COVENTRY Music Museum curator Pete Chambers BEM writes for the Observer.
2-Tone Village number 7 in the world
Well all of us at the Coventry Music Museum are all very excited, having been named the seventh best Punk Rock Museum in the World by the influential US magazine SPIN.
The magazine is in its 38th year and know a thing or two about music of course.
The magazine says of the top ten – Punk’s not dead. But it has been around long enough to belong in a museum.
Which is why there’s big excitement about the opening this month in Las Vegas of the world’s first museum dedicated to the subculture.
Here are some of the best museums, galleries and other places across America, the UK and the globe where you can explore the history of punk from the 1970s to today.
So, let’s get in the van and (hey ho) let’s go.
They said of the Coventry Music Museum: “2-Tone Village at Coventry Music Museum (Coventry, England)
“Ska fan? Don’t miss this small but vibrant music museum in Coventry, a city in the West Midlands of England considered the birthplace of 2-Tone music.
“Step into the bedroom of a 1980s Rude Boy, which recreates the poster-plastered milieu of a teenaged fan of bands such as Coventry legends The Selecter or Madness and The English Beat.
“Guests can also sit in the actual 1961 Vauxhall Cresta auto that The Specials drove around in the music video for ‘Ghost Town’.
“While not exclusively a ska museum, the history of 2-Tone is fully presented in all its black-and-white glory in this hidden gem run by enthusiastic volunteers proud of their local scene.”
The full Top Ten was:
1. Punk Rock Museum (Las Vegas, USA)
2. Icelandic Punk Museum (Reykjavik, Iceland)
3. Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses at the Museum of Pop Culture (Seattle, USA)
4. Riot Grrl as Part of HerStory at the Smithsonian (Washington, DC, USA)
5. Ramones Museum (Berlin, Germany)
6. Sex Pistols Clothing at The V and A (London, England)
7. 2-Tone Village at Coventry Music Museum (Coventry, England)
8. Kurt’s MTV ‘Unplugged’ Guitar at Powerhouse Ultimo (Sydney, Australia)
9. Punk Museum of Finland (Helsinki, Finland)
10. Museum of Youth Culture (London, England)
Bye Bye Johnny
It is with massive sadness we said goodbye to one of our museum volunteers John McCann.
John was only with us for exactly 12 months, but in that short time he really made his mark.
Travelling all the way on public transport every Saturday from Stratford-Upon-Avon John was a delight to have around, his sardonic wit and intellectual capacity made for so many interesting conversations.
Most of those were about music, his knowledge of music was encyclopaedic (no wonder after once visiting his home, it looked like he owned almost every record or CD going).
He gave his precious time to us on a Saturday but was actually part of the management at Stratford’s incredible Tudor World that his sister Janet owns.
He was also a superb artist and musician an everyman.
I’m so glad I got to say goodbye as he came into consciousness, later that evening we heard he had lost his fight to cancer and he was now at peace.
There’s a chair in the museum where he always sat – I keep turning to it, just to see if John is back, God we are really gonna miss him.
