That’s important to remember, that what became punk was also shaped by people taking the rhetoric of the music industry and music critics, and applying new meaning, but that also meant that the meaning could shift and change, too. It’s all about finding out what kind of community works for you, more than anything else, I think.
I was aware that YOU weren’t diminishing either… But I’d say that despite the constructedness of both, they both had some real authenticity to them. And some people entirely think the beatles were god’s gift to humanity, and early on… kind of boy bandish!
Yes, absolutely this. Everything in life is fluid and changes. Need to always evaluate if what was good yesterday is still healthy today and be ready to make changes when the answer is no.
Totally. And the Beatles were 95% boyband at the beginning, with the occasional slip of the mask that they weren’t enjoying playing along with scripted, expected spectacle, and then they could be just a little Johnny Rotten.
I don’t guess I’d consider Metal Box or Confusion is Sex to be punk, although I can’t imagine either one would’ve happened without it. But they seem to fill the musical space that punk suggests – for example, if I’d never heard any punk but had read about it, those two albums come closer to how I’d imagine punk might sound.
In any case I like/enjoy/appreciate those 2 records (and Wire) more than the Sex Pistols’ output. A friend and I used to argue that this was due to me being more the “arty” type, while he was listening to a steady diet of Clash, Billy Bragg, and Michelle Shocked. From his perspective, if I “liked” those other bands “better” than the Sex Pistols, then I’ve missed the point of punk and for that matter so did the other bands. (Around that same time I had a couple of classes taught by this guy (wow, he’s still there!) who I think was coming from the same perspective my friend was.)
as an insult. Johnny Rotten is a persona who people expect to say and do outrageous things, and he delivered on that here. When he did that butter advertisement twenty years ago he was criticised for not doing that.
As for the Sex Pistols themselves, every band who released a record on Factory Records owes their career to them, and there are countless more bands who were inspired by them.
One of the reasons I like the Manic Street Preachers is they pushed back against that scene, with all the makeup and Nicky Wire wearing dresses on stage. Over the years they did it less often than they used to, just like their later music is less obviously influenced by The Clash. Nicky doesn’t wear dresses now, he says they don’t fit him anymore.
For me, punk goes back to three bands- the Clash, the Ramones, and the Sex Pistols.
The beginnings of punk were around well before them, with Iggy, the MC5, garage rock like the Troggs, but I think of those moments where an early band- not the first, but near the beginning- draws that solid line in the sand and declares “this is what this is”.
The Ramones defined the speed, the garage band ethic, the tight, stripped down structure, and the fucked up sense of humor.
The Clash defined the smart, political side of punk, and the template to touch on other genres like ska and classic rock without sacrificing the core aesthetic of what would be known as punk.
And the Sex Pistols- How to put this? Take every example of teenage rebellion, remove every ounce of respectability, sprinkle with a generous helping of nihilism, and shove it the fuck up your motherfucking c—t because I will drink my own vomit just to make you nauseous and if you don’t like it you can go fucking fuck yourself you fucking shitfuck.
And honestly, I just don’t think it would be punk at all without at least a little bit of that.
I used to like John Lydon a lot. His viewpoints were often refreshingly honest. Rotten Radio and Rotten TV were fun. But now he seems to have crossed over to being a Trump-loving (yes, really) old man and I’m sorry but I’m done with him. Even the last P.i.L. album was boring.
Yeah, they brought a bit of femininity to a very very male scene at the time and i love the subversiveness of richey’s quote of “all rock ‘n’ roll is homosexual” being turned into tshirt merch and worn by blokey blokes at their gigs.
I saw him a couple months back after a screening of The Public Image is Rotten. Trump was brought up and he made it clear that he doesn’t support Trump and finds him to be a wanker. He was just being Johnny Rotten when he was praising the anti-establishment of his candidacy.
I didn’t think that you meant that. My take on it is that almost anything that intersections with the music industry is manufactured in some way. It’s the nature of the modern cultural production. There is no outside, as Foucault said.
That alone is enough, honestly. But I love the sex pistols for their own sake. Matlock wrote great songs and Johnny was an angry, funny mess.
And I keep meaning to get into Manic Street Preachers… What’s a good first album to check out?
cheers!
