A major influence on The Fabulous Dirt Sisters were the many political street bands who existed in the 1970s and 1980s.
Street bands used music to mobilise, educate and protest at a time when British culture was veering more and more to the right with the advent of Thatcherism.
One of the most well known of these bands was the Fall Out Marching band. Taking their name from the widespread fear in the early 1980s of nuclear devastation, the band were a key part of the Street Band movement. They wrote two songs that were a staple part of the protest culture of Greenham Common, ‘Take the toys away from the boys’ and ‘Four Minutes to Midnight’. You can read the lyrics and listen to audio clips of the songs here.
You can watch an audio clip of the band performing on the TV programme Swindon Viewpoint on 21 February 1984 if you follow this link:
The Fabulous Dirt Sisters 