Albertine was born into a dysfunctional working-class family in 1954. With no musical background she plunged herself into London’s creative scene and bought her first guitar with a tenacious attitude to be the female rock figure missing from bands she’d seen whilst growing up. Living in London in the 70s saw Albertine form connections with multitudes of musical legends. She had a close relationship with John Ritchie (AKA Sid Vicious), and formed a band named The Flowers of Romance with him before he joined the Sex Pistols. Also a major part of her adolescent life was Mick Jones, frontman of The Clash. Some credit The Clash’s single ‘Train in Vain’ as being dedicated to Albertine as it was written shortly after the pair split.
But perhaps the most exciting part of Albertine’s career came from her involvement with The Slits. Labelled the “most subversive punk group of all” by Sean O’Hagan, The Slits were a female force to be reckoned with and changed the punk scene indefinitely. Albertine originally declined to join the band but after watching them perform live and with some convincing from Chrissie Hynde, her intrigue won her over.
At this time, to be a punk musician was incredibly dangerous as British culture wasn’t always welcoming to the culture’s anarchic ideals and extravagant dress. Albertine recalls being spat on in the street and the multiple stabbings of band member Ari Up. However, The Slits were undaunted by opposition and continued to create music in a highly male dominated industry. If you fancy giving them a listen, I’d really recommend their cover of ‘I heard it through the grapevine’ and the original ‘Typical Girls’.
Albertine admits she struggled to find a place for herself in the post-punk era and didn’t thrive in a domestic setting. Her memoir ‘Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys’ depicts her struggle to upkeep her own identity without being smothered by motherhood and the civilities of married life. For a long time, she was absent from the music scene but made a fantastic return in the early 2000s. In 2012, she released The Vermillion Border, an album filled with songs emanating female rage at the constraints of married life and normativity.
An outlandish figure who saw the lack of older female voices in the music industry and sought to fill it
Her lyrics are open about sex after divorce, whilst ‘Confessions of a MILF’ questions the notion of “Home Sweet Home”. Undeniably, this album solidified Albertine as an outlandish figure who saw the lack of older female voices in the music industry and sought to fill it. Although Albertine has declared that she will not be releasing any more music, her impact remains. For me, her journey is a reminder that playing an instrument or forming a band doesn’t have to feel natural to you, but if it’s your dream, it’s most certainly achievable. So, if I’ve convinced at least one reader to listen to Viv’s music, I can rest easy.