Comments

1. Posted by Steve Murray on October 29th, 2012, 21:41 [Reply]

   Listen to all the shows. Always enjoy them. Glad to know there’ll be more.
   Enjoyed the latest.
   However…let’s have some fun…
   Would like to say that while everyone is, of course, entitled to an opinion (or talk utter bollocks) it is slightly weird listening to people talk about the Pistols without some perspective on the UK in ’76.
   So, from an old fart to the young and better looking…

   – God Save the Queen was held off number one, so worked up was the then establishment. Remember, they still played the National Anthem when the tv closed down (way too early) and at the cinema where you were expected to stand to attention!
   You can’t hype that level of threat.

   – Rock n Roll has always been about clothes and looking good. Do you realise what people looked like then? What bands looked like? Do you understand just how much flammable material everyone wandered around in?
   UK Punk took from all the youth movements prior. Mixed it all up. Threw it back out but better.
   Looking around, the influence sartorially is still evident over 30 years later. Even estate agents have bloody spikey hair nowadays. None of the mod/skin stuff, none of the rockabilly, none of the tattooing/piercing would have happened without UK punk.
   It crossed boundaries. Gay and straight. Black and white.
   But mostly, for me, the influence was attitude.
   You don’t need permission for anything. That was massive for me at 16.
   Britain in the 70s felt like it was just past rationing for fuck sake. Miner’s strikes. Bin men on strike. It was a grey shithole.
   Still can be. Punk forced me to try to define myself.

   – You were either Pistols or the Clash. Everyone loved the Ramones.

   – Richard Hell wrote two half way decent songs, took way too much smack and, once clean, wrote a lot of mediocre poetry. Strummer (and Mr Jones) wrote a fair bit more that, I think it’s fair to say, was more than mediocre.

   – Nirvana more culturally important than Punk? In the US maybe…they were still listening to the Eagles, Glen Campbell and Fleetwood Mac in 77.
   In fact, Kiss were the only US export at the time.
   The Stooges and the Dolls had to come over here first to gain an audience.

   – Metal Box is still way ahead.

   – Also, punk led me and many others to ska, bluebeat and dub and more.

   Oh, and it’s the Faces and not ‘Faces’.

   However, totally agree Lydon should shut it these days.
   Totally agree we do not need any reunion tours from anyone ever.
   Ever.

   But, believe me, it was exciting and a hell of a lot of fun.
   Wouldn’t be the man I am today without it.
   Neither as worldly nor as well dressed.

   Ah, here’s the nurse with the bedpan. Better go.

   Peace and love
   Steve (from London and Brighton)
2. Posted by Ken Eakins on November 23rd, 2012, 23:20 [Reply]

   Thanks for this, and sorry it took me so long to realise that you’d posted it haha.

   I agree on some things you say, but The Pistols were a McLaren manufactured ‘product’. Sure, they stirred up the cultural pot, but I’ve always been uncomfortable with an identity built around a clever ‘scheme’ by a savvy businessman (Adam Ant/Beastie Boys were of course his other big hits…yet I still love Adam Ant, so what do I know lol).

   I, personally, prefer the so-called ‘post punk’ and ‘hardcore’ scenes myself. Minor Threat, Black Flag, and Fugazi have always seemed – for whatever reason – more ‘pure’ than the Pistols, and the Dolls et al. I kind of got over hardcore (let’s be honest, a lot of it is identical), but I still love post-hardcore and its off-shoots (Fugazi, Shellac, Sweep the Leg Johnny, etc).

   My two cents.

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