"I used to watch Breaking Glass when I worked a very corporate job in the City. With its vision of London at the end of punk and the beginning of the Winter of Discontent, the film provided me a blast of gritty, unvarnished relief in the light of endless training courses and encouraged groupthink. Released in September 1980, it was disliked by critics (Q magazine memorably quipped: Breaking Glass? More like Breaking Wind ) but through today's eyes feels relevant again."
"Her songs (inspired by punk) have an anti-capitalist stance. Most people knuckle under, she explains at the start of the yarn. I don't like the way life is for the majority of people. I can't change it but I can write about it. The ripped-from-the-headlines, on-the-nose, Bowie-esque songs illustrate Kate's anti-authoritarian stance (The people in control don't care for you / You're just a robot with a job to do, she sings in Big Brother)."
"The Thatcher years had arrived with a dull thud and although it's a film about the music biz, this is threaded throughout. The rise of fascism, unemployment, a fuel crisis, plus bent coppers on the make and strikes in journalism and on the rail network, mean that the City is unruly opening the door to a creative renaissance. O'Connor, who had already experienced a couple of band music deals, drew on her own experience for the film."
Breaking Glass follows Kate Crowley, an idealistic singer whose punk-inspired, anti-capitalist songs confront payola and manipulation within the music industry. A more commercial, palatable singer achieves success through record-company muscle while Kate's Bowie-esque, politically charged songs underscore her anti-authoritarian stance. The film places the music business against early Thatcher-era Britain, depicting unemployment, strikes, a fuel crisis, corrupt police, and the rise of fascism as a backdrop to a creative resurgence. Released in September 1980 to critical dislike, the film gains contemporary resonance. Hazel O'Connor drew on real band-deal experiences, lending realism to ambition, compromise, and a tragic career arc.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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