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Punk: US vs UK


Jaaakkkeee

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...if the political climate is becoming the same as it was, why would you think the music is different now?

Listen to any of NOFX's later records, Rise Against, Anti-Flag, all have huge amounts of political involvement musically and socially. Every bit as much as The Clash ever did.

xx

PS I'm going on record and saying the clash are one of the greatest bands in history, I adore them and am NOT slighting them at all - I use them as an example of the epitome of everything that was GOOD about the UK77 punk scene.

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I'm going to sound like a grumpy old fart, but some of us old enough to be pogoing in the late 70s would probably say that punk was about attitude, going against the system, being different, etc. Thatchers Britain had a lot to do with the music of the time, from punk songs like The Clash - White Riot, to opposite ends of the spectrum with UB40 singing "One in Ten". The music had a message, it reflected what many of us pissed off 17 year old teenagers were feeling at the time. I'm not sure if todays "punk" music has the same gritty, "up yours", message to it. Here we are 30 odd years later and the Tories are back in power, unemployment rising, recession, etc, sometimes life is one big episode of Deja Vu, rant, rant, :mad:;)

So, Enter Shikari are as punk as punk can be?

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Guest davetherave

quote "Listen to any of NOFX's later records, Rise Against, Anti-Flag, all have huge amounts of political involvement musically and socially. Every bit as much as The Clash ever did."

Well replied sir :) No argument against todays bands having equal amounts of political statement to the bands from "back in the day". But do the "yoof" of today have the same amount of venom against the "establishment" that was present in the Thatcher years? I'm not even sure I can validate that statement as I'm officially too bloody old ;)

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Just trying to take parts of the debate and go "well look look look. they do what you've listed but yet they're not punk."

I agree, whilst I think their music is parp, I imagine they've probably had offers put on the table to sign a bit of paper for a million pound each so Sony or NASA or whoever can release their records. I like it when bands just carry on doing their own thing. I've got no problem with a band being huge and making money. Loads of my favourite bands are on major labels. If someone offered me a bollockload of money to play guitar for a living, I'd be all over it. It just seems to be that alot of bands I like end up releasing a ding record on a major label after being on an indie for so long. I can't think of many bands I like who plugged away on an indie, then signed major and actually released a good record afterwards. It's even worse when said band rabbits on and on about being uber-punx and that they'll always be about the PUNX and never "sell their souls" and all that gash, and then go and do it anyway. As I said, no problem with bands making $$$ but you look like a bit of a tit if you go against everything you've preached about for years.

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I agree, whilst I think their music is parp, I imagine they've probably had offers put on the table to sign a bit of paper for a million pound each so Sony or NASA or whoever can release their records. I like it when bands just carry on doing their own thing. I've got no problem with a band being huge and making money. Loads of my favourite bands are on major labels. If someone offered me a bollockload of money to play guitar for a living, I'd be all over it. It just seems to be that alot of bands I like end up releasing a ding record on a major label after being on an indie for so long. I can't think of many bands I like who plugged away on an indie, then signed major and actually released a good record afterwards. It's even worse when said band rabbits on and on about being uber-punx and that they'll always be about the PUNX and never "sell their souls" and all that gash, and then go and do it anyway. As I said, no problem with bands making $$$ but you look like a bit of a tit if you go against everything you've preached about for years.

After they sold out the Astoria they got offers all over the place apparently. for the second album I think they distributed through warner and got fucked over so left them and went back to DIY.

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I'm not trying to take Soda Jerk's post apart because I probably agree with some on the sentiments on some level but just a couple of points for healthy debate.

Well, as far as debate is concerned, I’m surprised some folk still seem to consider The Clash to be the pinnacle of punk rock, considering how much punk rock has evolved and what it has to offer now, and also how their idea of punk was naughty hand gestures, and playing on Top of the Pops.

Although I understand the point you're trying to make I think you're making it about the wrong band. To me, the point of The Clash, and their idea of Punk was to 1) Say something real about youth and society in the UK in the 70's and 2) To strip away all the wanky, cape-wearing, chin-stroking Prog shit that Rock music had become. Had they, along with bands like the NY Dolls, Ramones, Pistols etc, not done that, the musical playing field would have never really been leveled for bands like Black Flag.

According to documents like Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Rollins’ Get In The Van (which you should have a read of if you have any interest in punk rock or DIY music) they were drinking water from the sinks of public toilets and eating dog food balled up in old, thrown out bread for sustenance

It's a pity nobody was hiring Rollins for advert voiceovers or presenting monster truck shows in those days, then he wouldn't have had to have I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here-esque challenges for dinner!

I like loads of UK bands, but I don’t think I care a jot about all the stuff that gets put on those “Best Punk Album Ever” compilations CD’s that come out around Fathers Day, where punk starts and ends with the Pistols, Clash, that 2-4-6-8 Motorway song and Ian Dury and the fucking Blockheads.

This seems to be one of the main reasons it's more credible to be into stuff like Black Flag than the Clash etc, because it's the kind of thing that Dad's are into. Honestly a lot of this stuff is worth looking deeper into though. For example 2-4-6-8 Motorway (which is a fucking tune incidentally) was written by Tom Robinson who was punk as fuck. He was one of the first openly gay men in Rock music and released the song 'Glad To Be Gay' in 1978 when the gay age of consent was five years higher than the hetrosexual one and gay bars were still being raided by police.

I like a lot of the US bands that are featured in that Our Band Could Be Your Life and from that kind of scene, but it does piss me off that there were so many great UK bands doing a similar thing at that time if not better who don't get a fraction of the recognition. I'll always prefer McCarthy, Talulah Gosh, The Wedding Presents and The Shop Assistants to any of the American Underground 80's stuff, but it's different strokes I suppose....

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