Photos from when Punk Mattered

Originally posted by Etan de Balzac, Footie Ball Player:
Someone please answer my question. Or is it more "punk rock" to call Rhett names?

You bile spewing sack of shit.

Punk rock!!

Isn't this like asking who alt-country really matters to. Or brit pop. Or whatever. You fucking moron.

after combing through this:
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000DD539.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt=" - " />

i've got some new favorite punk singles:

the vibrators - "baby baby"
the saints - "i'm stranded"
stiff little fingers - "alternative ulster"
the runaways - "cherry bomb"
the damned - "new rose"

Punk rock definitely mattered to me. Even though I wasn't old enough to remember punk when it happened, I appreciate the fact that it basically brought rock'n'roll back to life and that bands like the Ramones and the Clash breathed life into music when it DESPERATELY needed it.

the saints - "i'm stranded"

i just discovered this song within the past few months myself. holy shit is it amazing.

another girl another planet by the only ones is the best song on there.

Originally posted by Arlette:
I forget who said this, but it's apt for this discussion:

"Only 1,000 people bought the first Velvet Underground record, but all 1,000 of them became musicians."

bowie, i think

The Stooges had more impact on punk rock than the New York Dolls did. I think ultimately the Ramones were the band that became a blueprint for the UK punk. I still love the LA punk scene. The Germs, X, the Screamers, the Weirdos…all of them fantastic. Though my fave punk band is probably the Buzzcocks. John Maher was/is the best punk rock drummer.

Originally posted by MTB-Markie:
another girl another planet by the only ones is the best song on there.

yeah, that's a nice track …. it's definitely not as "punk rock" as a lot of the other ones, almost sounds like it's proto-smiths or something

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
it's definitely not as "punk rock" as a lot of the other ones, almost sounds like it's proto-smiths or something

Not smiths, not at all too fast, too much flashy guitar solo nonsense, but I know what you mean. It is almost as incongruous as the Cure track in the compilation.

Originally posted by MTB-Markie:
It is almost as incongruous as the Cure track in the compilation.

There ya go using big words again. ;)

stiff little fingers - "alternative ulster"

killer song

Originally posted by Arlette:
And Rhett, here you go for egregious:

adj. : conspicuously bad or offensive

I don't think a person can be egregious, though.

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:

Originally posted by MTB-Markie:
another girl another planet by the only ones is the best song on there.

yeah, that's a nice track …. it's definitely not as "punk rock" as a lot of the other ones, almost sounds like it's proto-smiths or something

It's power-pop. And, really, what is early punk but loud and snotty power-pop?

So Bags, you think at heart we are all kind and wonderful?

Or you mean you think my sentence, " Rhett, would you consider yourself an egregious person?" As being poor English?

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
It's power-pop. And, really, what is early punk but loud and snotty power-pop?

But the whole flashy guitar solo-ness of it all is rather anti-punk, dontcha think?

Originally posted by Bags:
I don't think a person can be egregious, though.

I agree. I've never seen that adjective applied to a person, always to actions.

It is stolen from something very, very funny:

ROSS IS INTERVIEWING PAULINE FOR THE EXERCISE.

ROSS:
And youâ??re interested in the trolley job?

PAULINE:
Er, that is right. Iâ??m very interested, yes. I feel that my ability to work well as part of a team, and yet to take individual responsibility, are important factors in a job of this nature.

SHE WINKS AT THE REST OF THE GROUP, SHOWING OFF. MICKEY SMILES.

ROSS:
What work experience do you have?

PAULINE:
I left school early and started to workâ?¦

ROSS:
Oh, so you didnâ??t go to college?

PAULINE:
No, Iâ??ve had actual work experienceâ?¦

ROSS:
So you have no qualifications?

PAULINE:
Well if you donâ??t count twenty years in the employment serviceâ?¦

ROSS:
Well, no, no I donâ??t. Iâ??m talking about academic achievement â?? degrees, diplomasâ?¦

PAULINE:
Oh, come off it Ross! Shoving trolleys round Asda car park? A frigging monkey could do it!

ROSS ROLLS HIS EYES AND PURSUES A NEW LINE OF QUESTIONING.

ROSS:
Would you say youâ??re a fairly egregious person?

PAULINE:
What?

ITâ??S OBVIOUS SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT THIS WORD MEANS.

ROSS:
Are you an egregious person? Do you have an egregious personality?

PAULINE:
Ermâ?¦yeah, yeah I do.

ROSS:
Alright, Iâ??m going to say some other words to you now, and I want you to reply wth the first thing that comes into your head, alright?

PAULINE:
Alright.

ROSS:
Home.

PAULINE:
Royston Vasey.

ROSS:
Family?

PAULINE:
Dead.

ROSS:
Friends.

PAULINE:
Pens.

ROSS:
No, friends!

