I was punk once

[Snick]

Were you "Punk" ?

[deepthroat]

In the truest sense of the word, no.

In 1979, I graduated from High School and took my dream job, working at the local record store. My High School Sweetheart had fucked one of the guys that worked there after we split up, that's how cool those guys were! So the happiest day of my young life was the day they decided to honor me by giving me a job at minimum wage.

I spent hours hanging around the store, even on days off. It was more than a job, it was a lifestyle. We even had a Company Bong that was kept in the bathroom. The whole place reeked of cool (and spilt bongwater) and for an 18 year old music nut, there was not better place to be.

The night that John Lennon was murdered, I was driving with a friend when I heard the news. 20 minutes later I'd dropped him off at home and was headed to the store, as that was the place I needed to be.

So, 1979 - epicenter of the punk explosion. You'd think a cool young guy like me, working in a cool and hip independent record store, would have been all over that action. But you'd be wrong.

I was a huge Pink Floyd fan, as well as Genesis, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and a few of the other usual suspects. Getting into anything as radical as "punk" was a pretty major political decision at that point. For me, hearing The B52's and Devo was as close to "punk" as I was getting exposed to. I can still remember the moment when I finally "got" the B52's "Rock Lobster" and thought "Wow! I'm into punk rock now!".... but of course anyone who really knew "punk" would have gobbed me on the spot for even thinking anything so stupid. The B52's were arty, they were farty, but they weren't punk.

I quickly got into Siouxsie and the Banshees, Buzzcocks, and Motorhead. I'd already loved The Ramones. I quickly came to love bands like Magazine, the first Psychedelic Furs album (check out Sister Europe - classic!) and saw early USA shows by Iggy, U2, etc. I was a huge fan of Peter Gabriel's 3rd album (Melting Face cover) which was punky art rock in it's execution and featured members of Buzzcocks and Magazine. But I was always at heart a suburban kid with a love of metal and prog rock. I could never fully erase my love of Styx and Kansas, let alone wear a mohawk and live on the dole. And I never found any real attraction in either The Clash or The Sex Pistols. To me, they were almost equally as pointless at Bruce Springsteen. I found artists like Captain Beefheart far more intriguing even though I never became a true fan.

So in answer to your question, NO. Punk was a lifestyle as well as a musical genre, and although I found myself really liking many of the artists, it was never even close to a lifestyle option for me.

[rxpharm]

Nope, not enough hair for it, and never was "into" that music either.

[Napalm]

Yep in 76 had my first listening and now in 2010 still involved in the Punk scene and its as healthy as its ever been...
http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/

[Guest]

I shagged a Punk Bird in a tent during the Reading Rock Concert in the 80's while her black alsation dog waited out side with a bowl of water. That remains my only punk experience

[JaiDee]

Very much so .... but we didn't have to announce it or change our ways, get weird haircuts and  start dressing differently, that shit was for the posuers ...... it just kinda came to be midway through high school when bands like the Pistols and the Clash and 999 started hitting the airwaves on small college radio stations out of Boston.

              I clearly remember sitting close by the radio late at night circa '77-'79, all staticy and crappy because M.I.T.'s transmitter was so weak, but thrilled to death at hearing their 11PM-2AM  nightly ''punk special'' because they would play all new shit we had never heard before...and only at that weird hour because in the day they played classical and jazz, etc.....no mainstream stations played that crap like you guys in the UK had....  and also weekly shopping trips into the city in someone's parents car to buy export 45's from the UK of all the new bands we had yet to hear.

    Punk music just sort of blended from Metal for me and my friends.....it was loud, fast and new....so we put aside the Judas Priest and Sabbath records into the back of the cardboard box and started putting Buzzcocks and Generation X up front, and then later Black Flag and Minor Threat and the Circle Jerks, etc.... the 2nd wave of punk which was known as hardcore by then and basically established in southern california and in  England with Discharge and GBH and Crass.

