The Feeding of the 5000

Dude what Not gonna listen to anymore nonsenically shit punk music sorry

These guys may have been majorly influential for punk but from a listening standpoint I had a harder time understanding this album than some of the foreign ones in the list. I can see why maybe someone would like this if it was of their time but overall it’s not something I can enjoy listening to. Sounded like gibberish. 3.2/10

The whiplash I felt going from the fantastic, dark opening monologue song to immediately getting assaulted by a drunk geezer singing in hieroglyphics, with the audio quality of World War II combat footage. Quite possibly the first album where I'd rather listen to the interludes than the actual music. I don't fuck with with it.

I get that punk has its place and is important for music history. It doesn't mean I enjoy listening to it at all. Sorry, people screaming and mumbling lyrics isn't really what I look for in music.

Loved the weirder and darker spoken-word elements of this, the punk songs were pretty good too.

Short, powerful and angry. Like punk should be

Christ you can smell their teeth from here. One imagines this caused quite a stir in 1978. This is a genre I have really grown to love, so I had fun here. But also it has real “I’m an edgy 14 year old” energy.

That wonderful kind of crust punk where everything sounds kind of bad and the singer is complaining about something

This is a rather generic sounding early punk record. Some songs ("Asylum", "Do They Owe Us a Living?", "Well?... Do They?") have some potential, but most sound like a simple bunch of chords, bad production, fuzzy vocals and just go ahead. I think the original list (and the user list) contain many albums from this period that have a lot more quality.

Anarcho-punk. Punk de la antigua escuela. Vinilo.

Anarcho-punk. Punk de la antigua escuela. Vinilo.

I really rather enjoyed this. Angry punk that actually manages to have some cracking good drumming, basslines and melodies. Yes, the edgelordgy spoken-word lyrics are oh-so edgelordy, but it's 70s punk. It probably would have been actually quite risky at the time. Definitely worth a listen, because it's in no way as easy or accessible as some of the other punk stuff in the list.

really damn good, a little repetitive, but that’s punk for ya, it’s nice that it keeps it short and sweet - 10/10

Critically important band and album that shaped so much of punk music and culture. Following the corporate mainstream co-option of punk rock during the first wave, a few blokes squatting at a commune house in Essex jammed out their own version of punk rock with a more explicitly political message. This would form into the band Crass and, subsequently, anarcho-punk at large. Sloppier, noisier, and slightly more conceptual in its artistic vision (see: the John Cage influence on They've Got a Bomb), Crass formulated a version of punk that was on their terms and reflected their anarchist views. Now, more than ever, the lyrics of punk rock were the focal point. Throughout the Feeding of the 5000, you'll find clear opposition to Christian religious institutions, nuclear armament, war, government spending, commodification of punk, and everything else in between. Steve Ignorant spares no words and delivers each line with a distinct snarl that makes you feel his disgust for the system. It rocks from top to bottom. Crass never thought they could sell 5000 records, but that was the minimum order required to press the LP so they bit the bullet. Now, nearly 50 years later, this album's influence cannot be understated. Avid fans of punk music can recognize the marks of Crass amongst hardcore punk with Propaghandi, crust punk with Amebix, powerviolence with Dropdead, post-hardcore with Fugazi, and even rap rock with Rage Against the Machine. We owe more than we think to these weirdo artsy anarchists who took a stand against commercial interests and did things their own way. FIGHT WAR, NOT WARS. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Perhaps one of the most deserving semi-obscure picks for the list. While you may not have heard Crass, you have heard their influence elsewhere on the original list. I'd reckon we can replace The Adverts in doing so.

How have I not heard of this band before? Excellent. 4 stars.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: They’ve got a bomb, Do they owe us a living?, Reject of society, So what

I’m a sucker for classic punk, what can I say

Crazy little punk album filled with diatribes just like it should be.

Pretty sick. I dig that they actually commit to anarchism pretty hard. It's legitimately punk.

Seminal punk album driven by an unwavering political stance - take a look Johnny, no butter advertising in this timeline. Sadly ironic that the 'pay no more than £3' originals are now so expensively collectable but it is a reflection of how important and highly regarded this band is. Great album choice.

I like the idea more than the actual music. Good share, I do feel like this is something I should have heard. They've got the energy, anger, attitude, noise, and (not for nothing) the accent; the whole punk package. They thought 1979 was bad, I wonder how 2026 would fare in Crass's estimation.

