The Feeding of the 5000

The Feeding of the 5000 is the first album by Crass, released in 1978 (see 1978 in music). Crass never gained a large mainstream audience, but their virulently anti-establishment lyrics and anarchist politics brought the band a committed following upon the records' release.

The record came to be made when Pete Stennett, owner of Small Wonder Records, heard a demo that the band had recorded. Impressed by all of the material, he decided that rather than release a conventional single by the band, he would put all of their set onto an 18 track 12" EP.

However problems were encountered when workers at the Irish pressing plant contracted to manufacture the disc refused to handle it due to the allegedly blasphemous content of the track "Reality Asylum" (referred to as "Asylum" on the record sleeve). The record was eventually released with this track removed and replaced by two minutes of silence, ironically retitled "The Sound Of Free Speech". This incident also prompted Crass to set up their own record label in order to retain full editorial control over their material, and "Reality Asylum" was shortly afterwards issued in a re-recorded and extended form as a 7" single.

A later repress of The Feeding Of The 5000 (subtitled The Second Sitting) released on Crass records in 1981 restored the missing track.

Table of contents

1 Tracks
2 Personnel
3 External links