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Punk: US vs UK


Jaaakkkeee

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Good debate. It's hard to say really. I like the Ramones, and I like the Clash (even though some of it was s wee bit rubbish in the end). For me it was all about a generation saying "fuck you, and fuck what you think about us" and getting the music scene at the time to move away from what can only be seen as "namby pamby shite". Another thing was the fact that a "normal" guy off the street could go into Woolies and buy a cheap guitar and almost be able play a tune with minimal training or instruction. Couldn't see that happening with "fairwell to the common man" etc

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This thread is good to see that loads of people see and attain loads of different things from punk, whether it's just a good song, or the ethical morals behind the song and the band itself, even though there's a lot of disagreement, it's been productive. And I've been listening to loads of punk rock over the past couple of days as a result. Who wants to start a punk rock band? No more than 4 chords per song. Must like dog food and wearing shorts.

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Guest davetherave

Quote "Who wants to start a punk rock band? No more than 4 chords per song. Must like dog food and wearing shorts."

Damn good idea, particularly as I can only play 4 chords and one scale, not sure about the shorts though. German leiderhosen punk band springs to mind :)

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This thread is good to see that loads of people see and attain loads of different things from punk, whether it's just a good song, or the ethical morals behind the song and the band itself, even though there's a lot of disagreement, it's been productive. And I've been listening to loads of punk rock over the past couple of days as a result. Who wants to start a punk rock band? No more than 4 chords per song. Must like dog food and wearing shorts.

I'm in. Actually, can we wear basketball jerseys and play shouty hard-man chugga-chugga about fights and keeping true and shit?

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Yeah, I can't stress how good a read Our Band Could Be Your Life is. Michael Azerrad has done some tremendous work to put that book together.

It's just wonderfully inspiring. All I wanted to do after reading it was buy a fuckload of records and start a band. I did both. The bit about the Minor Threat lad not being able to open the door to his dentist due to the marble floor and him having drawing pins in his boots totally ended me. Azerrad pieced the whole thing together incredibly. The Minutemen chapter would make any grown man shed tears. Absolutely harrowing.

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This thread is good to see that loads of people see and attain loads of different things from punk, whether it's just a good song, or the ethical morals behind the song and the band itself, even though there's a lot of disagreement, it's been productive. And I've been listening to loads of punk rock over the past couple of days as a result. Who wants to start a punk rock band? No more than 4 chords per song. Must like dog food and wearing shorts.

I have a drummer lined up, disregard my guitarist thread. I like dog biscuits, never tried food. I'll play in nothing but shorts.

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I wonder if you'll get a voucher for discounted CountryLife butter when you but it?

For fuck sake, I'm pretty sure those cunts have had more "releases" of Bollocks than they had singles!

xx

EDIT: It's a tie. An 11 and 12 track version of the record, a 30th anniversary and now a 35th. Fucking cunts. Funny thing is, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is an infinitely better record than Bollocks.

Gotta wonder though, is it moar PUNXX of them to say FUCK YOU ALL, WE'LL RELEASE THIS FUCKING RECORD AS MANY TIMES AS WE WANT?!! SO WUT IF AH SELL BUTTAH NOW? WOOOOTCHA GONNA DOO ABOUT IT?!?

xx

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Guest davetherave

What a coincidence it ties in with the queens Jubilee too, God save the Queen is bound to be released, wonder if the BBC will play it this time. The pistols should hire a Barge for the day and play GSTQ all feckin day :p

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I'm in no position to comment seeing as I'm clueless of anything past '79, but this is also a good book. ('Good' doesn't quite cover it, it's magnificent, one of my favourite books of all time.)

14595.jpg

Focuses mainly on America in the late 60s, but covers UK '77, the 80s and up until 1992 I think. Full of good stories. I keep telling myself I'm going to re-read it but I definitely intend to this year.

Didn't know the Elite were coming up here. my favourite band, though ive not seen them since I moved up here.

It's a shame you can't go, having already used up your one gig for the year.

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PRIZE WINNING LETTER

‘‘Here are my choices for your Punk Rock Hall of Fame:

1, Wyndham Lewis (RIP). Self-styled ‘The Enemy’, hated by almost everyone in his day. Books have been pretty effectively blacklisted. Ask any phony intellectual about this guy and watch them squirm. Real tough guy. When dying of a tumor and blind, doctor asked him about his bowels, his last words were ‘Mind your own business!’ That’s punk!

