The Funhouse - The Punks are all right

TrainFan73

TrainFan73

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So, I chose to do a deep dive in Punk. I've started in the most unpunk way possible, I'm going to spend a week with each of the Rolling Stone's top 40 Punk records 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time (I'm not even a punk authority and I wonder about some of the things included, more on that in a minute)...

I know Punk is included in the all things rock thread: Rock, Alt-Rock, Indie Rock, Psych Rock, Shoegaze, Punk, Noise Rock, Emocore, etc. , but thought this reaction to the era of Classic rock deserved its own conversation, especially since it would seem sometimes it can be quite contentious what is and isn't punk.

I think I owe all of this to @scotthik and his AOTM: Needles & Grooves AotM///Vol. 32 February 2022/// The Faint - Wet From Birth

I have always skirted around a love of Punk. Fugazi's self-titled and Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death in my collection now are from when I was a kid. I used to have an OG The Clash s/t, but it was damaged irreparably somewhere along the way. I dig the Descendents, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Black Flag. I followed Henry Rollins' career for a bit in college. I really dig the initial scene that broke Alternative - Nirvana, Sonic Youth, et al. And New Wave is a big thing that I dig. However, I always felt that I had only scratched the surface.

Would be interested in any good books or movies on the subject matter as well.
 
So the number one album in my listening last week was Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables. Considering that California Uber Alles and Holiday in Cambodia are on that first album, they were really born fully formed. I've also read that these were their first two singles. I appreciate that Biafra and company weren't afraid to take on all politicians and not just leave it to a partisan discussion. I love the rawness of the record. Allmusic gave it five stars but talks about weak songs and poor production. I find the second criticism ridiculous when discussing Punk, but whatever. I also see that more hardcore music later really has its start here. The rockabilly in it has me swooning.

This week's album (no 39) is Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! This is where I wonder what the definitions of Punk are. I certainly hear it in this album, but it is also a product of New Wave and seems to have more in common with Talking Heads to me. This is not a bad thing. While I recognized the importance of the DK record, this is the first record I actually loved from first listen that might be punk since first hearing Fugazi and The Clash as a scruffy kid. I look forward to spending lots of time with it this week. (Am already curious about pressings that are considered the best for this one).
 
Lee Newman said:
So the number one album in my listening last week was Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables. Considering that California Uber Alles and Holiday in Cambodia are on that first album, they were really born fully formed. I've also read that these were their first two singles. I appreciate that Biafra and company weren't afraid to take on all politicians and not just leave it to a partisan discussion. I love the rawness of the record. Allmusic gave it five stars but talks about weak songs and poor production. I find the second criticism ridiculous when discussing Punk, but whatever. I also see that more hardcore music later really has its start here. The rockabilly in it has me swooning.

This week's album (no 39) is Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! This is where I wonder what the definitions of Punk are. I certainly hear it in this album, but it is also a product of New Wave and seems to have more in common with Talking Heads to me. This is not a bad thing. While I recognized the importance of the DK record, this is the first record I actually loved from first listen that might be punk since first hearing Fugazi and The Clash as a scruffy kid. I look forward to spending lots of time with it this week. (Am already curious about pressings that are considered the best for this one).
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Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is definitely more post-punk/new wave than punk in my mind, at least as sonic descriptors go. Devo themselves are punk as fuck in my mind, though, as far as ethos.
 
avecigrec said:
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is definitely more post-punk/new wave than punk in my mind, at least as sonic descriptors go. Devo themselves are punk as fuck in my mind, though, as far as ethos.
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I really only knew Whip It! before listening to this album yesterday. That song can be described as oversaturated for sure and I went into the album wondering if they were punk. I definitely slept on this band for most of my life and will need to correct that issue. Like I said, I can hear it. It's not completely unlike that first Elvis Costello record which sounds like Punk played on different instruments. As a result, I'm really interested in listening to the deluxe version of Q (seems like a good short cut to me) as it has live stuff and that Live at El Mocambo record of Costello's always struck me as more punk than anything else he ever did.
 
@Lee Newman - a nice thread.

If you get down to the genesis and the idiom of punk, it's more about attitude, inclusion and DIY creativity than style. A couple great quotes that articulate it perfectly...

“Punk, for us, wasn't a style of music. It was a state of mind.” - Mike Watt

“I am very grateful to punk because I was a girl, and I felt like if I got in a band, I'd be kind of a novelty act, but punk was all about non-discrimination. No one cared because it was punk, so, you know, anyone could do anything they wanted. What characterized the whole punk scene for me in 1977 was there was no racism or sexism. It was an anarchy of -isms, and a matter of abolishing it all." - Chrissie Hynde ​


​

 
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
@Lee Newman - a nice thread.

If you get down to the genesis and the idiom of punk, it's more about attitude, inclusion and DIY creativity than style. A couple great quotes that articulate it perfectly...

“Punk, for us, wasn't a style of music. It was a state of mind.” - Mike Watt

“I am very grateful to punk because I was a girl, and I felt like if I got in a band, I'd be kind of a novelty act, but punk was all about non-discrimination. No one cared because it was punk, so, you know, anyone could do anything they wanted. What characterized the whole punk scene for me in 1977 was there was no racism or sexism. It was an anarchy of -isms, and a matter of abolishing it all." - Chrissie Hynde ​


​

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minutemen are definitely a band I forgot to mention in the OP. Watt has been a hero of mine for forever. I wish I knew what happened to the signed tee I had from him, I'm assuming the first wife made off with it...
 
Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
Happy birthday Raymond Daniel Manzarek.

In honor of @Lee Newman's newly christened punk thread, I'll eschew the direct Doors connection and remind everyone that Ray produced and played on the first 4 scorching records released by X. And here's an indirect Doors connection...




X - Los Angeles

View attachment 128573
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X is a band I was not aware of until recently, this album is on the RS list.

Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
@Lee Newman

Some PhD punk...




Bad Religion - Suffer

View attachment 128577
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Bad Religion is a band that I know and have heard but never spent a lot of time with. The kids in college that listened to Fugazi and Social Distortion listened to Bad Religion too, just not as much I guess. We all thought we were cool because we listened to Green Day pre-Dookie.
 
Lee Newman said:
Speaking of college days, where do Mudhoney and the Melvins fall in the Punk realm?
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If they're gonna get categorized by the masses, both will likely end up in the grunge bucket. But if you apply the punk ethos - doing their own thing with creativity and a DIY attitude - they're punk as fuck.
 
I went through a good phase growing up where I listened to a lot of the 90s California punk bands. Rancid, NOFX, Unwritten Law, and Pennywise were some big ones. This was in the early 2000s at the end of high school for me, because I was listening to Authority Zero a lot too when they came out.
 
@Lee Newman well done you.

Don Lett's Punk Attitude


Rude Boy
mubi.com

TRAILER - Rude Boy (1980)

Ray Gange, an aimless Soho sex-shop employee friends with The Clash’s commanding frontman Joe Strummer, transforms from fan to roadie. However, his questionable work ethic and politics are not in line with the band’s plan to rage musically against the growing nationalism of the time.
mubi.com mubi.com

 
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