Viv Albertine is a mother, cancer survivor, punk queen, guitarist and now author. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (the title originating from her mother’s saying about her main interests) is a documentation of Albertine’s life, from punk to housewife. It has been pinned as a sort off ‘kiss and tell’ story, but it isn’t; it is feminism, strength, music and insecurity rolled into one.
Albertine came to represent female empowerment and strength when she joined The Slits, the all-female punk group that revolutionised the punk scene for women. She mentions how her father replied to her voicing her aspirations of becoming a pop singer with “You’re not chic enough,” and this was the theme of the time. Women were put down and repressed by men, not just in music but in life. They were expected to get married and be consigned to house duties, but Albertine didn’t follow this path. The album cover of The Slits’ first album ‘Cut’ epitomises fearlessness and strength naked and caked in mud.
The memoir depicts the struggle for the Slits in being accepted into the mainstream, and the trials they faced due to their gender. Albertine states that men “didn’t know whether to kill us or fuck us,” and the number of times Ari Up, the teenage lead singer, was beaten up by men was shockingly frequent. The book mentions her being knifed twice, once in the behind. On another occasion, and one that Albertine narrowly missed, Ari was offered a lift by two men and then raped. Women being in the punk scene were not even seen as being possible. Albertine herself speaks of constantly avoiding advances and attacks from skinheads and men in the street and clubs. When in The Slits, Albertine states that her vision was to have “boys to come and see us play and think I want to be part of that. Not they’re pretty or I want to fuck them but I want to be in that gang, in that band.” It wasn’t until the mid 70s that Albertine decided she wanted to and could be in a band, buying her first guitar from the money her grandma left her, and embarking on actually learning to play. Keith Levene was her tutor, and in terms of guitar ability she prematurely set up the band ‘Flowers of Romance’ with Sid Vicious.
Albertine was very much involved in the 70s London scene: she was the girlfriend of Mick Jones, lead singer of The Clash, friends with Sid Vicious and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and shopped at Vivienne Westwood’s shop ‘Sex’. The clothes she describes as typical also show the changing society for women; black leather jeans, rubber stockings, pink patent boots, tits t-shirts, studded belts, leather mini skirts etc. She that clothes are not so trivial; they can show empowerment and rebellion against female conventions, as hers often did.
When The Slits finished, Albertine found herself at a loss of what to do. She entered film school and became involved in the film business before meeting whom she refers to as ‘Biker;’ when he becomes her husband, she then refers to him ‘Husband’. She went through a term of IVF treatment after not being able to conceive naturally. For years she self-injected more and more drugs, wanting to be a mother and finding herself becoming more and more weakened. However, in the true style of The Slits she never gave up and eventually fell pregnant. Following convention, Albertine choose marriage and motherhood over a career and after battling cancer. She moved to Hastings and entered a period of being a ‘Hastings Housewife’. Though initially agreeable she soon began to loath the nothingness. Her husband ridiculed and trivialised the naked female form ceramic pot she made and she is reminded of the oppressiveness and how it is still happening to her: “It’s just like the fifties. If you are a full-time mother without a private income, you’re a chattel, a dependent.” It takes a few phone calls from filmmaker Vincent Gallo to propel her into herself again, and she left the marriage and picked up a guitar again.
Albertine’s memoir slashes preconceived punk notions, just like she did back in the 70’s. Witty, feminine and filled with British music royalty, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys is about overcoming adversity and always trying to find that happy place.
Words by Daisy Lester