Binnenland·Oost Online·27 aug 2023

John Cooper Clarke: Bard of Salford is a sweetheart

Paul McCartney claims he is the best poet of the British Isles. And recently ‘the bard of Salford’ received an honorary doctorate for his influential oeuvre. With his razor-sharp pen and his satirical texts, in which the word fuck cannot be missed, Doctor John Cooper Clarke (70) takes a grain of salt with everyone including himself. ‘Get back on drugs, you fat fuck.’ No wonder the punk movement embraced him: he used to be the supporting act of Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash, Buzzcocks and The Sex Pistols, among others. No more supporting though: nowadays he is the unmistakable headliner.