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The Martin Jones Archives – Part 10

Swatch Watches skateboard ramp commission/Wildstyle T shirts. Photo: Martin Jones.

In 1989 I was asked to organise a celebration of street culture (including the International Street Art Competition) on the sea front at the Humberside resort of Bridlington. One of the attractions was Neil Danns’ Swatch Watches skateboard team who performed on massive portable half-pipe ramps that they transported by lorry around the country.

Goldie was commissioned by Swatch’s agency Lynn Franks PR (who incidentally ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ was based on) to decorate Neil’s ramps with a range of his own designs. We drove up to Toxteth in Liverpool to Neil’s base, where Goldie sprayed the panels in front of a crowd of local graf and skateboard fans.

In this shot you can see Goldie’s Wildstyle T-shirt design. Whilst doing commercial commissions, he was also working for his friend Whitey’s T-shirt business, designing a range of Hip Hop and Acid House tie-dye shirts.

Martin Jones was Goldie’s manager and agent from 1984-89, initially covering the early period when Goldie was both a breakdancer and graffiti artist for the Wolverhampton B Boys, then in his career with Supreme Graffiti Team and later as the UK part of the New York/UK ‘Transatlantic Federation’ crew with Bristol’s 3D (later of Massive Attack). In the late 80s he secured several high profile art commissions and appearances on BBC and ITV for Goldie. Martin took thousands of shots of the UK Hip Hop scene in the 80s, which he is now cataloguing as part of a national UK Hip Hop Archive. Here are some examples from the archive – if you were around at the time and have any photos of the UK Hip Hop scene you think might be of interest, please contact Martin on mmjones29@blueyonder.co.uk

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Live Ammunition Billboard

Check out this piece that Goldie made to promote Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Spraying paint, then bullets was the order of the day for this one. Goldies unique piece is now hanging outside the Truman Brewery in East London.

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Goldie backs B&Q and Greenpeace’s Forest Friendly campaign

Check this video from the Vintage Festival at Goodwood. Goldie was there lending his support to the Forest Friendly campaign. B&Q had donated materials for a skateramp, built using 100% sustainable FSC certified wood. Goldie spent some time at the ramp &  donated the skateboard he painted in the video to the campaign.

Find out more about the Forest Friendly campaign here

Bid on the skateboard at ebay here

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The Martin Jones Archives – Part 9

Goldie sprays a West Midlands Travel double decker bus for Bass M&B’s new cocktail drink, Pink Lady, West Midlands Travel Walsall spray booth, 1989. Image – Martin Jones

The Pink Lady bus was one of several commercial commissions and trade shows I obtained for Goldie between 1987 and 1989. Others included Swatch Watches skateboard ramps and British Telecom.

The commission was offered by top London advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty. I think they intended to play on the irony of commissioning the hero of graffiti artists throughout the UK with an opportunity to cover an entire bus with graffiti – legally.

As I recall it was done over a weekend, because the spray booth was used for normal maintenance during the week. At the time Goldie was living in London so the agency put him up in a nearby hotel. It was one of two murals to promote Bass M&B’s new cocktail drink Pink Lady: the other was a live mural on a hoarding in Soho Road Handsworth, which was photographed and printed up onto large sheets for poster sites up and down the route of Handsworth carnival.

I was told by the agency that the bus did run, but it proved to be a magnet for fans who travelled from all parts of the country just to ride on Goldie’s bus. Eventually drivers refused to take the bus out because of the massive attention it attracted and it was withdrawn from service.

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Goldie Announces New TV Show

Described as “The X Factor with talent”, Goldie’s new 3-part BBC show will unearth talent that’s gone under the radar.

Goldie told The Sun: “It’s not the sort of show where we’ll say, ‘I’ll tell you what, love, lose 10 pounds, whiten your teeth and lose your fat sister and then you can come on board and sing a Madonna song.It’s all about unearthing the undercurrent of musical talent that’s gone under the radar in Britain and giving it a chance to be heard.”

Goldie has teamed up with Guy Chambers to tell the stories of 12 gifted musicians between 16 & 24 years of age who have conquered social challenges & will perform in public at a grand finale in the final show.

Other celebrity mentors include Cerys Matthews of the band Catatonia & jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch.

The name of the show’s being kept under wraps right now, but keep an eye on BBC2 schedules for autumn, when it will air