           Was I a punk?  Yeah....did  I ever look the part or change in any way because my musical tastes had changed?  Nope, not at all.....I still played basketball, screwed the cheerleaders and the prom queens, drove the Camaro, drank beer like a fool on weekends and barfed a lot, and disobeyed my parents; in other words, a typical teenager    

  And frankly ,same as Napalm, I am still into the same shit and lifestyle [without the barfing or the Camaro] and why not  .....I  play the same music as I did back then, still have all these bands mentioned in these 2 threads in my MP3 player {metal, hard rock AND punk, as well as updated stuff of course} and still have the same don't-give-a-shit-about-much attitude.

[JaiDee]

(Napalm @ Feb. 22 2010,13:11) Yep in 76 had my first listening and now in 2010 still involved in the Punk scene and its as healthy as its ever been...
http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/

Fuck, I'd like to see that festival......especially the UK Subs and SLF, and Discharge....you think Cal can still carry a note? Hell, he couldn't even do it in 1981!

UK Subs may have had [still have?] one of the greatest punk rock guitarists of all time in Nicky Garret .....he could play faster than just about anyone, along with the guy from Generation X. I saw the Subs in 1982 at Spit in Boston and also for a reunion in 2002; excellent band.

Napalm, you still haven't told me if you ever knew of GG Allin?



''GG Allin was born Jesus Christ Allin at Weeks Memorial Hospital in Lancaster, New Hampshire.[1] He was given this messianic name because his father, Merle Colby Allin Sr., then 33 years old, told his wife, Arleta Gunther, then 20 years old, that Jesus Christ himself had visited him and told him that his newborn son would be a great and all powerful man in the vein of the Messiah.''


I knew this guy, even went to NYC with him and his band for a weekend once, what a freaking character, man; a local legend in new england parts for sure ...... later banned in every club he ever played in, he was super-talented and smart, but also messed up bad and an attention-getting narcisist; what else would you expect from a punk rocker from new hampshire named Jesus Christ??

[farangbah]

I believe so. Not so much because I live and breathe the genre, but because it's a state of mind.

And that, imho, is it's truest essence. Not the look, or even the music. It's the idea, the ethos. And I think that's why you said "Were you Punk?", and not "Were you *a* Punk?"

I was too young to experience the original wave of Punk. But I lived in New York and worked in the music business. Did it all, the high and the low.

Those were my formative years. And just as you can take the ladyboy out of the bar, you can take the boy out of punk, but . . .

PS -- I must say, JaiDee, sometimes I don't know what to make of your comments. But if you really did hang out with GG Allin, that is extremely fucking impressive. Scary, but impressive . . .


D.I.Y.!

[dardenne]

i think Punk really started in the states with stooges, sonics, ramones , 13th floor elevators etc

the punks on postcards thing started in the uk with the fashion, some really good uk punk but the real raw stuff always comes from the states.

for me the Dead Kennedy were the best punk band , lyrically i don't think any punk band can come close to them.

[seamus]

For the 1960s rock genre sometimes referred to as punk, see Garage rock.
Punk rock
Stylistic origins Rock and roll, folk music, rockabilly, surf rock, garage rock, glam rock, pub rock, protopunk
Cultural origins mid-1970s United States, United Kingdom, and Australia
Typical instruments Vocals €¢ electric guitar €¢ bass €¢ drums €¢ occasional use of other instruments.
Mainstream popularity Topped charts in UK during late 1970s. International commercial success for pop punk and ska punk, mid-1990s€“2000s.
Derivative forms New Wave €¢ post-punk €¢ alternative rock €¢ Grunge
Subgenres
anarcho-punk €¢ art punk €¢ Christian punk €¢ crust punk €¢ garage punk €¢ gothic rock €¢ glam punk €¢ hardcore €¢ screamo €¢ Oi! €¢ riot Grrrl €¢ skate punk
(complete list)
Fusion genres
2 Tone €¢ Anti-folk €¢ avant-punk €¢ Celtic punk €¢ Chicano punk €¢ cowpunk €¢ deathrock €¢ folk punk €¢ Gaelic punk €¢ Gypsy punk €¢ pop punk €¢ psychobilly €¢ punk blues €¢ punk jazz €¢ ska punk
Regional scenes
Argentina €¢ Australia €¢ Belgium €¢ Brazil €¢ California €¢ France €¢ Germany €¢ Spain €¢ Uruguay €¢ Yugoslavia
Local scenes
Brisbane €¢ Toronto
Other topics
Protopunk €¢ DIY ethic €¢ First wave punk €¢ Queercore €¢ Punk fashion €¢ Punk forerunners €¢ Punk ideologies €¢ Punk movies €¢ Punk fanzines €¢ Punk subculture €¢ Punk timeline €¢ Second wave punk €¢ Straight Edge €¢ List of punk bands €¢ Punk rock subgenres
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

