Sometimes strange things happen. To this day I don’t know how a certain single ended up in my record collection. At some point she was just there. Without label and case. Just the plate. A split-7” from 1980. On the one hand Crass with “Bloody Revolutions”, on the other hand a band I didn’t know before called Poison Girls with “Persons Unknown”. The Crass song is a six-minute swan song to political revolution and a typical Crass statement against violence. Basically, the band is paraphrasing a quote from George Orwell: “You don’t establish a dictatorship to secure a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.”
Deep, raw, androgynous and haunting
The song is great, the sound is great, it’s nice how the vocals alternate between Steve Ignorant and Eve Libertine. A great moment from this incomparable anarcho band that I admire. For their consistency and their willingness to experiment. Still, if you flip the record and put on the Poison Girls’ “Persons Unknown,” the crass song is instantly forgotten. We hear a sluggish, powerful riff overlaid with an agonizing high frequency tone for the first 45 seconds. This noise also extends over the first verses of the song: “This is a message to Persons unknown / Persons in hiding, Persons unknown”. This voice! It’s deep, raw, androgynous and haunting.
I was immediately captivated by the singing. It would be possible to draw comparisons. To Lydia Lunch (as she sounds in the great song “The Gospel Singer”) or to Jennifer Herrema from the Royal Trux or to the late Lotte Lenya. But in a musical context, comparisons are always a bit of an admission of helplessness. It is the voice of Vi Subversa (1935-2016) that we hear. Subversa was in her 40s and a mother of two when she formed the anarcho-punk band Poison Girls in 1976. “For 40 years I thought I wasn’t allowed to be a singer. I’m not Mick Jagger and I’m not Johnny Rotten or Marilyn Monroe. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be in public and had to sit in my closet and mind the kids and my own business.”
How good that she then thought better of it. You can feel the power with which this long-pent-up urge is unleashed in her art. In their expression and lyrics, “Survival in silence, isn’t good enough no more / Keeping your mouth shut, head in the sand,” says Persons Unknown. Persons Unknown was an English anarcho group whose activists were preventively imprisoned without having committed a crime. Crass and the Poison Girls campaigned for this group, collecting money for the inmates. And it’s certainly no coincidence that the Poison Girls used the group’s name as the song’s title. “This is a message to Persons unknown / Strangers and passers-by, Persons unknown / Turning a blind eye, hope to go unrecognized / Keeping your secrets, Persons unknown”.
A dream journey through the reality of the early 80s
Despite these references, the lengthy lyrics of Persons Unknown have always remained a mystery to me. A sweep. A song that is basically aimed at everyone. And yet there is a sense of uneasiness in him. The great thing about the song is that it doesn’t need slogans. He paints a picture with gloomy parts. It’s a dream journey through the reality of the early 80’s. Similar in technique to one of those long Bob Dylan songs like “Desolation Row”. However, the Poison Girls create an eerie tension that they maintain for over seven minutes. What an energy! “Liggers and layabouts, lovers on roundabouts / Wake up in the morning with Persons unknown / Accountants in nylon shirts, feminists in floral skirts / Nurses for when it hurts, Persons unknown / Flesh and blood is who we are / Our cover is blown … “
There are many more Poison Girls songs worth listening to, and it’s certainly long overdue for a thorough appreciation of Vi Subversa’s work. Especially in days like these, when pop music is once again becoming politicized, it’s worth examining the all-encompassing, resolute approach of bands like Poison Girls and Crass. Your anarchist outlook may seem naïve in some ways today. Still, the sincerity of these bands deserves a lot of respect. And when it comes to feminism issues, it’s really impressive how ahead of their time they were. But what remains to be said: “Persons Unknown” by the Poison Girls is the masterpiece that stands above everything else for me. And maybe one day I’ll be able to solve the mystery of how this work ended up in my record collection.
Regarding Jan Müller’s “Reflector” podcast: www.viertausendhertz.de/reflektor
This column first appeared in the Musikexpress issue 03/2023.