This is my punk...or something

[(08 Ric 4003)]

I know there is good country out there. I happen to love Dwight Yoakam, Cash, Willie, Lyle Lovett. I am a rocker by nature, but I am not afraid to admit good MUSIC when I hear it. Seen Willie twice. My wife and daughter like all the commercial country that sound the same to me. Let me see punk. I've seen Suicidal Tendencies, Fugazi and Bad Religion, The Clash, The Alarm(they may not be punk wanna be U2 maybe), X, Romeo Void, and Violent Femmes.

[(cjj)]

And don't get me started on country music which is just a pretty girl with a back up band and a little pedal steel and a twang in the voice and singing a song about a tractor.

Oh come on now. You just can't write a great song about a tractor. A good song, maybe, but not great. Now, your ex-lover, a dog and an old pickup truck, well...

[(winston)]

And don't get me started on country music which is just a pretty girl with a back up band and a little pedal steel and a twang in the voice and singing a song about a tractor.

Oh come on now. You just can't write a great song about a tractor. A good song, maybe, but not great. Now, your ex-lover, a dog and an old pickup truck, well...

Hey............ that's a secret formula for spewing out country hits CJ. You just can't go bandying that around the internet.

[(whojamfan)]

But, if you play it backwards, you get all yer stuff back!

[(whojamfan)]

Wow, punk has come and gone? sheesh, talk about not getting the memo!

This statement couldn't be further from the truth, punk is alive and well, and blasting out eardrums in a club near you!

[(winston)]

punk is alive and well, and blasting out eardrums in a club near you!

Can't wait to hear the Generators live Mike.

[(scotty)]

Punk,Mod,Soul,Hip-hop,Trip-hop and Be bop! might be dead to some people on the planet but to those it matters to its as strong as the Heartbeat in their chest.



Now wheres my defibrillator.........

[(jps)]

Tripe-hop?

[(benjamin672)]

Nice to see TSOL mentioned. I've gotten into them recently. The first song I heard by them was 'Flowers by the Door' -- after hearing that, I sought out the rest of their albums, thinking I'd find more jangly, chorus-y stuff to play. But most of their music isn't like that at all! Still not entirely sure what I think of them but I've learned a few songs now that are enjoyable to play sometimes.

[(08 Ric 4003)]

I used to have Hit And Run or Revenge on cassette, can't remember with one. Used to listen to them back in the late 80's and early 90's. I grew up the West Coast, so for me punk was the Dead Kenedeys, The Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Agent Orange, and The Meat Puppets who became a strange alt country punk rock psychedelic thing. Gonna have to play some Meat Puppets today. I liked the Clash and Ramones back then.

[(The Mod Lang)]

And don't get me started on country music which is just a pretty girl with a back up band and a little pedal steel and a twang in the voice and singing a song about a tractor.

Oh come on now. You just can't write a great song about a tractor. A good song, maybe, but not great. Now, your ex-lover, a dog and an old pickup truck, well...

I never grew up in, lived in, or really even visited the country. This is maybe why I can't relate to the music. Yes, I do like some elements of country in music by the Rolling Stones, slide guitars, ect but the subject matter and the culture I never really was much for.
That said...this is my punk:

Johnny Thunders
The Soda Pop Kids
The Exploding Hearts
The Damned
The Boys
Iggy
Richmond Sluts
The Vibrators

[(Bassmouse)]

This is a fascinating discussion! And I would like to thank Sheena in particular, for the insight into the punk sensibilities of Russian folk music from centuries ago, and the fist fights between fans of Russian singers back in the 1940s. Absolutely incredible stuff, and I love reading all about it!

I loved punk as a teenager in the mid-1990s, and I still go back to the well occasionally when only "that sound" feels right. The Sex Pistols were my introduction, and for me, they are pure punk. Johnny Rotten has far more going on upstairs that most people give him credit for, and he seems to have followed his own path in life with an almost zen-like simplicity and happiness. THAT is punk! And Steve Jones' guitar playing was breathtakingly fierce, and deceptively tight and accomplished. Sure, they did it for the money, but they said so openly from the start, and people only began to feel cheated when they realised that the lads had actualy been completely honest with them! And they still do it for the money, and long may they continue!

*My* punk - as in, the punk of my generation - was in bands like The Levellers and New Model Army. The Levellers lived according to their beliefs, and their fame (which was considerable, circa 1992 - 1993, at least in Great Britain, anyway) had spread largely by word of mouth. I could see the genuine spirit of punk in them, whether or not we would call it punk.

Another band which I discovered around the same time and loved was The Jesus Lizard. Are there any other fans of theirs here? They became known through the double-A sided single which they released with Nirvana, and, much though I love Nirvana, I thought that The Jesus Lizard's song outshone it by far.
Funnily enough, out of the four bands which I have mentioned in this post, The Jesus Lizard are the band who I listen to most often today (I say "funnily enough" because the punk spirit of finding your own way, rediscovering your independence, etc, does not really play a part in their music, although their music would sound pretty punkish to most people!). Their album, Blue, has been a favourite of mine for well over a decade now. Has anyone else discovered it?