King Mob
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King Mob was a radical group endeavouring to contribute to worldwide proletarian social revolution, based in London during the 1970s.
It was a cultural mutation of the Situationists and the Motherfuckers street gang. They sought to emphasize the cultural anarchy and disorder being ignored in Britain. They derived their name from Christopher Hibbert's 1958 book on the Gordon Riots of June 1780, in which rioters daubed the slogan "His Majesty King Mob"' on the walls of Newgate prison, after gutting the building.
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[edit] Actions
King Mob appreciated pop culture and distributed their ideas and political ideas through various posters and through their publication King Mob Echo, which celebrated killers like Jack the Ripper, Mary Bell, and John Christie. One King Mob flyer in particular celebrated Valerie Solanas' 1968 shooting of Andy Warhol and included a hit-list of: Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Mike Kustow, Richard Hamilton, Mario Amaya (who was later shot by Solonas), David Hockney, Mary Quant, Twiggy, and "IT" editors Miles and Marianne Faithfull.
The King Mob group allegedly planned a series of audacious actions, including blowing up a waterfall in England's Lake District, painting the poet Wordsworth's house with the words, Coleridge Lives, and hanging peacocks in London's Holland Park. However, none of the aforementioned plans was executed. However, one action that was carried out was inspired by the New York-based Black Mask's "mill-in at Macy's". King Mob appeared at the Selfridges store in London with one member dressed as Father Christmas and distributed all of the store's toys to children. Subsequently, members of the London constabulary forced the children to return the toys.
Graffiti attributed to King Mob was observed in many places, including the memorable slogan "Same thing day after day - tube - work - dinner - work - tube - armchair - TV - sleep - tube - work - how much more can you take? - one in ten go mad - one in five cracks up", which was painted on a wall beside the London Underground ("tube") line between Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park stations in west London. Another graffito attributed to King Mob stated, "I don't believe in nothing - I feel like they ought to burn down the world - just let it burn down baby." They were also responsible for various attacks on art galleries and for organizing a battle between local skinheads (who they considered "the working class avant-garde") and greasers in central London.
[edit] References in popular culture
A protagonist in the comic book series The Invisibles (authored by Grant Morrison) is named " King Mob". The Invisibles group is organized anti-hierarchically, and is dedicated to defeating a global conspiracy which deceives and preys upon the world's population. The character "King Mob" describes himself as an anarchist.
There is an independent film company called Kings Mob Productions.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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[edit] Sources
- "The End of Music", a pamphlet written by David and Stuart Wise, two of the main King Mob protagonists,[citation needed] in the mid to late 1970s and published in Glasgow. The text was later published by AK Press in the 1990s as part of Stewart Home's book What is Situationism.
[edit] External links
- Revolt Against Plenty and Dialectical Butterflies, extensive websites by David and Stuart Wise featuring commentary on King Mob and cultural revolutionary theory in general.
