Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

What this video is

Released on 30 August 1988 as the lead single from Workers Playtime, this video arrived in the immediate wake of Margaret Thatcher's third consecutive general election victory in 1987 — the event that directly prompted Bragg to write the song. The track is a self-reflexive meditation on the contradictions of political pop stardom, referencing Cold War idealism, grassroots activism, and the gap between rhetoric and…

Why it matters

A canonical text of British folk-punk and political pop, 'Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards' represents the mature synthesis of Bragg's punk directness with expanded band instrumentation, produced by Joe Boyd — the veteran folk-rock producer behind Fairport Convention and Nick Drake. The track…