Nurse Duckett

My memory of punk is it was born in 1976 and died in 1977, this may not be the case where you live but it was certainly the case in Britain.

Punk wasn't about anything other than everyone could do it, it didn't matter if you couldn't play very well. You could buy your first guitar and practise for a year and still not be able to play Led Zeppelin, punk arrived and you could buy your first guitar on Monday and be playing in a punk band by Saturday.

The Sex Pistols released God Save the Queen in 1977 to coincide with the Queens sliver jubilee, the BBC banned the single, it out sold the number one single that week by 3 to 1, but it was never given number 1 status. The media jumped on it, the music media really jumped on it and soon everyone and his/her dog was a punk, even if it was only for 3 weeks. That was when punk died, it had become exactly what it supposedly hated.

It was the first time I'd heard the "I'm an individual" argument, I'm an individual and I'll do what i want and I'll look how i want, and soon they all looked the same. I'm certain i wasn't the only one to see the irony in all this so called individuality, it was just attention seeking kids doing what attention seeking kids do. Sounds alot like the EMO thing doesn't it, loads of kids all demanding to be treated like individuals whilst all looking and acting the same and all saying exactly the same thing.

The media can only write about what has already happened, and if its already happened then its over. When the media get hold of something they usually kill it, and that's exactly what happened to punk. It was created by accident by people with good intentions and killed by the media when the idiot masses jumped on board.

The closest you'll get to the original punk ethic you'll get in todays world is someone sampling tunes in his/her bedroom and putting it all together to come up with some great dance tunes.

Punk died in its infancy, I'm glad punk happened and I'm glad it died.

Lord Larehip

Punk was born in Detroit in the late 60s primarily with the Stooges and the MC5. Why do Brits always think they invented everything?

Nurse Duckett

I'm not sure if your comment was directed at me, but if it was can I suggest you try reading the first sentence of my post.

Urban Hat€monger ?

Because we did, punk rock started in London in 1976, no if's or but's.

The Stooges were not a punk band and neither were the MC5, did they influence the punk movement? Yes they did, but they were not a part of it, otherwise you could list any band with a slightly angsty or nihilistic tone and call them a punk band, only they're not because all you are doing is retroactively applying a label to something before it existed.

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Dr_Rez

That is such an absurd claim to make. Their are SO many debatable example of albums before that, that are considered punk albums by many. According to you literately every album before some arbitrary date in 76 was Protopunk or just something else?

Punk Rock: rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and social alienation; in part a reaction against progressive rock.

I mean just take one album which was huge Raw power. The title track alone couldnt sound much more like a straight punk track.

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Lord Larehip

Here's MC5 doing "I Want You Right Now" from 1969:


MC5 - I Want You Right Now - YouTube

Here's an Italian hardcore band from the 80s with their song "Politicians". Tell me if you notice any similarities:


Raw power - Politicians - YouTube

That Italian band is, of course, Raw Power but I'm sure that's just a coincidence that has nothing to do with the Stooges. And MC5 were also avowed anarchists.

Why--and what's the song the Sex Pistols are playing?


The Sex Pistols - No Fun - Winterland S.F. 78 - YouTube

The only thing you Brits were ever good at was ripping off America for all your musical ideas and then taking the credit for it.

Nurse Duckett

I'm not sure Brits ripped off American music and took all the credit, I think you're being unfair there. Brit bands were heavily influenced by black American music, the music that racist white America had forgotten about. I think I'm right in saying the black artists were very grateful for it too, it meant they could make music again and get paid for it instead of sweeping studio floors.

I think some white Americans take far too much credit for Americas musical heritage, white America didn't really do alot to add to that heritage did it, it was black American music that Britain and the rest of the world loved.

Without black American music there would have been no Beatles, Stones or Led Zeppelin ( all three of those bands are better than any white American band that was ever formed ). Not one of those bands have ever denied how much they were influenced by black American music.


Whilst White America was busy hanging black people from trees and worrying about who can drink from what water fountain, and who's allowed in which restaurant the Brits were busy being influenced by black America and its fantastic music, and we still are. Thats why Brit bands from that era were superior to their white American counterparts. Simple when you think about it isn't it.

Most white American music is still terrible to this day, always has been, probably always will be.

Lord Larehip

The Brits were superior musically because Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Bill Haley and Jerry Lee Lewis all went to Britain. It certainly wasn't mistreatment of blacks because without it there never would have been blues. Blues was born from that suffering. It's because American girls wanted to listen to a bunch of pantywaists like Fabian and Frankie Avalon and guy then tried to imitate to get the girls. The hardcore rockers fell by the wayside and had to go to Britain who still had the good sense to take them in and come and see them play while America, with its most innovator rockers gone, sank into bulls-hit mediocrity.

And another country that should get way more credit than it has is Germany. Germany produced some great innovative talent in the early 70s from Kraftwerk/Organisation to Can to Neu to Tangerine Dream to Amon Duul.

By the mid to late 60s, America was producing excellent bands and, yes, we invented metal not Black Sabbath. Sabbath may have been the first truly metal band but not at all the first band to do metal.

Remember Bubble Puppy from 1969?


BUBBLE PUPPY - HOT SMOKE & SASAFRASS - YouTube

And while the state of American music today is a disgrace, Britain is no better off. I was in London about 2 years ago and all I heard was the same crap they play in America all the time.

My best time in Britain was in the 80s while I was in the service. We went to London, met some British sailors in a pub, left with them to hit a club, stepped outside and they started beating the s-hit out of us. I managed to get one guy in a headlock and pounded his eye until it looked like some f-ucked up alien was trying to pop out of his face. Then they tell us it was a test to see if could stand up for ourselves. I get a split lip for that?? I got blood running all down my shirt because my lip won't stop bleeding. Then we caught this double-decker or something and one guy has a guitar and they explained that they were their ship's band so I demanded they play something partly to hear them and partly to calm the bus down because these guys were SO f-ucking obnoxious that we were about to get tossed off into the street with the bus still moving.

So the guy breaks out his guitar and they start singing "If I Fell". These guys a drunk off their asses and it was BEAUTIFUL!! They sounded exactly like the Beatles and in 4-part harmony no less. People then started to loosen up. Some people clapped and wanted to hear more. One of my buddies started bragging what a great guitar player I was (which I'm not) but they shoved the guitar into my arms so I played "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You" which really made them happy. It was great because I didn't have to sing. They did all the singing. Then I played "Tell Her No" "Bell-Bottom Blues" and "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" all British stuff. After that, I could do no wrong. I was the god of music from America. We get to this club and I spend the whole time outside with the guitar player showing him these songs because he begged me to teach him.

Britain was a lot more fun back then.

Newkie

Now thats Punk Rock dude WoeeeeeeeeeW.

I don't get it though I admit my roots ignorance but if you go back to 68 and say "this sounds like metal" then why not go to the kinks in 64 and say the same thing? Or maybe if they had sped up Dead End Street a bit to go with the slightly earlier style but kept the lyrics, it would have been a punk anthem?

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Unknown Soldier

Exactly where does it end, a line has to be drawn up somewhere.

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