I'm revisiting a lot of my musical first loves. (Mid-life crisis I guess... I was born in 1973.)
A foundational style for me has certainly been post-punk music. The central role of the bass, coupled with it's minimal aesthetics, forged my appreciation for the instrument.
Any other fans out here?
The Cure is most definitely a pivotal band in my appreciation of music.
I always have a problem with that “
post punk” concept; it’s an after-the-fact tag that’s been slapped on, and having absorbed the era in real time, it was all a continuum for me. Where do you exactly draw the line? Siouxie and Severin, as a band, as people, were right there in the beginning, playing the 100 Club along with the Pistols(even having Sid on drums!). Joy Division, as “Warsaw”, issued the standard faster/louder stuff on their earliest recordings.
Then there was all the antecedents who layed out the framework, who defined the catagory in the first place…VU, MC5, Stooges, Dolls. They were, in their very essence, punk. In addition, there was activity out in the North American hinterlands, early/mid-70’s, that most never heard of…Rocket From The Tombs(morphing into Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys), Simply Saucer from Canada, Debris from Oklahoma for example, bands already rejecting the mainstream stuff that became known as ‘classic rock’(and they were incorporating unlikely influences from people like Zappa, Beefheart, and Hawkwind). The Modern Lovers had a higher profile, but their album was recorded in 1972 and released years later. Devo even dates back to ‘72.
There was far more diversity in the NYC class of ‘75-‘77 as well…Blondie, Television, Talking Heads, and the Ramones sounded nothing alike. In the UK, which I think is your focus, you had bands like the Stranglers, who although weren’t heard until ‘77, came together before the Pistols, and had an entirely unique sound. Do you place The Jam in punk? While obviously they had their Who(and Kinks and Small Faces)influences, they drew a lot from pub rock icons Dr. Feelgood. I’d say they were ‘post-punk’ right out of the chute in ‘77, yet got lumped in with the Pistols. In a similar fashion, Magazine, started in ‘77 after singer Howard Devoto was in the Buzzcocks for one hot minute, had almost a prog flavor to what they were doing, and, while I could be wrong, I think bassist Barry Adamson was on the forefront of using modulation effects on his instrument. As far back as ‘76, you had bands like Ultravox emerging, exhibiting the Bowie/Roxy/Eno/Kraftwerk influences that you certainly didn’t hear in the Ramones, Pistols, or any other bands of that ilk.
Sorry for the rant, but I just never saw the validity of an artificial dividing line like that.
I will throw out the names of Adamson, Foxton, Weymouth, Burnell, Jah Wobble, William Mysterious of The Rezillos, Dave Allen of Gang of Four, and Colin Moulding of XTC as the bassists of that overall time period that impressed me.
