English punk poet John Cooper-Clarke first began performing his verse backed by a local folk group called the Ferrets, but with his rapid-fire verbal delivery and stinging social commentary, he quickly emerged as the poet laureate of the punk movement. By 1978, he was opening for the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks, and released his debut LP, Disguise in Love. Clarke appeared less and less frequently in the years to follow, spending the better part of the '80s battling an addiction to heroin. By the following decade, he had cleaned up his act, returning to the stage and contributing regularly to poetry journals. ~ Jason Ankeny