The Rock In Opposition movement came about in 1978 at a concert in London organised by Henry Cow. A show that included Univers Zero (Belgium), Stormy Six (Italy), Etron Fou Leloublan (France) Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden) as well as HC themselves, it brought together a diverse array of players whose musical journeys and expressions were quite different from the other.
What united them was a belief that the then-current music industry and its increasing drive for commercialism and a certain homogenous outlook were something they all stood against. Though all of these outfits were increasingly marginalised there was evidence that there was indeed an audience. The notion of creating an ecosystem independent of the major labels was very much an idea before its time.
