Post by Fuggle on Nov 11, 2007 13:58:21 GMT -5
For real punk bands, looks trump depth
By J. Ridewood
11/5/07
John Lydon, center, of The Sex Pistols performs alongside original band members Glen Matlock, left, and Steve Jones, right, at the Roxy in West Hollywood, Calif. The concert marked the legendary British punk rock band's first-ever club performance in Southern California.
"Punk Rock died when the first kid said 'punk's not dead ...punk's not dead." - D. Berman
The October issue of Spin Magazine is honoring the 30th anniversary of the release of "Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols," an album that signifies if not the conception of punk music, then at least the beginning of the golden age of the genre. And since it's the only album I own that could accurately be considered "punk," I thought it was a perfect time to explain my general disgust with punk music and its hopeless pretensions of rebellion and teenage revolution.
I bought "Nevermind the B0llocks..." as an impressionable pre-teen, hoping to find an outlet for my angst and something to play as I thrashed around my bedroom hating my parents.
What I found, however, was vapidity and unfulfilled expectations. After a few listens, growing up and realizing my problems weren't that unique became more preferable options than stomaching Johnny Rotten's calls for "anarchy in the U.K."
Looking back, my favorite part of the album was probably its iconic cover. I marveled at its combination of pink and lime green. "These dudes rawkkk so hard that they don't even CARE that these colors are hideous," I thought as I defiantly purchased the album from my local shopping mall's Sam Goody.
My choice to buy an album strictly for its album cover illustrates an important feature of punk. Unlike in other genres of popular music, aesthetics aren't a bonus - they are the rule.
And the exemplar for the substance-over-style argument is no doubt the bassist for the Sex Pistols, John Simon Ritchie a.k.a. Sid Vicious. Personifying the punk rock image (which I guess means he showered way less than the other dudes in the Sex Pistols), Vicious was asked to join the band even though he lacked one important qualification - actually knowing how to play bass.
In fact, during live shows, members of the band would unplug Vicious' bass because he was playing so terribly.
But Vicious looked the part, and that was way more important than any technical skill he failed to possess. Fashion trumped music, and a dangerous new precedent was set.
Many punk-rock fans, however, might argue against the influence of the Sex Pistols and instead point to bands like the Stooges, Television or the Clash as the true originators of punk music ... only none of these bands could ever be considered punk, and not just because they are good.
As famed music critic Lester Bangs once wrote when comparing the Ramones and other punk bands to '60s greats like MC5, Question Mark and the Mysterians, and the Kingsmen, "the difference here ... is in the hype." Punk is a fashion statement, not a genre of music.
The Clash, for example, experimented with reggae, funk, rockabilly and New Wave and even used saxophone on their seminal album, "London Calling." Nothing, of course, is less punk than the saxophone.
Two characteristics of the Clash cause the misconception that they were punk rockers. The first characteristic, black leather, is one of punk music's biggest fashion statements that I've never understood. So you're trying to rebel against society and you steal your fashion from Elvis? Good call, punk dude.
The other important similarity is the pervasive politics in the Clash's music. I've always found punk's political element (political first wave punk from the 70s) to be pretty admirable.
The wretched idealism of 60s folk music faded away in the early 70s when bands became more focused on guitar solos, concept albums and getting laid. Punk bands from the Sex Pistols to the right-wing Oi! genre to every 9-year-old's favorite band Green Day have been "fighting the system."
Sadly, political commentary in punk music is, to borrow a line from the Sex Pistols, "pretty vacant." Green Day's grand political manifesto "American Idiot" may be the low point, but politics in punk rarely extend beyond dissent and questioning authority.
There just isn't anything revolutionary or valuable about the Pistols declaring the U.K. a "fascist regime" or, to a far greater extent, the neo-nazis associated with hardcore punk. The Clash, on the other hand, rejected the anarchy and nihilism of punk for righteousness and a leftist ideology.
They preached the acceptance and anti-authority of punk music, but still attacked specific, real-world issues such as when they publicly defended the H-Block protests in Northern Ireland, which began in 1976 after the British government commandeered the political status of IRA prisoners.
I guess the pre teen version of me can find some consolation that all the bands I love now remotely associated with punk (specifically Velvet Underground, Mudhoney and the Clash) aren't punk in the true sense of the genre. But I cannot help but feeling like I missed out on something by not accepting punk more readily.
Maybe I could have learned something from the tolerance and romanticism of punk music because damned if I don't find myself loving the song "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down" by the Ramones. Then again, it's probably best I leave the head banging and anarchy to people with the patience to grow their hair past their ears.