PAULINE:
Pens! Theyâ??re the best friend you can have! Everything I know about people, I leant from pens. If they donâ??t work, you shake them. If they still donâ??t work â?? you chuck them away, bin them!

ROSS:
Reallyâ?¦Work.

PAULINE:
Everything. My work is everything to me.
ROSS:
Love.

PAULINE:
No. Somebody once, butâ?¦

ROSS:
And can I get your age, please, Pauline?

PAULINE:
I think thatâ??s a ladyâ??s prerogative!

ROSS:
I need to know how old you are for the recordsâ?¦

PAULINE:
Well letâ??s just say Iâ??m as old as my gumsâ?¦

ROSS:
How old are you?

PAULINE GIVES IN.

PAULINE:
Forty eight!

ROSS:
Right, thanks for coming to see us today.

PAULINE STANDS.

PAULINE:
Thank you very much, when do I start?

ROSS:
Oh, Iâ??m sorry, I canâ??t offer you this position.

PAULINE:
You what?

ROSS:
You failed the interview. You strike me as a bully. Youâ??re ill-mannered, ignorant and foul mouthed. Youâ??re not qualified for this job, and apart from anything elseâ?¦youâ??re too old, Miss. Sorry.

PAULINE LOOKS CRUSHED.

PAULINE:
But I canâ?¦

ROSS LOOKS AWAY, IGNORING HER. SHE SLOWLY GETS TO HER FEET, UNSTEADILY. THEN, REMEMBERING ITâ??S A ROLEPLAY, BRIGHTENS UP.

Good! Thank you very much. I feel that Ross handled that situation very wellâ?¦can I have my things back?

HE GIVES THEM TO HER.

Yeah, although it did make me wonder how well heâ??d handle a situation more like thisâ?¦

SHE TURNS AND SMACKS ROSS IN THE FACE WITH A BRUTAL STRIKE OF HER CLIPBOARD. ROSS WRITHES IN PAIN.

Eh? Ooh, a bully am I? Foul fucking mouthed? Now, youâ??ll eat those wordsâ?¦

SHE RIPS A SHEET OF PAPER OFF THE CLIPBOARD AND BEGINS STUFFING IT DOWN ROSSâ?? THROAT.

Egregious! Egregious! Egregious! Are you listeningâ?¦?

MICKEY GETS UP FROM HIS SEAT.

MICKEY:
Stop it, Pauline! Stop it, you nutter!

PAULINE STOPS AND TURNS TO FACE MICKEY, WONDERING IF SHE REALLY IS MAD.

PAULINE:
Oh, Mickeyâ?¦what IS egregious?

MICKEY THINKS BUT DOESNâ??T KNOW EITHER.

Originally posted by Etan de Balzac, Footie Ball Player:
But really, who did punk really matter to in this country? I graduated from a class of 200 in 1985, and I can't remember anybody who was in the couple of grades ahead of me or behind me who were into punk at all.

Like alt country in the late 90s or art rock in the 70s, punk had a huge influence regardless of who and how many were listening to it in its "heyday." However, its influence on the musical landscape today (and whether it mattered) I think is irrefutable, regardless of the lack of mohawks at your high school.

An interesting aspect of this is the way that, today, "music of the 80s" is nearly always defined and reminisced as Soft Cell, The Cure, Adam Ant, Erasure, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Human League, etc. Yet back in the day, NONE of those groups were on the radio except in major, major markets like NYC, Boston and L.A., and maybe 4 kids listened to that music in my high school in 1985 (I was considered quite the eccentric for listening to that stuff). Today, you'd swear everyone had a stack full of Cure albums in 1985.

I would agree…the Only Ones are more of a "power-pop" band in the same school of the Flamin' Groovies or the Nerves. Punk had more of the whole urban "whatchewlookin' at" kind of attitude, it was far less accomplished and more about a certain nihilistic spirit. Of course, when the Sex Pistols broke up, that pretty much screwed punk over because it wasn't viable…why should record labels invest in it if bands were just going to self-destruct? In its heyday, punk really only lasted a couple of years. Bands like the Damned and the Buzzcocks had to start altering their sound by adding keyboards or horns, and then it got watered down.

I think Chrissie Hynde said that the problem with punk is that the minute you wanted to do it for a living and become a professional musician, you strayed from what punk originally was and of course then you become something else, something more accomplished. And that's very un-punk.

Originally posted by MTB-Markie:
So Bags, you think at heart we are all kind and wonderful?

Or you mean you think my sentence, " Rhett, would you consider yourself an egregious person?" As being poor English?

I don't think the adjective egregious can modify a person. An act can be egregious (like an overstatement, and assessment, etc – or an action can be egregious, like behavior, name-calling, etc.), but I don't think a person can be egregious.

God KNOWS we are not all kind and wonderful. I can't remember if you are or not anymore. :cool: