Was there any good punk rock?

[HardNHeavy]

Geez and not one of ya mentioned Wendy O Williams?...

 

[RVRSCO]

Yo, I checked out some songs by your band. Good stuff, friend! All I could think was, "Yeah, my old punk band would have totally played shows with you!" My old punk band was a south Jersey/Philly based band from 2010-2012, but we played some shows in Long Island and shared the stage with some killer New England bands when they came down to Philly. I remember this band The Cryptics from Dover, NH and Refuse/Resist from Boston. I don't think either of those bands are still around (I think Refuse/Resist disbanded around 2011), but still good stuff. I would have loved for us to play up in New England.

Hey thanks! Appreciate you giving us a listen!

 

[steveinohio]

I don't get Amy Grant or think she's ever really contributed anything to music. I still can understand that there are a select few that might. Different strokes.

 

[Grinderman]

 

[Grinderman]

Good Black Flag cover.

 

[zubrycky]

With all due respect, why anyone's life should be a sad life just because they value a musician you think is worthless?

Obviously I'm aware of all the controversy around the late G.G. Allin but, as far as I know, people are free to have their own musical preferences and their choices aren't an unequivocal sign of the happiness or sadness of their lives.

As a listener, I strongly dislike most of current brazilian mainstream music but I don't think their audience has a sad life because they like it.

 

[Grinderman]

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Is Killing Joke punk?

 

[SulzerType2]

Mission of Burma.

 

[zubrycky]

Punk is wider than it appears.

 

[brianrost]

Sorry I didn't check in before this hit twelve pages. Might be a new one-day record here at TB.

What do I think (like it matters)? I assume the question is about 70s punk and yeah, there was some great punk. The bands I thought were the best had good drummers. Punk with a lousy drummer sounds pretty awful to me. There was a lot of good music both before and after the Ramones and Sex Pistols that might not have been "real" punk like the Stooges, Modern Lovers, Elvis Costello's first two albums.



Is punk great, timeless music? Eh, probably not. The Ramones at least had a great sense of humor and didn't take themsleves seriously. How can you not like "Teenage Lobotomy"

 

[zubrycky]

"I belong to the blank generation..."

 

[Tim Skaggs]

I admit that I used to love the Ramones when I was a kid, but I don't really get most of it beyond that.

Just because something caused a big sensation doesn't mean that it had value. And it seems like the people who went to the concerts were always trying to find some new experience to make them happy. And it never really happened if they still talk about the past.

What do you think.

I think some people thought it was good, or punk rockers have been fooling people into thinking it was good for over 40 years.

 

[Grinderman]

Some great statements in this (@1:17:35) that I think are relevant:



Thank you, D. Boon's mother.

There was a thread here on TB about live performances we'd go see if we could. I'd put the Desolation Center events on my list.

 

[kirkplunkett]

If something that supposedly has so much value, can actually hurt the person who loves it if they hear a differing opinion, doesn't make a lot of sense.

You know what doesn’t make sense? Ethnocentrism.

 

[DrummerwStrings]

Like it or not punk was an important evolution of rock music in the 70s. It was a return to the roots, just louder and dirtier.

In broad terms punk was that generation’s reaction to bands like Pink Floyd and Yes. It was a response to highly produced and complex compositions and took it back to a few chords and raw emotion. Punk influenced a lot of other music that came after it. (Like grunge and the pop-punk of the 90s and 2000’s)

So yes, punk has value. It may not be your cup of tea, but it is an important branch of the rock family tree.

Basically agree, but I think the bigger driver for Punk Rock was the economic changes & current events of the 1970s, especially in the UK. US companies were only starting to realize they had to worry about more than just cranking out as much product as possible to post-WWII smoldering rubble, & the oil shocks & stagflation jolted the rest. The rising unemployment was different - many companies were eliminating layers of management & closing manufacturing, so the lost jobs weren’t coming back & were often hitting less economically diverse communities harder. Burning rivers, the global environment, famines, worries about overpopulation, & the NASA photos of a lonely blue planet were serious problems without a safety net that governments & leaders didn’t seem to be addressing as priorities. The Pentagon Papers & Watergate increased distrust of government & authorities.
Oh, and the threat of nuclear war only loomed larger.

For those who were old enough to read the papers & sit thru the news: TL;DR - Times were rough & ppl were pissed. Many Punk songs were basic & sounded like the ‘musicians’ couldn’t play their instruments, because many of them just got their instruments & couldn’t play them. What they wanted to say was more important - more than making a statement against Prog Rock & 20 minute solos.

Yeah, there were plenty of poseurs who bought pre-ripped jackets, too, & I’m not sure when Post-Punk exactly began, nevertheless Punk had value & there was some good Punk music. More than a few ‘80s musicians in various genres started in Punk, so I’m not sure which bucket(s) you want to put them in.

Let me also add the Slits, Wire, the Buzzcocks, Billy Bragg, Generation X, the Specials, & Siouxsie & the Banshees. I can come up with more.

Special addition for those who lean against simple structures: the Modern Lovers’ Roadrunner.

 

[DrummerwStrings]

It seems that Pink Floyd and Yes has endured. So maybe the punks were wrong.

And (most of) The Who:

“I hope I die before I get old”

- My Generation

 

[zubrycky]

"We can, we know we can..."

 

[zubrycky]

 

[Heat]

Descendents!

 

[zubrycky]

Two more of my own.