Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Paul,

You couldn't get away with a song like "Bodies" in most places in the world 30 years ago, let alone Kentucky or Florida!
And, yes, this place is in full reverse socially, no question about it.

Punk was an full faced assault on the UK social fabric, not to mention the attack on the monarchy, which, at the time, was still a taboo, especially in the silver jubilee year.

The Pistols were at the forefront of everything that year, and no one has made an social impact like them since.

NMTB is definitive, and is probably one of the top 5 influential albums of all time, especially from a UK musical perspective.

Funny I recently saw an interview with the Ramones (alive and dead), Joey remarked when they first got together they thought they were doing bubblegum music. I tend to agree.

They were the best, IMHO. I never cared for politics in music.

shamustwin wrote:Funny I recently saw an interview with the Ramones (alive and dead), Joey remarked when they first got together they thought they were doing bubblegum music. I tend to agree.
They were the best, IMHO. I never cared for politics in music.

Even if the Ramones were doing bubblegum, their bubblegum was very chewable and tasty, imho. They did have a few political songs, though. Agreed with the 2nd statement, never really cared about that either. I mean, if that's the only thing the band can offer to the listener and concentrate on, that's too little, imho.

Yeah, but have any of you fine people heard The Fall?

Good points all around by everyone. No real way to categorize punk in one tidy package.
For me, the Clash, the Buzzcocks, X, Dead Kennedy's, the Ramones, and early Black Flag
cover all the bases.

An appropriate mix, Mick!

The first tine I heard the term "hardcore" relating to music was for Black Flag..

kenposurf wrote:The first tine I heard the term "hardcore" relating to music was for Black Flag..

First time I heard it was in realtion to DOA, an awesome punk rock band from Vancouver. One of their early releases was Hardcore '81.

What about Aussie Punk? Could this be where it all began? Nice bass too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-GueNOKolo

Funny, but i've never heard of Aussie punk being referred to as a unique wave of punk rock (unlike British, American, or German). Nice track, indeed.

Didn't The Saints pre-date The Sex Pistols? I know (I'm) Stranded was being performed in 1975.

I've heard it discussed, by many more knowlegable than I, that this is the first punk song? It's still hard to go past Iggy though.

Brett, you are spot-on. The Saints were performing and recording before the Pistols, but just after the Ramones.

Aussie punk was pretty much a cult genre, with the Saints as by far the most recognisable name overseas. The other big name locally was Radio Birdman, also a pre-UK punk band, who were given short shrift by the industry.

The aggressive buzz-saw guitar ground at the time was pretty much dominated commercially by the Angels, who were many things (including a great live act) but not a punk band in the cultural sense. The anti-establishment rage was covered by Midnight Oil, another stupendous live band, but again not punk - their music, whilst aggressive, was a couple of orders of magnitude too complex.

Some links for the last post - sorry the clips are poor quality:

Radio Birdman circa 1977: "Aloha Steve and Dano": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul8x9EAQLUI
The Ventures meet the Ramones

The Angels circa 1978: "Take a Long Line": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SprbGBbP1lU
Two stationary guitarists and an overdressed thespian front-man (looking just a bit like Mel Gibson)

Midnight Oil circa 1979 (performance from 1980): "Section 5 (Bus to Bondi)": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTru8PtKQI
The future environment minister doing what he did best

While on the subject of the Angels I found this very early clip with 'Doc' on bass. I had forgotten he was the bassist before they went to a five piece band. What a great surprise to see what he was playing too!


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EPFVlLfDx ... re=related


I saw the Angels when they supported David Bowie in 1978 on his 'cabaret' tour, IMHO. So disappointing for a Ziggy, Alladin Sane, Diamond Dogs fan. An anthem like Gene Genie played as a caberet style slow number! Almost walked out. Still goads me 30 years later, who says I'm bitter and twisted.

Anyway, the Angels blew Bowie away that night, they had the crowd pumping. The next time I saw the Angels was last February at the Bon Scott Memorial Concert and they still have the magic, albeit without 'Doc' up front. There is another Memorial concert at the end of this month with the unveiling of the Bon Scott Statue for anyone interested in coming to Perth to party. I have added a link to the official site for anyone interested.


http://www.aussierock.com.au/index.php

Not to hijack the thread(believe me, a long post on this one is coming from me later)but any of you Aussies familiar with "Exploding White Mice?" A friend of mine in Gemany made me a tape of them when I was stationed there in 89, and was wondering if anyone was familiar with them. Very early stooges ramonesy type stuff. Cool tape, but have no more info on it.

Will post on this thread soon, as it's now almost 3:30 am, and I may have a life soon. The little green men promised it was in the mail. Where's my meds?.....

Since this has wandered into something if a "who did it first" discussion, I'd suggest that for an example of early punk sonics, one might consider...The Sonics! Who looked like 60s frat boys but sure were more ferocious than any frat band I ever heard. Surely The Stooges were fans of those guys. What's cool is that the fury just seems to come out of nowhere- they don't look poor or miserable or anything... Fury for fury's sake, I guess. Good idea!

It's also interesting that Never Mind the ... is such a reference standard punk record, and it is great. But the Sex Pistols were an assembled band with a mastermind dude, and the record was made over a long stretch in an expensive studio with a top producer. Seems kinda incorrect given the purported tenets of British punk, you know? Of course, it is usually folly to put much stock in any kind of artistic/cultural/political purity, since what we the public "know" about it all is usually wrong.

Julie Burchill's book "The Boy Looked at Johnny" is great reading, even if she claims the Brits invented everything! She's such a partisan and such a good writer that you get a real sense of those Glory Days of the late 70s UK punk scene.