4-Skins gig in Southall ends in 1981 riot
3 min read
In 1981, an Oi! skinhead gig at the Hambrough Tavern in the London district of Southall ended in a violent riot.
Nobody could claim it was a complete surprise but ever since skinheads have alleged they were unfairly targeted while local Asian youth say the gig was a deliberate provocation.
The 1981 Southall riot followed disturbances earlier that year in Brixton and occurred the night before all hell broke loose in Toxteth, Liverpool. From July into the middle of August, several British cities exploded into violent anger – but each riot had its own distinctive flavour.
It’s often been argued that Southall came closest to being a ‘race riot’ in the proper sense of the term. While other riots were fuelled as much by rising unemployment. But these days, I think we can be sophisticated enough to realise ALL the 1981 riots involved a combination of economic and social deprivation with institutional and widespread racism.
Southall was really the culmination of several factors. One was the infiltration of the skinhead scene by the racist extreme Right. No secret was made of the fact that groups like the National Front and the British Movement decided to target the skinhead scene for white working class recruits.
They hoped to replicate the success that the political Left had enjoyed with Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League – marrying music with politics very effectively. That is not to say that all skinheads were on the extreme Right – as they were not. And many bands within the so-called Oi! scene even sang anti-racist lyrics.
But…there had been racially motivated attacks by groups of skinheads and activity by the extreme Right caused intense anger within Asian British communities. In front of me at the moment is a 1981 copy of The Sun that includes an interview with a jobless skinhead explaining that Asians were targeted for beatings by him and his mates because they were perceived to be more meek than Afro-Caribbean youth. However, attitudes among Asian British youth were hardening rapidly.
In July 1981, the growing fury bubbled to the surface in Southall – which had already been the venue for a riot two years earlier against a National Front public meeting at the local town hall.
DISCOVER: Anti-Nazi League carnival in 1978
That 1979 riot resulted in the death of an Anti-Nazi League activist, Blair Peach – from a police truncheon.
The BBC documentary below gives an account of what happened that fateful night in Southall in 1981. For the headlining band, the 4-Skins, the riot was not good news. Air play was denied and record companies turned their backs.
The lyrics of the 4-Skins songs were predictably abrasive. Kicking people with Doc Martens boots features prominently. But there are also themes shared by a wide spectrum of bands at that time about life on the dole (being unemployed) and a general pessimism that hung in the air.
The 1981 Southall riot ended the Oi! scene and looking back, that year – or the year before even – was the high point of the skinhead sub-culture that had re-emerged in the late 70s after a mid-decade doldrums.
I’m keen to hear from any of you who were involved on any side back in those days and non-defamatory comments can be posted below. I’m even open to publishing entire blog posts from those who were witnesses to the 1981 Southall riot.
LoL There was no “infiltration” of the skinhead scene by racist extreme Right. The skinhead scene WAS the racist extreme right.
That was always my assumption at the time. But I’m assured by others that while there was a culture of violence among skins in the 1960s and early 70s, it wasn’t overtly neo-Nazi. That was more the late 1970s. And stuff I’ve now seen shows certain groups like the British Movement definitely adopted a strategy to enter the skinhead movement. But I hear what you’re saying – the surface impression in the late 70s in my youth was that all skins were fascists.
I have a bunch of photos of the aftermath of that 1981 riot, North Acton Station burned out etc. It was a major uprising of asian youth who had been radicalised by the death of Blair Peach and the events of to years earlier, plus the noises from Thatcher and Enoch Powell then an Ulster Unionist MP.
Ralph – Be lovely to see those photos! Have you shown them before? Couple of years ago, I met one of the female skinheads who was in the pub….that was an interesting encounter!! Do you have a blog or do you want to “guest” on here?
Are we talking about the same 4skins who’s lead singer (Gary Hitsckock) went on to form the Nazi terror group combat 18 and whose initial cadre of foot soldiers were all the skinheads who followed the band?
The same 4skins who swapped/used Skrewdriver members when in need of musicians or instruments?
The same 4 skins who played week in and week out with The Diehards and London Branch ,avowed right wingers who played on every Skrewdriver bill and who’s lyrics would leave no one in any doubt of their political leanings?
The same 4 skins who during live versions of their song “One Law For Them” added the delightful diity “B+++k barstards” after every chorus, as heard on live recordings of their gigs?
The same 4skins who’s lead singer Gary Hodges regularly attended covert London Blood and Honour concerts?
Some details there I didn’t know. Doesn’t surprise me. Thanks for the intel. And of course we remember certain journalists who were cheerleaders for all this stuff.