Rondos – 'Teeth'

The turbulent political bombsite of the 1970s was fertile territory for fascists of all stripes, and they made their presence felt at every level. A strong statement of opposition and resistance came from The Rondos (an anarchist/ communist punk group from Rotterdam in the Netherlands) whose Fight Back! E.P. (1980) contained the song ‘Teeth’.

The sparse and staccato minimalism of the music reflected and accentuated the lurking menace of a lyric that addressed the fascist threat directly, warning of “a straitjacket society with all the outcasts gassed” where “fascism is your only goal: you want to see us bleed”. The clipped urgency of the vocal delivery reinforced the point that there is no possibility of difference in the world of the fascist: as the group stated elsewhere “Is it a choice: resistance or condemned? Is it a choice: freedom or a concentration camp? Is there a choice when fascism is a fact?”

Echoing the sentiments of songs by other punk groups (such as Crass ‘The Gasman Cometh’ and Crisis ‘Holocaust’), The Rondos spoke of the creep of totalitarianism and the conflict playing out on the streets. That was the late 1970s, but it seems that very little has changed. There are no spectators.
Nic Bullen