Most people are familiar with the song called "Our House" by Madness as a happy goofy pop song from the early 1980s. And it is. But, a lot of the music that came out of England from that period was more critical of London and the British Government. Songs from groups like the Clash, The Jam, and even the Sex Pistols, better illustrate the unrest and dissatisfaction among England's working class. These songs identify many of the conditions that made young people in London and other cities in England feel so alienated.
In the 1970s, England like many other countries, including the US, experienced a recession. Unemployment, inflation, and prices were high, which especially affected middle and lower class workers. Whole sections of London had become run down and even abandoned. An influx of immigrants from former British colonies, such as India and Pakistan, added to racial tensions. The general feeling in London was that England's best days were behind her and that she had little to offer younger generations.
In "London Calling," the Clash mentions that "Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust," meaning that the pride England might have felt about the Beatles can no longer cover up the country's real problems. The song lists some of these problems as clashes between police and youth, the decline of manufacturing jobs, drugs, and the fear of nuclear war. The singer's refrain that "I have no fear/'Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river" is an ironic acknowledgement of how few options existed for many young people in London in the 1970s and 1980s.