These chaps make great music, but that’s no surprise. Course they fucking do. Great punk music. Good vibes throughout. Was a little nervous listening to the first song, but I recognized the second track and was immediately alleviated of my worries. The lyrics, vocals, instrumentation, and production are all punk as hell and Crass is just such an enjoyable band to listen to. 4/5

Ok, wow, opener "Asylum" managed to shock me. Not bad! Most black metal bands would sell their souls to come across as half that blasphemous, right!? Kinda a shame the rest of the album isn't avant-garde musique concrete throughout, but this crust punk has a certain zest. Certainly a worthy addition to the list! I'd probably go 4.5 on this if it were an option... Fave tracks - "Asylum", obvs, "They've Got A Bomb", "Banned From the Roxy", "Women" and "What A Shame"

I enjoyed this. Maybe, even for a punk fan like me, it might've been a bit too niche, but I liked it.

I like my punk a bit more on the hardcore side than this, but it was a fun romp. Bonus points for theming, both musical ant lyrically. Will listen again.

A great early anarcho-punk album.

Vintage (and apparently influential?) oi bruv punk. The opener promised maybe a little bit more than it was able to deliver on, but I started to get into it as it went on. Wish i could enjoy the singing more, because I think there's actually some pretty interesting things happening in the music, but it sounds like the guy's counting on his fingers to stay on-rhythm. Like a jump-rope chant or something.

More 70s British punk. I guess this is getting pretty close to the original recipe but it's a sound I've gotten pretty tired of. As far as the politics are concerned I guess I'm more or less a partisan at least somewhere along the same spectrum but honestly, what did this sort of counterculture agitation ever accomplish? All this kind of ideology remains in a deep and ineffectual minority.

Ganska schysst punk.

Proper good fun punk

I had high hopes for this based on the first song but it turned to regular old punk after that. I don't mind that, but it's been already adequately covered from that time period. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

A firecracker of a Punk LP that’s here one minute and gone the next. Listened to this twice in succession and feel it blazed by a little too quickly to leave a lasting impression, but it was definitely a fun listen in the moment.

Good punk album worthy of the list.

Not bad

Anarcho-punk. No me ha gustado, lo siento.

HL: "Do They Owe Us a Living?", "They've Got a Bomb", "Sucks", "So What" Now THIS is punk!

Declaring 'Punk is Dead' as early as 1978 is a pretty bold statement but I guess these guys were there. These guys had zero musical talent and this should be regarded as a history lesson rather than a subject of enjoyment. I'm torn to give this a poor score so will take the easy route with a '3'***

Asylum, interesting story, quiet buildup for what's about to come. Every song has its merits, it's punk! Standouts: Banned from the Roxy, Women, So What. I don't know how much punk I need in my life but this was an enjoyable ride.

I like punk but this one isn’t necessarily what I’m into

Wasn't bad, but it's not the 70s punk record I would reach for.

More Brit punk, please.

2.5/5

I really thought I was going to like this more. I do think this album is significant for the style and the political message it infused into punk, but overall I like the more melodic punk. The noise is cool, but they don't integrate it into the songs well. It just throbs for a while before the song starts, and then it's just stripped down punk. I feel like this review makes it sound like I dislike the album ore than I do, I kinda like it. It's just that I had such high hopes when I read the wikipedia page, and it just didn't go where I wanted it to 3/5

