Pirates
Pirate culture through a punk lens: the Jolly Roger as an anti-authority symbol, pirate radio, sea shanties and folk-punk, and Sweden's own file-sharing pirates.
The Pirate Bay and Sweden's Piracy Movement
How Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay, the 2006 raid and the 2009 trial turned Sweden into a battleground over file sharing and sparked the Pirate Party.
The Golden Age of Piracy: Myths, Democracy and Anarchist Romance
What pirate ships were really like during the Golden Age of Piracy, how democracy worked on board, and why anarchists still romanticise them.
The Jolly Roger: From Pirate Flag to Punk and Football Symbol
How the skull and crossbones went from pirate ships to punk patches and football terraces. History, designs, and why it stuck.
Libertalia: The Pirate Utopia That Never Was
Libertalia, the pirate colony from Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 General History of the Pyrates, was likely invented.
Pirate Folk-Punk: The Pogues, The Dreadnoughts and the Sea
How pirate imagery and nautical songs shaped folk-punk, from The Pogues' sea-soaked ballads to The Dreadnoughts and the pirate stage image.
Why Punks Love Pirates: Skulls, Radio and the Anti-Authority Myth
From the Jolly Roger to Hamburg's St. Pauli skull and pirate radio, we trace why punk and folk have long borrowed the pirate myth for anti-authority ends.
Pirate radio, Radio Caroline and the 1967 Marine Offences Act
How Radio Caroline and Radio London broke the BBC monopoly, why the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 shut them down, and how offshore radio helped new…
Sea Shanties, Folk Punk and the Drinking Song Tradition
Stan Rogers' 'Barrett's Privateers', The Pogues and the shanty revival: why songs built for hard work and hard drinking fit punk so naturally.
The 2021 sea shanty revival and what shanties actually were
How Nathan Evans' Wellerman sparked the 2021 sea shanty revival on TikTok, and what real shanties were: work songs with call-and-response structure.