Punk Rock

Edited by boo boo - May 24 2009 at 19:49

I used to be somewhat of a fan, but eh, not so much these days. Nevertheless, I don't despise it for any reason. I could care less about anything that doesn't relate to the actual music.

I don't hate Sex Pistols, much less so the punk movement/music. (actually, I proposed The Pistols for inclusion, half-jokingly, long time ago)

As much as I love prog - in fact, prog is my love No.1 - I own punk a great deal for my perception of rock 'n' roll in general. I love Television, The Clash, New York Dolls, Lene Lovich, Devo, Ian Dury, Lou Reed, and The Stooges. Also the new wave bads who were influenced by punk but picked much artier approach, PiL, XTC and The Stranglers. Incredible music.

The problem is of course, in dilletant journalism who is repeating the same things ad nauseam, skewing the thruth.

The next problem is narrow-mindedness of music fans: each prog fan should give a try (if it's not already familiar) to a simpler forms of rock and try to see why it can be so appealing, perhaps not starting with the UK Subs, but some art-punk act. On the other hand, each punk fan should check some prog act, perhaps not Yes, but certainly some Krautrock or Kevin Ayers.

If you're prog fan and you know only prog, one punk record can widen your musical perspective more than 100 newly discovered prog albums. And vice versa.

My home town (and country in general) expereinced a real artistic and social renaissance during the 80s which can not be compared with anything before. There was an avalanche of great bands, and some feeling of unity for the better future. Of course there was also anger , typical punk angst, but it was directed to the establishment which certainly deserved it. But it used to be so sweet to have that anger (as well as other honest feelings and artistical creativity) among the people who are thinking same as you, who are good-hearted, and who wants to change things.

That sprit continued in the 90's despite of war, crisis and all the social changes, and in a degree it's still significant to the present day. These open-hearted anarcho youngsters are almost only ones who are actually doing some sort of counter-culture, organising events, printing fanzines, doing protests against politics swamped in corruption.

I'm 33, I was yesterday on a punk festival with many Croatian and Serbian punk & rock bands, I saw friends that I haven't seen in ages - and I also had great fun, for the first time out after many months.

I play in an art/punk/rock band and I'm proud of it.

I actually think the Pistols were pretty vacant and sounded like Status Quo on a bad night, but the production on Never Mind The Bollocks is surprisingly good.

 A whole generation grew up believing that 11min. numbers were short,and LP's should be double and anything w/out a 5 min. drum solo was pop.Guitars were to be played very loud and endlessly, w/out reference to what the rest of the band was doing, audiences were to be ignored in favour of artistic credibility. So yes, I fancy punk!  Ramones, Clash, Rotten Rod and the Warheads.

I still wouldn't like the Sex Pistols.  I disliked them before I listened to prog.  They're just such poor musicians.  And I don't care about non-technically inclined music, I love blues.  It's simple, but a lot of feel, most punk is just straightup poor musicianship.  If you can't play very well keep it simple, don't just play anyway and sound sloppy as hell

clarke2001 wrote: IIf you're prog fan and you know only prog, one punk record can widen your musical perspective more than 100 newly discovered prog albums. And vice versa.

They were good once.

The Doctor wrote: I listened to Nevermind the Bollocks once, not too many years ago actually.  I suffered a brain hemorrhage.  At least I think I did.  My ears started bleeding anyway.  Terrible.  And I don't care about any of the things the op mentioned.  It was just unpleasant to listen to.

Mission accomplished.

Petrovsk Mizinski wrote: I only used to hate the band and punk in general because I was an ignorant prick really. I grew up and did my research and hell, I realized without punk and it's various sub genres, a lot of sh*t I like today wouldn't exist or wouldn't exist in the same way it does. But to be fair, I visit many other music sites as well and prog is not a first love of mine, I place don't see it as something I love anymore than straight metal or punk or whatever. I tend to see myself as a cross between a hardcore and metal kid really, I just really like prog metal a lot too obviously, hehe. And for reference, PA has quite a few punk albums or stuff heavily derived from punk in it's database. Protest The Hero was a bunch of young kids that came from a punk/hardcore background and developed skills to play their blend of spastic metalcore/tech metal/prog metal/whateverthehell. The two founding members of The Mars Volta were in a post hardcore band prior to TMV. That's right folks, A POST HARDCORE BAND, namely At The Drive In. The post hardcore influence remains throughout their albums, if not as blatant as The Fall Of Troy. So if you're still bashing on punk and yet love TMV, Protest The Hero or the Fall Of Troy, try doing some research and you'll find out the band simply wouldn't exist without punk.

Too bad that post-hardcore jazz was already done in the late 80s by Fugazi, just as Rush and KC did what TMV and Protest the Hero did... back in the 70s.