibrant creative community, which transformed London nightlife and launched faces like Boy George, Spandau Ballet, Sade and Stephen Jones.Here Graham talks about his time at the heart of New Romanticism. For more images from the YOUTH CLUB archive, see their current book Street Style.
Punk, that only a year earlier had ignited my life, was dead as far as I was concerned, and now, aged 18, I was hunting to fill the void. I entered a grotty Soho subterranean dive bar named Billy’s. A camp Welsh cossack posed by the entrance as the electronic beats of Kraftwerk pounded from the speakers, sounding like the future had arrived early. Several androgynous couples danced a robotic jive, looking like replicant toy soldiers. I thought I saw Marilyn Monroe flirting with a dapper Bryan Ferry in his '40s GI look. I know I saw someone wearing an iron as a hat. But where had this strange new breed come from? And how had everyone found this dingy den of iniquity? The look was retro but it definitely felt like tomorrow. So the following week I went back…
The press dubbed us the New Romantics, but we paid no attention. We were too busy enjoying ourselves. We became a gang that made clubs our lifestyle: Billy’s, the Blitz, Le Beat Route, the Mud Club, the Wag and the Dirt Box. Nightclubbing was our fuel, family and an after-dark gateway to fulfill ambitions. We were narcissistic and hedonistic, but more importantly we inspired each other to push boundaries. It was about rebellion, creativity, originality and being yourself outside normal and straight society.
Everyone was a cog in this stylishly bizarre, wobbling wheel, rolling into uncharted territories. - Graham Smith
The collective strength of this gang gave individuals more confidence, and this energy affected almost everyone who entered these clubs. At the time no one had any money, but because we were naive and innocent, we didn’t hold back and weren’t afraid of failure. Everyone had a role to play; everyone was a cog in this stylishly bizarre, wobbling wheel, rolling into uncharted territories. This may sound pretentious; that’s because we were, some more than others. But together we felt a power to achieve things, bolstered by the headlong energy of youth.