The original list was quite thorough and comprehensive when it comes to first wave British punk, so not including Crass there may feel like a surprising omission on paper. But maybe only on paper given the actual contents of this album... As every fan of the genre knows, the technically poor and musically dubious offerings of Crass also tested the limits of what was listenable in that style. The terms "technically poor" being the understatement of the month here of course... Yet in a sense, and on a purely artistic viewpoint, Crass were also the ancestors of an act such as Sleaford Mods, which only the land of vinegar crisps and Marmite could have brought to us. And they were more directly responsible for influencing a ton of later acts of all stripes, as one of the 5-star reviews in this section points out. So yeah, why shouldn't us punk rock fans revisit this one? Crass did not merely expressed their anarchist punk ethos in their artistry, they also strictly followed that ethos in the communes they lived in. Stating that said anarchopunk, countercultural artistry sounds dated today is like saying an antique shop only displays quaint old-looking items: it just goes with the territory. But at least, Crass were definitely not a put-on act, and that's also how they cemented their legend in those old punk circles. I'm pretty sure that attending one of their riotous live shows in a squat must have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. When it comes to their quote-unquote "studio albums", the experience was far more inconclusive, I'd say. What's a little maddening in that choice of highlighting *The Feeding of the 5000* is that Crass could actually be far superior musicians and performers outside of live venues once in a while, but that this record doesn't really display such musicianship. Song "Big a Little A" is a terrific track for instance. Alas, it is not to be found in this LP. But does it really matters? What matters is that Crass represented the true spirit of punk rock in spite of their shortcomings. What matters was that punk was indeed truly "dead" by 1978, and that it took real members of the tribe to snarl about it. What matters is that Crass announced that they would symbolically split up in 1984 -- partly in a way to turn the "no future" slogan into something that would be more than a shallow catchphrase -- and that they held their word. A few interesting snippets from the album's wiki page, to which I will add very short comments and reactions" 'Pete Stennett, owner of Small Wonder Records, heard a demo that the band had recorded. Impressed by all of the material, he decided to package the entire set as an 18-track 12" EP. However, workers at the Irish pressing plant contracted to manufacture the record refused to process it because of the offensively blasphemous content of the track "Asylum". The record was eventually released with the track removed and replaced by two minutes of silence, retitled "The Sound of Free Speech". This incident also prompted Crass to establish their own record label in order to retain full editorial control over their material, and "Asylum" was issued shortly afterward in a rerecorded and extended form as a 7" single under the title "Reality Asylum". A later repress of The Feeding of The 5000 (subtitled The Second Sitting), released by Crass Records in 1980, restored the missing track.' Working class people can also be bigots, unfortunately. This incidents illustrates both the rebellious spirit of anarchism and the limits the latter was set up against when the time came to convince populations they should burn their old idols. 'Crass helped reinitiate the influence of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the wider peace campaign in the UK with the songs like "They've Got a Bomb", "Fight War Not Wars" and the adoption of the CND symbol at their live concerts.' Yeah, this also cemented Crass's legend to this day. Their militancy was a very real thing... ' "They've Got a Bomb" contains an extended period of silence, inspired by John Cage's "4'33"". The band have acknowledged the influence of Cage and said that the idea of the space in the song, when performed live, was to suddenly stop the energy, dancing and noise and allow the audience to momentarily "confront themselves" and consider the reality of nuclear war. However, fans were known to clap and cheer during the silent segment of the track, which is documented on the bonus live album included with the original release of Stations of the Crass.' Ha ha ha, this here also perfectly illustrates the limits of the anarchist utopia, when individual urges sabotage meaningful collective initiative. Yet I can't help having sympathy for both the band's intents and the manner in which the audience misunderstood it here. A very endearing anecdote... 'The feeding of the multitude was a miraculous event described in the New Testament in which Jesus fed 5,000 people from just five loaves of bread and two fish. According to Crass drummer and founder Penny Rimbaud, "We named the album The Feeding of The Five Thousand because 5,000 was the minimum number that we could get pressed and some 4900 more than we thought we'd sell. Feeding is now only a few hundred short of going golden, though I don't suppose we'll hear too much about that in the music press".' As of now, there are around three millions streams for Crass's most streamed songs on Spotify. Looks like the old punks (and their children and nephews?) were updated about how the future would bring their old favorites to their ears through technology. So much for the "no future" ethos... I have to say I felt like a total fraud listening to Crass on Spotify. But I imagine it's only a healthy reminder I should drop this horridly unethical streaming service from my listening habits one day. I could blame the band for not taking action to take out their music from this service, yet those guys and gals have certainly not turned into billionaires, some of them are sort of semi-retired today, and it's not as if H&M is selling T-shirts with their names on it, so I will cut them some slack. If I can't bring myself to perfectly align my values and the way I'm still a slave for capitalism, why should they? So what's the final verdict here? "Quite possibly the first album where I'd rather listen to the interludes than the actual music", goes one of the many one-star reviews topping this section. Yeah, but for those politically pointed interludes, and for the cultural relevance of the hardline punk values expressed everywhere on this record, I'm gonna give more that one star to *The Feeding of the 5000*. Thanks for the suggestion, anonymous member of the punk tribe. If this was not a stellar choice in my own book on a purely musical level, kiddies have the right to learn one or two things through it, at least... 3/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums 8/10 for more general purposes (5/5 for the musicianship and production values + 1/5 for the artistry + 1 for the idiosyncratic political message of the lyrics + 1 for (counter)cultural relevance) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 103 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 116 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 247 (including this one) ---- Hey Émile, j'ai répondu sous Demon Days ET ta sélection pour la users list ! 🙂

They named themselves appropriately.

Love the message, hate the "music"

Not my thing at all

Proper anarcho punk, I expect. I didn't listen to any of the lyrics though because I was too busy being tied to my desk for The Man, enslaved in the corporate mechanism or something.

I think this album made me realise I don’t actually understand punk.

The Feeding of the 5000 is raw and not the best punk we've had by a long shot. Average would be pushing it too far, 2/5.

2.5

More spoken word (mumble) than real music. How to do you write the check to record this though?

The first track was great, the rest was drivel.

Essential listening or not, Crass sounds like an annoying parody of British punk music to me. I can almost get behind the whole “all authority is bad” message but honestly if I heard this shit in ‘78 I’d probably become a churchgoing neoliberal on the spot.

You blasphemous dog!

The band certainly lives up to it's name: Crass Very little to like here. Shock rock being shock rock, I guess