By J. Ridewood
11/5/07
John Lydon, center, of The Sex Pistols performs alongside original band members Glen Matlock, left, and Steve Jones, right, at the Roxy in West Hollywood, Calif. The concert marked the legendary British punk rock band's first-ever club performance in Southern California.
"Punk Rock died when the first kid said 'punk's not dead ...punk's not dead." - D. Berman
The October issue of Spin Magazine is honoring the 30th anniversary of the release of "Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols," an album that signifies if not the conception of punk music, then at least the beginning of the golden age of the genre. And since it's the only album I own that could accurately be considered "punk," I thought it was a perfect time to explain my general disgust with punk music and its hopeless pretensions of rebellion and teenage revolution.
I bought "Nevermind the B0llocks..." as an impressionable pre-teen, hoping to find an outlet for my angst and something to play as I thrashed around my bedroom hating my parents.
What I found, however, was vapidity and unfulfilled expectations. After a few listens, growing up and realizing my problems weren't that unique became more preferable options than stomaching Johnny Rotten's calls for "anarchy in the U.K."
Looking back, my favorite part of the album was probably its iconic cover. I marveled at its combination of pink and lime green. "These dudes rawkkk so hard that they don't even CARE that these colors are hideous," I thought as I defiantly purchased the album from my local shopping mall's Sam Goody.
My choice to buy an album strictly for its album cover illustrates an important feature of punk. Unlike in other genres of popular music, aesthetics aren't a bonus - they are the rule.
And the exemplar for the substance-over-style argument is no doubt the bassist for the Sex Pistols, John Simon Ritchie a.k.a. Sid Vicious. Personifying the punk rock image (which I guess means he showered way less than the other dudes in the Sex Pistols), Vicious was asked to join the band even though he lacked one important qualification - actually knowing how to play bass.
In fact, during live shows, members of the band would unplug Vicious' bass because he was playing so terribly.
But Vicious looked the part, and that was way more important than any technical skill he failed to possess. Fashion trumped music, and a dangerous new precedent was set.
Many punk-rock fans, however, might argue against the influence of the Sex Pistols and instead point to bands like the Stooges, Television or the Clash as the true originators of punk music ... only none of these bands could ever be considered punk, and not just because they are good.
As famed music critic Lester Bangs once wrote when comparing the Ramones and other punk bands to '60s greats like MC5, Question Mark and the Mysterians, and the Kingsmen, "the difference here ... is in the hype." Punk is a fashion statement, not a genre of music.
The Clash, for example, experimented with reggae, funk, rockabilly and New Wave and even used saxophone on their seminal album, "London Calling." Nothing, of course, is less punk than the saxophone.
Two characteristics of the Clash cause the misconception that they were punk rockers. The first characteristic, black leather, is one of punk music's biggest fashion statements that I've never understood. So you're trying to rebel against society and you steal your fashion from Elvis? Good call, punk dude.
The other important similarity is the pervasive politics in the Clash's music. I've always found punk's political element (political first wave punk from the 70s) to be pretty admirable.
The wretched idealism of 60s folk music faded away in the early 70s when bands became more focused on guitar solos, concept albums and getting laid. Punk bands from the Sex Pistols to the right-wing Oi! genre to every 9-year-old's favorite band Green Day have been "fighting the system."
Sadly, political commentary in punk music is, to borrow a line from the Sex Pistols, "pretty vacant." Green Day's grand political manifesto "American Idiot" may be the low point, but politics in punk rarely extend beyond dissent and questioning authority.
There just isn't anything revolutionary or valuable about the Pistols declaring the U.K. a "fascist regime" or, to a far greater extent, the neo-nazis associated with hardcore punk. The Clash, on the other hand, rejected the anarchy and nihilism of punk for righteousness and a leftist ideology.
They preached the acceptance and anti-authority of punk music, but still attacked specific, real-world issues such as when they publicly defended the H-Block protests in Northern Ireland, which began in 1976 after the British government commandeered the political status of IRA prisoners.
I guess the pre teen version of me can find some consolation that all the bands I love now remotely associated with punk (specifically Velvet Underground, Mudhoney and the Clash) aren't punk in the true sense of the genre. But I cannot help but feeling like I missed out on something by not accepting punk more readily.
Maybe I could have learned something from the tolerance and romanticism of punk music because damned if I don't find myself loving the song "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down" by the Ramones. Then again, it's probably best I leave the head banging and anarchy to people with the patience to grow their hair past their ears.