Saperlipopette! wrote:
... Not really, no. Original punk rock is musically very conventional and didn't go against any well established rock or popular music genres. Besides the "primitive" DIY attitude of Punk is almost opposite of what Prog generally represents. I mean the level of ambition and the skills most Prog requires to pull off was a huge part of what Punk was a reaction to. ... |
Hi,
I think that "progressive" and a lot of music around had gotten the opinion that a lot of it was done by folks that were musically educated, and they were able to create works that displayed that well.
FOR ME, the punk scene was a direct response to the "educated" side of the music, REMEMBER that is was notes as a lot of "art music" and that kinda takes it away from "the streets" and the folks that do not have the education but have enough gumption to pluck one note (so to speak) long enough to make a song.
Honestly, I think that punk was a media creation that was handled by the record companies, because the really good acts were all taken up and finding new ones was difficult ... but then, they weren't looking, were they? We're finding more stuff now that was not represented THEN. And you and I know that the record companies went for the money quickly before it dried up! Thus, the likelihood, THEN, that someone would post a review saying how good it was, would likely show up ... but punk had its points, and attitude was an important one, that I think about on the notion of "song" and "lyrics" ... that had become the "thing" then since this was a very clear distinction.
I don't think that most punk musicians were musically illiterate, I really doubt that, although in Penelope Spheris specials, there are moments in the music that suggests it ... or at the very least it was very simplified, so they could play it and get some recognition ... which many of them did get, thanks to the media end up saying that many of the punk works were good, and better than the overblown progressive material.
MIND YOU, that it was not the top level of progressive that was being attacked, though ELP got a lot of flack, but the many other bands of the 2nd tier that were also putting out a lot of material that might have been thought of as not as good, but in the end, 40/50 years later, their musicianship is as good as that of the top tier.
It's a difficult discussion any way we look at it, since the media is the bunch of folks that decided that A was bad, and B was good'er and C was neat and clever. Mostly because some top bands just did not have the time to be interviewed by every Joe, Tom, Dick and Harry out there ... and at that point the lower level groups have a very good chance.
BUT, we're at fault as well ... by not trashing some reviewers for their comments ... for example, one idiot said that Tangerine Dream sounded like washing machine music ... and you now know that person had obviously never heard washing machines, or Tangerine Dream for that matter ... and he should have been removed from his job as a reviewer, since that person, obviously did not listen to music ... I'm guessing they were listening to punk by that time!
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
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