Re: Punk's not dead, pal!

**misery guts** Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:17 am

Music Icons: The Ramones
They formed in New York, and took a name and shtick from Paul McCartney using the alias Paul Ramon. They made a virtue of short songs and wearing leather jackets. They were signed to Sire Records in 1975, and put out their first album the following year. They did UK gigs in '76 too. They had a few line-up changes and started in a Roger Corman film, Rock N Roll High School. They continued through the 1980s, even though punk had long passed its best. They entered the R&R HoF in 2002. All of them died young. They got a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2011, and band members have streets named after them.

**misery guts** Wed May 08, 2019 7:20 am

Big Gold Dream
How Scotland reacted to punk, and quickly moved on to post-punk & beyond. In many respects it was the story of Bob Last, who started Fast Records, and Alan Horne, who may have started Postcard. They found and supported acts like The Fire Engines, Scars, Orange Juice, The Dirty Reds, and many more. They even gave an early nod to the Human League. The story was often of conflicting creative directions, major label money, and thwarted dreams. Neither label lasted too long, but their impact was felt for a long time hence.

**misery guts** Sat Jul 06, 2019 1:12 am

Reckless, by Chrissie Hynde
Though the Pretenders weren't punks, Hynde's time in London meant she met assorted other musicians and was around for the formations of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned and the Slits, not to mention befriending Iggy Pop and Ray Davies. The book runs up to the point after their first 2 albums where two of the band died. Whether there will be a Volume 2 is another matter.

**Adric** Sat Jul 06, 2019 1:39 am

Had an interesting dream two days ago. It involved The Stray Cats. Really don't know what it was even based on , but I was at a rave party that they performed at. Woke up singing 'Rock This Town' and all else is locked in the dream. Couldn't think of a better place to add this. Hopefully, I'll look back on this post 10 years from now.

**misery guts** Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:25 am

Sounds fine to me Idea

**misery guts** Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:34 am

PUNK
A lengthy 4-part effort from this year (and some of those present look better for their age than others). The story starts (!) in America, before bouncing over to the UK, then bouncing back to the US in the 80s, and final commercial glory in the 90s. A huge number of people were interviewed, from John Lydon and Henry Rollins, through Jello Biafra and Viv Albertine, to Billie Joe Armstrong and Duff McKagan. Iggy Pop co-produced the series, so the Stooges and the Ramones were pretty much credited as the originators of the scene. But many, many other bands were given their due, so that was good.

**misery guts** Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:14 am

Music Icons: Patti Smith
An activist poet from Chicago, she shone in New York and befriended Robert Mapplethorpe. Her debut album Horses was produced by John Cale and remains her high-water-mark. She recorded more, but also took time out to raise a family. She toured with Bob Dylan, and recently met the Pope. She experienced tragedies but battled on.

**misery guts** Fri Nov 15, 2019 8:07 am

Westwood - punk / icon / activist
The drearily over-rated fashion designer who was impressed by Malcolm MacLaren's vision and ideas, but wasn't too impressed by punk rock, and deeply resented Malcolm's controlling influence after their marriage soured (hard to blame her). She has latterly tried to take on board the threat of climate change, whilst her shops expand to other countries around the world. The establishment resented her, but still used her.

**misery guts** Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:53 am

Chris Packham - Forever Punk
Southampton's premier naturalist talks about his youth, where punk gave him a guide, and which he kept in spirit as he went on to work in TV and eventually get a gong from the Queen. He talked to other punks about whether they maintain that same spirit. So he met Jordan, former shop assistant, Jamie Reed, designer, and musicians like Terry Chimes, Richard Coles and Tom Robinson. He did turn over some new stones, so we got to hear about Alien Kulture, and Penetration. He even met his old punk band-mates from The Titanic Survivors, who survived his departure.

**misery guts** Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:21 am

Get Out of Your Own Way
A reflective piece with 73 year old Penny Rimbaud, who in his youth had helped form punk legends Crass. He admittedly didn't discuss the band here much, more a current project making a record of the poetry of Wilfred Owen. He had a disruptive education and spent time at art school. His project involved the One Little Indian Records company. He's a peace campaigner.

**misery guts** Mon Nov 23, 2020 8:36 am

Punk/New Wave Years, with Annie Nightingale
An hour compilation, linked by narration. Prioritising quantity over quality, Annie rattled through 36 (!) numbers, the more intriguing being as ever the less over-shown, such as Wreckless Eric, and the Au Pairs, and Linton Kwesi Johnson.

**misery guts** Fri Nov 27, 2020 7:31 am

More Punk & New Wave, compiled by Annie Nightingale
Unlike the first one, this featured entire tracks, and no voice-overs bossing the way. Again, the interest came with the like of The Raincoats, Spizzenergi, Marine Girls and a rare chance to hear "The Boiler".

**misery guts** Mon Dec 14, 2020 8:39 am

White Riot
The story of the Rock Against Racism movement of the late 1970s in the UK, where bands like the Clash and the Tom Robinson Band became involved with a major concert to show solidarity against a repellent bunch of racists. It was cheering to see how people did band together and march against the likes of the National Front.

