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Billy Bragg was born in a district of Essex that is now part of Greater London. He grew up in the district of Barking, which he has always considered his home. However, his successful career was to take him across the globe, singing songs of freedom and advocating social change. He is still associated with his London roots and is sometimes known, jocularly, as 'the bard of Barking.' At an instore promoting " Must I Paint You A Picture ", Borders Bookshop, Oxford Street, December 2003 Attending a comprehensive school, Bragg's educational career was uneventful. One source states that the only class he got an A in was English. He left school with few qualifications, but determined to do something with his life. He teamed up with his next door neighbour, Wiggy, and practised guitar. They would teach each other new riffs that they had listened to from their widening record collection. Their main influences in the early 1970s were The Faces, The Small Faces, The Rolling Stones and eventually, punkPunk rock is the anti-establishment music movement of the period 1976- 80, exemplified by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Damned. This term is also used to describe subsequent music scenes that share key characteristics with those first-g.
They formed a punk/ pub rockPub rock was a mid to late 1970s musical movement, largely centred around North London and South East Essex, particularly Canvey Island and Southend on Sea. Pub rock was largely a reaction to much of the popular music of the era, which tended to be domina band called Riff RaffAs an epithet, Riff Raff belongs to a category of insults focusing on behavioral characteristics (such as mannerisms, lifestyle) rather than overt racial characteristics (as with nigger, yid). Other specific meanings pertain to music and films. Music Riff and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band also practised in a farm house in the county of NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire (abbreviated Northants is a county in central England with a population of 629,676 ( 2001 census). It has borders with Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire (inc. Peterborough), Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire (inc. Milton K, and released several singles. However these records didn't receive wide exposure and consequently the band failed.
Following the Riff Raff experience, Bragg became disillusioned with his musical career and joined the British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces of the United Kingdom. It numbers 99,400 fully trained and professional regulars (as of April 2004). In contrast to the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, the British Army does not include royal in its title, bec. This move turned out very quickly not to be the right one for him, but it would never the less act as an inspiration for his later work. He bought his way out of the army and returned home to his parents and his music.