Preview of John Cooper Clarke at Birmingham Town Hall in the Shropshire Star on Friday 17 October 2014

Punk poetry

With his mop of black hair, dark glasses, spindly legs, ill-fitting suit and caustic wit, John Cooper Clarke has been an unforgettable sight on the music and poetry scene for the past 35 years or so.
Known as the Bard of Salford, Cooper Clarke was a familiar sight on stages during the punk era, where his observations on everyday life demonstrated that spoken word performances could be pithy, moving and, most of all, extremely funny.

His influence on pop culture has been immense, with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys citing him as a huge
inspiration, and film maker Plan B casting him in his film Ill Manors.

On TV, Cooper Clarke’s poem Evidently Chickentown was used in the penultimate closing scene of The Sopranos, while his dulcet tones can be heard voicing a commercial for oven chips.

Cooper Clarke’s recorded output is limited to five albums released between 1978 and 1982, with 1980’s Snap, Crackle and Bop making it into the Top 20 of the album chart.

John Cooper Clarke is at the Town Hall, Birmingham, on Thursday.

By Stephen Taylor