**misery guts** Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:47 am

Poly Styrene - I Am A Cliche
Celeste Bell recounts the story of her mother, Marianne Elliott, better known as Poly Styrene, lead singer and writer for X-Ray Spex. They made an impact and caused a stir, but Poly found fame a struggle, and her mental health suffered. She was making something of a comeback when she was sadly diagnosed with cancer. Fans and friends sang her praises, and in some cases regretted not being able to do more for her.

**misery guts** Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:15 am

Danny Boyle is directing a new series, Pistol, I think based on Steve Jones' memoir about the Sex Pistols. John Lydon is not at all pleased at the prospect though.

**misery guts** Thu May 27, 2021 8:02 am

Music Icons: US Punk Rock
The less than edifying stories of the Ramones, the New York Dolls and the Dead Kennedys. At least the latter had novelty value for not being over-assessed like the former two.

**misery guts** Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:25 am

misery guts wrote:Danny Boyle is directing a new series, Pistol, I think based on Steve Jones' memoir about the Sex Pistols. John Lydon is not at all pleased at the prospect though.

Steve and Paul Cook have had to take John to court, as he refuses to let them do this show, and though he expects them to win the case, he's not giving in without making them fight for it.

**misery guts** Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:12 am

misery guts wrote:
misery guts wrote:Danny Boyle is directing a new series, Pistol, I think based on Steve Jones' memoir about the Sex Pistols. John Lydon is not at all pleased at the prospect though.
Steve and Paul Cook have had to take John to court, as he refuses to let them do this show, and though he expects them to win the case, he's not giving in without making them fight for it.

They won the case, as expected.

**misery guts** Mon Oct 11, 2021 8:02 am

Rare footage from the infamous Manchester gig that the Sex Pistols played early on has been found, and sold at auction for £15k:

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/sex-pistols-footage-manchester-concert-sold-for-15000/

It's remembered mainly because so many future stars of the music scene in the area were all in the audience.

**misery guts** Wed Apr 06, 2022 7:38 am

Famous punk fixture, Jordan, who worked in Malcolm McLaren's infamous shop Sex and was one of the more recognisable female faces of the scene, has died at 66. RIP Sad

**misery guts** Fri May 13, 2022 7:14 am

The imminent hubbub over the Queen's Platinum Jubilee here has prompted the inevitable reissue of the Sex Pistols' 1977 effort God Save The Queen. It was #2 45 years ago (unless you believe it was robbed of being #1), and less successful in 2002.

**misery guts** Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:28 am

Rip It Up Unwrapped: Punk
A series on Scottish music scenes. This edition started with the Rezillos, but the sudden impact of the Sex Pistols changed perspectives, and led to acts like The Skids and the Fire Engines, not to mention Josef K.

Patti Smith - Electric Poet
This 2021 French-authored documentary used archive of Patti to mostly relate her own story, from her childhood interest in Rimbaud, her books of poetry, storming it at CBGBs, befriending Robert Mapplethorpe, her album breakthrough with Horses, her hit single breakthrough with Because The Night, hiatus to raise children, the sad and untimely death of her husband, further albums and an autobiography.

**misery guts** Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:40 am

Legendary designer Vivienne Westwood has died at 81. As Malcolm McLaren's other half, she helped with the "look" of punk, and became famous as a result. She went on to a long career as an at times controversial fashion designer, and latterly a fierce political campaigner. RIP Sad

**misery guts** Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:18 am

Berlin Live: The Damned
A set from 2016, with Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible still very much leading the attack. They played a healthy mix of classics and a few lesser ones too.

**misery guts** Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:47 am

CNBC Conversation: Dame Vivienne Westwood
Tania Bryer struggled through this chat back in the autumn of 2016, repeated to mark the good dame's recent death. She was quite outspoken on a lot of things. She was attracted to Malcolm McLaren because of his politics and wisdom, but she lost faith when he seemed to be drawn by ego and celebrity. She saw a correlation between a London attitude and many of the punks. She disliked Hillary Clinton, Trump and Obama. She accepted a DBE in 2006, though her son rejected the OBE. She liked Prince Charles and felt the Queen provided societal cement.

misery guts wrote:Punk Britannia
Major 3-part documentary partly coinciding with the fuss of the Jubilee. The first edition, Pre-Punk covered the seeds of what became Punk, chiefly the Pub Rock scene, which was quite interesting and informative. The 2nd part on Punk's boom itself was less satisfying as the topic has been mined quite extensively, and there was a certain bias to suggest that John Lydon was the driving spirit, which may be true, but Paul Weller was just as significant a creative force. The final bit, Post-Punk, tried to follow the picture into the next years, but got rather tangled in the various genres, New Wave, Two-Tone etc. Though it was good to see acts like Wire and Gang of Four getting their due, there was still rather a lot of Lydon (thru Public Image Ltd) and the political reflection was amateurish in the extreme. Nevertheless, an impressive piece of work.

Punk Britannia at the BBC
Shown with the above series, unsure why I didn't review it too. 21 tracks ran from Dr Feelgood in 1975 through to Joy Division in 1979. The need to only show one track from each act showed that the genre didn't really have the depth, though some groups were undoubtedly talented.

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