By Christopher Schobert
The Film Stage
June 26th, 2023
The Fascist Groove Thing: A History of Thatcher’s Britain in 21 Mixtapes by Hugh Hodges (PM Press)
Here’s a brilliant concept: a collection of 21 mixtapes centered on the horrors of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, along with analysis of the songs, the performers, and the meaning of it all. Hugh Hodges, then, has created the ultimate Spotify playlist for some of the grimmest eras of 1970s and 80s British life. “You may not remember all the bands on this mixtape,” Hodges writes after presenting “MIXTAPE 1,” which features, among others, the Sex Pistols, David Bowie, Madness, the Specials, the Smiths, Billy Bragg, and the Style Council. “You may have never heard of some of them. That’s okay. The point is that there were so many songs written about Thatcher in the 1980s that you can practically trace the outline of her career as prime minister just from their titles.”
