JOHN COOPER CLARKE - event info

John Cooper Clarke was born in Salford, 1949. As a teenager, he performed his poetry in Manchester's folk clubs, where he met Rick Goldstraw who invited him to join his band, The Ferrets.

In 1977, having given up on becoming a stand-up comedian, John joined the likes of Ed Banger and Jilted John on the books of Manchester punk label, Rabid. Supporting the likes of The Buzzcocks and Warsaw, he amazed audiences on the local punk circuit with his good-humoured high-speed Salfordian poetry.

Thanks largely to Anthony H.Wilson, John inherited the title, 'The Punk Poet', after receiving radio and TV exposure for 'Suspended Sentence'. In the song he voices his opinion on the capital punishment debate with tongue-in-cheek lyrics like, "Sit right down - write a letter to the Sun Say... 'Bring back hangin' for everyone'". The track was included on his debut Innocents EP which also boasted 'Psycle Sluts', described at the time by Frank Zappa as one of his favourite songs, praising John as "a man with exquisite diction".

His poem "Out of Control Fairground" was printed inside Arctic Monkeys single "Fluorescent Adolescent" CD, which was released on 9 July 2007. The poem is also the inspiration behind the single's video in which clowns brawl. Another poem was printed inside the 10" release of the same single. Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys has said he is very fond of Cooper-Clarke's work and takes inspiration for lyrics from his poems.