2, Ezra Pound (RIP). You want style? Dig this description of Ez in 1912 (he was 27). ‘Living in London ‘Futuristic’ poet with forked red beard, luxuriant chestnut hair, an aggressive lank figure, one long blue single stone earring dangled on his jaw line. He wore a purple top hat, a green shirt, a black velvet coat, vermillion socks, trousers of green billiard cloth (!!- Ed), in addition to an immense flowing tie that had been handpainted by a Japanese.’ And that’s in the daytime! Made a lot of enemies and was driven out of England. Arrested for treason by the US in 1945 and placed in an asylum for 13 years. When finally released in ’58, they asked him how it was. Says he: ‘Oi’ve had it tougher’. That’s punk!

3, Gene Vincent (RIP). Elvis was great, but this guy played for keeps. Who else made so many great records? He told the DJs to go and fuck themselves and even tried to punch out Dick Clark when Clark was very powerful. The best white rocker of them all, and possibly the only rock star ever to VOLUNTEER for military service and win honors for heroism in combat.

4, Little Walter (RIP). Another tough guy who played for keeps. While Diddley and Berry are accepted, this guy is ignored by rock fans and he made great records that a lot of those English R&B cats picked up on. Early Stones sound more like him than Berry. Pulled a gun on one of his band members when the member wanted to leave and shot himself in the leg.

5, Frank Zappa. Don’t have any of his records but respect this person a great deal. Could have been the Elvis of the 70s if he’d wanted to, but rubs people the wrong way (a prerequisite of punkhood –Ed) Must be a punk, he talked himself into his own label without having a hit record. Can sum up whole attitudes in 5 words or less and people don’t like it. Had the guts to say in Rolling Stone that Monkees records were better than anything coming out of San Francisco in ’68. When asked opinion of Bob Dylan and the Band, he replied ‘Sky Saxon and the Seeds. Only Sky Saxon dresses better’. Now THAT’S PUNK!

- Duane Rossignal, New York’’

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I don't know much about modern day punk at all but it seems pretty daft to try and compare the hardcore US variants of punk with the mid-70's variant (whether US or UK). It's like comparing apples and oranges really. I would say that spilling into the 80's the Yanks started doing it better. Dead Kennedys were superb. Black Flag were pretty good to start with but got a bit ding towards the end I feel. 70's is tricky because the US bands are pretty widely spread in terms of musical style if you count the likes of Talking Heads and Blondie in there but I think US and UK were pretty even.

UK definitely has the edge when it comes to the 'post-punk' era - Pil vs. The Knack, nae contest (although My Sharona is a total tune).

The most surprising thing about this thread for me has been the revelation that Senseless Things and Mega-City 4 class as 'punk'.

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My buddy insisted on taking me to Freebirds World Burrito. It's basically a Subway for mexican food, catering towards hungover people. I had some chicken, homemade salsa, loads of tomato, refried beans, spring onion rice, bbq sauce and Monterey Jack rolled up in a giant sloppy wheat tortilla. It was a beautiful thing.

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UK definitely has the edge when it comes to the 'post-punk' era - Pil vs. The Knack, nae contest (although My Sharona is a total tune).

The most surprising thing about this thread for me has been the revelation that Senseless Things and Mega-City 4 class as 'punk'.

I think you're maybe being a little unfair to the US post-punk era. Bands like Pere Ubu and (early) Devo and (early) B-52's were pretty special, and Iggy Pop's stuff in the late 70s like The Idiot is pretty special too (although, David Bowie was heavily involved, so I'm not sure if that's really American).

There's a whole load of stuff that came out of New York in the late 70's that was simply amazing: Suicide, Lydia Lunch, James Chance...

The mythology goes that Suicide went down better in Manchester than The Clash did when they toured together, but I'm not sure how that translated into influence.

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.

I adore The Clash, but I can't say I'm totally convinced by the "punk saved us from Prog" argument, especially since in later years when punks owned up to liking Prog and took influence from it, from what I understand*. Can were a big influence on PiL and John Lydon was apparently a fan. It's a useful myth since it got kids to pick up guitars, but the experimental side of prog still had an influence.

A lot of punks were still middle-class and and/or educated, and the rest were Sham 69. It was an art-school movement as much as it was a street one.

*have read in Simon Reynolds books

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