view €¢ talk €¢ edit
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.

By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world. Punk quickly, though briefly, became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.

By the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and Oi! had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. By the turn of the century, pop punk had been adopted by the mainstream, with bands such as Green Day and The Offspring bringing the genre widespread popularity.

I wouldnt Know too much about this scene as I was a little too young + I was what was know as a "Soul Boy"

[Napalm]

(JaiDee @ Feb. 22 2010,15:51)

(Napalm @ Feb. 22 2010,13:11) Yep in 76 had my first listening and now in 2010 still involved in the Punk scene and its as healthy as its ever been...
http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/

Fuck, I'd like to see that festival......especially the UK Subs and SLF, and Discharge....you think Cal can still carry a note?  Hell, he couldn't even do it in 1981!

   UK Subs may have had [still have?] one of the greatest punk rock guitarists of all time in Nicky Garret .....he could play faster than just about anyone, along with the guy from Generation X. I saw the Subs in 1982 at Spit in Boston and also for a reunion in 2002; excellent band.

  Napalm,  you still haven't told me if you ever knew of GG Allin?



''GG Allin was born Jesus Christ Allin at Weeks Memorial Hospital in Lancaster, New Hampshire.[1] He was given this messianic name because his father, Merle Colby Allin Sr., then 33 years old, told his wife, Arleta Gunther, then 20 years old, that Jesus Christ himself had visited him and told him that his newborn son would be a great and all powerful man in the vein of the Messiah.''


I knew this guy, even went to NYC with him and his band for a weekend once, what a freaking character, man; a local legend in new england parts for sure ......  later banned in every club he ever played in, he was super-talented and smart, but also messed up bad and an attention-getting narcisist;  what else would you expect from a punk rocker from new hampshire named Jesus Christ??

Yep of course we knew of GG, but his approach didn't really seem to gel with Irish/uk punks as we had to deal with other issues back then ie: bombs and bullets from the politicals ( IRA/UDA/UDR/RUC/UVF/ ) etc: lol and the festival is run by good friends of mine so if you ever decide to go to it drop me a line and I will sort you out with frebbies...

[farangbah]

PS -- And Debbie Harry is still the sexiest woman in the history of Sex. Drugs. Or Rock 'n Roll!

[Snick]

well...there is also Annabelle (Bow wow wow) and PJ Harvey.

[JaiDee]

(Napalm @ Feb. 24 2010,04:43) the festival is run by good friends of mine so if you ever decide to go to it drop me a line and I will sort you out with frebbies...

fer sure.....next time I am in the UK I will look you up!

I didn't even know half those bands were even still touring.....we get a few of the old-timers still playing in the US on occassion but it's pretty rare and usually include maybe the original bass player and a roadie or 2 LOL

[Naang Faa]

(Snick @ Feb. 24 2010,17:48) well...there is also Annabelle (Bow wow wow)

Errrrrrr she was about 13 or 14 wasn't she?


Anyhoo, no, punk is way too scruffy for me,i was a mod

x