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What the f*** was PUNK?


xilddx
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[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1370874004' post='2106665']
I don't know how old you are, but I grew up in the '70s, when almost everything was 'normal', you know, all that 'ordinary respectable working people' crap that politicians and the Daily Mail tell you is essential for civilisation to survive, when a band like Black Sabbath meant imminent social collapse in the eyes of 'normal' people and politicians. You can't imagine the fear that the punk movement engendered in 'ordinary normal' people. Everyone had to look grey or brown, if you wore colours or odd socks or whatever, people thought you were the herald of the breakdown of society. Of course the 'ordinary' people could wear colours too, but only on Saturday or Sunday, where temporary social collapse was controlled by keeping it in the vicinity of the football stadium.
[/quote]

I guess I must be missing the point with it, not having been there at the time and also growing up in the 90s when the whole 'Waltons lifestyle' was definitely confined to history for the majority of people I knew.

Maybe if I'd been there at the time I would have felt differently about it.

I did go and watch the Stranglers a couple of months back down the road (dunno if that counts) thoroughly enjoyed them but the shouty 'Property ownership is evil' support band frankly sounded ridiculous in this day and age.

Rob

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1370874893' post='2106687']
I guess I must be missing the point with it, not having been there at the time and also growing up in the 90s when the whole 'Waltons lifestyle' was definitely confined to history for the majority of people I knew.

Maybe if I'd been there at the time I would have felt differently about it.

I did go and watch the Stranglers a couple of months back down the road (dunno if that counts) thoroughly enjoyed them but the shouty 'Property ownership is evil' support band frankly sounded ridiculous in this day and age.

Rob
[/quote]
It always was ridiculous :) Borrowed their guitars and drums, had they?

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1370874893' post='2106687']
I did go and watch the Stranglers a couple of months back down the road (dunno if that counts) thoroughly enjoyed them but the shouty 'Property ownership is evil' support band frankly sounded ridiculous in this day and age.
[/quote]
I never thought of The Stranglers as a punk band if only for the reason that they weren't one but do understand what you mean. I find it hard not to giggle when Townshend and Daltrey perform My Generation. :)

Edited by BetaFunk
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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1370874893' post='2106687']
Maybe if I'd been there at the time I would have felt differently about it.
[/quote]
Not necessarily - I was a teenager at the time & I didn't get it at all.
It just seemed like another fad to me, like Rollermania a few years previously.

I was born middle aged though, so my viewpoint possibly isn't that valuable. :)

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[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1370877477' post='2106739']
Not necessarily - I was a teenager at the time & I didn't get it at all.
It just seemed like another fad to me, like Rollermania a few years previously.
[/quote]

+1
I was 16 in 1976 - I thought it was all sh*te.

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[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1370878077' post='2106748']
+1
I was 16 in 1976 - I thought it was all sh*te.
[/quote]

I was 12, and all I really knew about it was the sh*t I saw in the papers at the time (in our house it was The Sun and the Cov Evening Telegraph), and the weird looking people I saw in Coventry town centre. Punks, skins, mods, rockers, two tones, dreads, psuedo-hippies, skins, all seemed to have certain areas of Godiva Square that they'd hang out in. I found it all rather thrilling and disturbing at that age. I sort of developed into a hippie-rocker when I was 15.

I didn't know what to make of punk at the time, it seemed angry and anti-establishment and the press and TV made it sound like it was very dangerous to society, I never really bought that sh*t though. I was just a bit wary and I only knew a couple of punks at school, they seemed perfectly normal except for the hair and trousers :)

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My friends and I were well into the long hair hippy/rocker/dope scene at the time - that was exotic and magical as well as deeply anti-establishment, and a world we aspired to join. Punk to us was just ugly and stupid. I was born about five years too late, I think. :)

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I was 16 at the time of the Bill Gundy Sex Pistols incident. I thought the energy and drive of punk was fantastic and the DIY spirit that came along afterwards got me and my band out of the bedroom and eventually on to the John Peels show. It didn't stop me from still enjoying my Greenslade, Magma and Faust albums as well though.

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[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1370945778' post='2107699']
8 Pages in, and no one's mentioned Crass yet? Hmmm.....
[/quote]
I suppose that's because most of this thread has been about punk as a culture rather than an in depth discussion about the music. Just goes to show what a wide range of music came under the 'punk' umbrella though when both The Stranglers and Crass are mentioned in this thread. :)

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[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1370947363' post='2107725']
I suppose that's because most of this thread has been about punk as a culture rather than an in depth discussion about the music. Just goes to show what a wide range of music came under the 'punk' umbrella though when both The Stranglers and Crass are mentioned in this thread. :)
[/quote]
yeah punk became a very broad church as far as musically styles were concerned, from the Buzzcocks, Undertones to Crass and beyond, I prefer the more melodic end of it myself, but all the styles are energetic and fairly simple to play, though not always at the speed of some of it, especially for drummers, as mentioned earlier

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Were Television considered "punk"? Because they were awesome. And what about Talking Heads? I always thought of the Clash as punk, Elvis Costello and the Police too, they were a league ahead of the likes of the Pistols in my eyes. I wasnt there though by quite a margin so it's just the impression I get.

As someone born in the mid 80s my idea of punk is rooted in the American and American inspired bands of the 90s and beyond, occasionally ska tinged, so NOFX, Streetlight Manifesto, A Wilhelm Scream etc... the word to me means fast, energetic and often upbeat music with a DIY ethic among the bands, occasionally some political overtones to the lyrics and a generally inclusive attitude to the scene. But I dont really listen to it anymore because frankly I'm just a bit bored of the genre.

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[quote name='Wil' timestamp='1370949258' post='2107747']
Were Television considered "punk"? Because they were awesome. And what about Talking Heads? I always thought of the Clash as punk, Elvis Costello and the Police too, they were a league ahead of the likes of the Pistols in my eyes. I wasnt there though by quite a margin so it's just the impression I get.
[/quote]

This is where it gets messy. In retrospect, The Police were not a million miles from some punk bands, but nobody at the time would have called them punk. Too mainstream.

I think "New Wave" and "Post-Punk" were the terms used for most of these bands at the time, though the exact distinction between New Wave and Post-Punk eludes me.... probably more to do with the audience than the band. New Wave was more populist and Post-Punk was a bit more art school/goth.

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[quote name='Wil' timestamp='1370949258' post='2107747']
Were Television considered "punk"? Because they were awesome. And what about Talking Heads? I always thought of the Clash as punk, Elvis Costello and the Police too, they were a league ahead of the likes of the Pistols in my eyes. I wasnt there though by quite a margin so it's just the impression I get.
[/quote]
I liked Television as a band but they were more the American take on punk. As for Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and The Police they were bands with really good musicians and were not punk. They all just got lumped in with punk until someone thought up the terms post-punk and new wave.

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[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1370952629' post='2107799']
This is where it gets messy. In retrospect, The Police were not a million miles from some punk bands, but nobody at the time would have called them punk. Too mainstream.
[/quote]
I don't think it's anything to do with being mainstream more that The Police weren't punk. The Clash were pretty mainstream but were considered by a lot of people as punks.

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