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Eddy Grant: A Reggae Popster Makes His Own Breaks

Carol Cooper, Musician, June 1983

REMEMBER D.I.Y.? Remember all those fierce and earnest punk rockers who vowed to bypass the corporate monopoly and conquer the rapidly devolving Western world? It was an admirable ethos, and one still feebly clung to by such diehards as the Clash and Scritti Politti in the wake of neo-corporate new wavers. But for most, the battle for independent ways and means has ended in petty squabbles and failure: X-Ray Spex is gone, the Sex Pistols are gone, the 2-Tone vanguard is broken, and Rough Trade, the musicians' collective that sustained the D.I.Y. dream by providing alternative distribution, is in all but terminal decline.

Total word count of piece: 3025

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