Aside from being a cinema, this place is probably most widely known for its ‘Midnight Special‘ on Sunday 29 August 1976, when The Clash and Buzzcocks supported The Sex Pistols in a showcase event organised by Malcolm Maclaren.
As to The Clash, music journalist Charles Shaar Murray wrote a review on NME saying that they were “the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the motor still running, which would undoubtedly be more of a loss to their friends and families than to either rock or roll“. The Clash later wrote in retaliation the song Garageland, whose opening verses are: Back in the garage with my bullshit detector/Carbon monoxide making sure it’s effective.
The Screen On The Green was also the location for the first performance of Sid Vicious with the Sex Pistols, on April 3, 1977. Furthermore, the cinema is referenced throughout Adam and the Ants‘ song Fall in – released as the b-side to Ant Music in 1980.
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