Over the course of fourteen months spanning 1976 and 1977, punk changed everything, thrust forward with all the unbridled rage and authenticity of youth. Wait, these punks? Meet the group of angry young’uns dubbed the Bromley Contingent, “the original punks” clustering around the Sex Pistols fandom and the fashions of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood — Siouxsie Sioux, Jordan, Poly Styrene in all of their severity. These candid shots captured by their social accomplice Simon Barker, spotted by Dangerous Minds, show Siouxsie sans her decades-long mystique, slathering on make-up. A fresh-faced Billy Idol looks about twelve, strolling through the Vortex club, his iconic scowl replaced with a tentative little smile. Today, pictures like these would be on Facebook. Back then, they were the markers of cultural history. And then it hits you. These are just kids.
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Siouxsie Sioux applying make-up at the St. James Hotel
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Jordan and mime artist Lindsay Kemp
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Billy Idol at the Vortex club
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Adam Ant and Ants’ bassist Andy Warren at the Marquee Club
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Poly Styrene, singer with X-Ray Spex
Photo credit: Simon Barker. The Banshees- Steven Severin, Kenny Morris, and John McKay
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Debbie Juvenile, one of the assistants at Seditionaries, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s King’s Road shop
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Actress Little Nell and Adam Ant at a Butler’s Wharf party
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Siouxsie’s manager, Nils Stevenson, at the St. James Hotel
Photo credit: Simon Barker. Writer/actor Bertie ‘Berlin’ Marshall and Jordan