CS Knowledge Base

In the mid-1970s, Green Gartside studied fine art at Leeds Polytechnic.^[9] The punk rock group Sex Pistols 'Anarchy' tour, which included the Damned and the Heartbreakers, was launched at the Polytechnic on 6 December 1976. It inspired Gartside to form a band with his childhood friend Nial Jinks and fellow student Tom Morley.^[9]

Scritti Politti originally consisted of Gartside as the lead vocalist, Jinks as bass player, and Morley as drummer, with Matthew Kay as their manager who sometimes played the keyboard. Gartside and Jinks knew each other since being students at Croesyceiliog Grammar School in Cwmbran, South Wales. Gartside met Morley at Leeds Polytechnic. For their first public performance in 1976, supporting local Leeds punk group SOS, the group went under the name 'The Against'.

Upon finishing their studies, the group relocated to London's Camden Town around 1977, where they lived in a squat. The name Scritti Politti was chosen as a homage to the Italian Marxist writer and political theorist Antonio Gramsci.^[10] The correct spelling in Italian to refer to "Political Writings" would have produced Scritti Politici. Gartside changed it to Scritti Politti as he thought it sounded more rock and roll, like the Little Richard song "Tutti Frutti".^[11] Alongside other groups of what has been termed the DIY ethic or movement (notably The Desperate Bicycles and Steve Treatment, the latter being associated with Swell Maps), Scritti Politti released a DIY record titled "Skank Bloc Bologna" (a sort of ode to the traditionally leftist Italian city of Bologna) on their own St. Pancras label in 1978.^[9][12] Scritti Politti commonly added allusions to intellectual figures such as Karl Marx, Mikhail Bakunin, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Lacan in their songs.^[13]

"Skank Bloc Bologna" gained airplay on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, and the band were signed to Rough Trade under Geoff Travis in 1979, making them labelmates with the other Cardiff avant-garde band, Young Marble Giants.^[9] Scritti Politti released two EPs in 1979 with singles "Bibbly-O-Tek", "Doubt Beat", "OPEC/Immac" and "Hegemony".^[9] "Hegemony"—which Gartside eventually cited as being based on the old English folk song "Lemady"—led to more melodic songs such as "Confidence", which in turn hinted at the direction the band would take in the 1980s.

Gartside reduced the band to three pieces.^[9] It exhibited an explicit do-it-yourself attitude, which manifested itself in their hand-made record sleeves with detailed breakdowns of production costs, including addresses and phone numbers of record pressing plants, and their own Camden squat address for feedback. They produced a booklet called "How To Make A Record", which was given the catalogue number SCRIT 3, and aimed to be a guide to recording and releasing a record for aspiring indie artists, based on Scritti Politti's personal experience of putting out their first three singles independently.

Scritti Politti began planning their debut album in 1979, but the recording had to be delayed when Gartside collapsed after a gig supporting Gang of Four in Brighton in early 1980.^[14][15] Originally believed to be a heart attack, the cause of his collapse was eventually diagnosed as a panic attack, brought on by his chronic stage fright and his unhealthy lifestyle. Returning home to south Wales at his parents' insistence for a nine-month convalescence period, Gartside had plenty of time to think about the direction the band and where their music was going. During 1979, he had already become less interested in the independent music and punk scene and had started listening to and buying American funk and disco like Chic and the Jacksons, American soul like Aretha Franklin, and 1960s British beat music such as the Beatles' early records.^[16][17] Gartside came to the conclusion that making pop music did not require selling out punk's principles or dumbing down. He explained his reasons for abandoning the band's original "do-it-yourself" philosophy to Smash Hits in November 1981:

Scritti Politti entered the UK charts again in 1991 with their cover of the Beatles' "She's a Woman", which featured guest vocals from Shabba Ranks and a remix version by William Orbit.^[9] It became Scritti Politti's final UK top 20 single, peaking at No. 20.^[21] This was swiftly followed by the release of "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me"', a cover of the Gladys Knight song, featuring guest vocals from Sweetie Irie, which failed to chart inside the top 40. The same year, Gartside also worked with B.E.F. as a guest vocalist for their cover of "I Don't Know Why I Love You" for the album Music of Quality and Distinction, Volume 2. However, a new Scritti Politti album never materialised, with Gartside deciding on another hiatus.^[25]

The hip-hop inspired album Anomie and Bonhomie was released in 1999, and involved even more session artists.^[9] The now bearded Gartside dived directly into the now commercially accessible hip hop scene, borrowing tradesmen of the genre such as Mos Def and Jimahl amongst others.^[6] While considered by many critics to be a return to form,^[6] the album was not as commercially successful as their previous output, reaching only No. 33 on the UK Albums Chart.^[21]

In 2003, Gartside appeared on Kylie Minogue's album Body Language, duetting on the Emiliana Torrini co-write "Someday".

In February 2005, Rough Trade released Early, a compilation album of Scritti Politti's earliest recordings.^[6]

In early January 2006, Gartside and a new incarnation of Scritti Politti, billed as 'Double G and the Traitorous 3', played a show in Brixton. This was Gartside's first live appearance since 1980. This band, including journalist/musician Rhodri Marsden on keyboards, Dicky Moore on guitar and Ralph Phillips on drums, played a number of concerts previewing a new album, White Bread, Black Beer, which was released on Rough Trade on 29 May 2006. Later that year, White Bread, Black Beer was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.^[26]

The current line-up toured worldwide (under the Scritti Politti name) on the back of the album's success, embarked on their first-ever North American tour in October 2006^[27] and completed a UK tour in November 2006. They appeared at the Bestival music festival in September 2006, and at Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. On 19 December, they played a short set at the Rough Trade Christmas party in London.

In 2007, Gartside worked on an album with Alexis Taylor, the singer with Hot Chip. The pair met at the Mercury Music Prize ceremony, and played a concert supporting Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid at KOKO in London in March 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Gartside joined 'Way to Blue: The Songs of Nick Drake', a 2008 UK and Australian tour featuring interpretations of Nick Drake's songs by amongst others, Robyn Hitchcock, Lisa Hannigan and Teddy Thompson. A subsequent live 15-track CD was released, including Gartside's version of Drake's "Fruit Tree" which he also performed at The Barbican, London.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, Gartside participated in 'Very Cellular Songs', a concert at The Barbican celebrating the music of the Incredible String Band.^{[citation needed]}

On 28 February 2011, Absolute, a compilation of singles and album tracks was released, with two new tracks both written with David Gamson: "Day Late and a Dollar Short" and "A Place We Both Belong". Gamson played a part in the recording of both Cupid & Psyche 85 and Provision. The album was voted "Best New Reissue" by Pitchfork on 10 March 2011.^[28]

The Tracey Thorn Christmas album Tinsel and Lights, released in October 2012, featured a duet with Gartside and a cover of the song "Snow in Sun" from White Bread, Black Beer.^[29]

Gartside has also collaborated with fellow Welshmen, the Manic Street Preachers. In addition to Gartside contributing lead vocals to the track "Between the Clock and the Bed" on the Manics' Futurology album (2014), Scritti Politti was the support act for three of the Manics' live shows in April 2014.

In 2020, Gartside released a solo single under his own name. This release on Rough Trade records featured covers of "Tangled Man" and "Wishing Well"^[30] as originally recorded by folk singer Anne Briggs.

Rough Trade also picked up the rights to the band's Virgin/Warner US albums with Cupid & Psyche 85, Provision and Anomie & Bonhomie due to be re-issued on CD and vinyl by the indie label on 30 July 2021, with a re-issue of Provision delayed until later in the year.^[31]