‘The simplified, mythologised version was so easy to grasp. Britain was grotty, violent and boring. Everyone was listening to prog-rock keyboard solos. And then punk happened and everything changed! Was it true? Not entirely, but what a narrative!’
I too am weary of the myth that punk swept away all of the boring old music and culture of the seventies, and that it was somehow ‘the only music that mattered’.
Ok, there was some rot in the charts, but the 70s were a decade where all kinds of music could find a big audience. Glam, disco, prog, reggae, the beginnings of electronics, metal, the list goes on.
And lest we forget that punk was a base ingredient of many of the awful fashions of the eighties.
Correct about the impact that punk (at least the sounds they produced) had on the overall music scene. Prog-rock solos were also a minority taste, but as you rightly say there was an explosion into different genre at the time which punk had no influence on whatsoever.
As a student, I turned up to a SP gig in London in late 1976 – just as they were about to make headlines – and had no idea what to expect. It was about making energetic noise and trying to cause offence, at which they were pretty successful. My own preferences lay with Led Zeppelin, whose film “The Song Remains The Same” started appearing in cinemas about the same time (a somewhat ironic title, in retrospect!)
The SP were perhaps necessary, and only in the UK could “anarchy” be spittle-drawled about in such a way that actual anarchy would never happen.
Last edited 9 months ago by Steve Murray
Penny Rose
9 months ago
Has the author never seen ‘The Great Rock and Roll Swindle’?
He certainly doesn’t understand the point of punk and Rotten’s motivations.
Benjamin Jones
9 months ago
Yes, I expect those middle class psuedo punks who inhabited art schools up an down the country in ’77 are disappointed with Lyndon’s support of Brexit. W**k*rs.
The punks I knew weren’t middle class or pseudo – and they would have supported Brexit for the revolution it represented, just like I did. Though I never wore the tribal colours I loved punk music and it’s ethos, and I loved prog rock too.
Still love them both now.
Last edited 9 months ago by Ian Stewart
Allison Barrows
9 months ago
Confused author. Trump’s doctrine was MAGA, and it was, provably and palpably, for four years. It’s the Biden Whatever They’re Calling It that proudly displays its ecstasy of making things worse.
R Wright
9 months ago
Sex Pistols were greatly overrated. Lydon’s best work came long after. Actually, his best performance comes from his 1993 guest feature in Leftfield’s ‘Open Up’ as far as I’m concerned. His politics were always anti-establishment and for that I always respected him far more than most of the swots that play music.
Roger Inkpen
9 months ago
God save the Sex Pistols
They’re a bunch of wholesome blokes
They just like wearing filthy clothes
And swapping filthy jokes
john ford
9 months ago
Great article. But please remember that The Dictators, MC5, Iggy Pop, Ramones, etc… predate all these English punk bootlegs.
A case can be made for The Who’s My Generation as the first punk song.
Andrew D
9 months ago
The SPs were talentless, gobby adolescents, a marketing machine created by the Svengali-like McClaren. They belong in their time and place, and the most charitable interpretation of the motives of people like Boyle who want to revive them is that they’re suffering from arrested development. However, one of the band (can’t remember which one) appears to have grown up – interviewed by Johnny Walker the other day, he said he now preferred Steely Dan to the Pistols’ stuff. Good man!
‘The simplified, mythologised version was so easy to grasp. Britain was grotty, violent and boring. Everyone was listening to prog-rock keyboard solos. And then punk happened and everything changed! Was it true? Not entirely, but what a narrative!’
I too am weary of the myth that punk swept away all of the boring old music and culture of the seventies, and that it was somehow ‘the only music that mattered’.
Ok, there was some rot in the charts, but the 70s were a decade where all kinds of music could find a big audience. Glam, disco, prog, reggae, the beginnings of electronics, metal, the list goes on.
And lest we forget that punk was a base ingredient of many of the awful fashions of the eighties.
Correct about the impact that punk (at least the sounds they produced) had on the overall music scene. Prog-rock solos were also a minority taste, but as you rightly say there was an explosion into different genre at the time which punk had no influence on whatsoever.
As a student, I turned up to a SP gig in London in late 1976 – just as they were about to make headlines – and had no idea what to expect. It was about making energetic noise and trying to cause offence, at which they were pretty successful. My own preferences lay with Led Zeppelin, whose film “The Song Remains The Same” started appearing in cinemas about the same time (a somewhat ironic title, in retrospect!)
The SP were perhaps necessary, and only in the UK could “anarchy” be spittle-drawled about in such a way that actual anarchy would never happen.
Has the author never seen ‘The Great Rock and Roll Swindle’?
He certainly doesn’t understand the point of punk and Rotten’s motivations.
Yes, I expect those middle class psuedo punks who inhabited art schools up an down the country in ’77 are disappointed with Lyndon’s support of Brexit. W**k*rs.
The punks I knew weren’t middle class or pseudo – and they would have supported Brexit for the revolution it represented, just like I did. Though I never wore the tribal colours I loved punk music and it’s ethos, and I loved prog rock too.
Still love them both now.
Confused author. Trump’s doctrine was MAGA, and it was, provably and palpably, for four years. It’s the Biden Whatever They’re Calling It that proudly displays its ecstasy of making things worse.
Sex Pistols were greatly overrated. Lydon’s best work came long after. Actually, his best performance comes from his 1993 guest feature in Leftfield’s ‘Open Up’ as far as I’m concerned. His politics were always anti-establishment and for that I always respected him far more than most of the swots that play music.
God save the Sex Pistols
They’re a bunch of wholesome blokes
They just like wearing filthy clothes
And swapping filthy jokes
Great article. But please remember that The Dictators, MC5, Iggy Pop, Ramones, etc… predate all these English punk bootlegs.
A case can be made for The Who’s My Generation as the first punk song.
The SPs were talentless, gobby adolescents, a marketing machine created by the Svengali-like McClaren. They belong in their time and place, and the most charitable interpretation of the motives of people like Boyle who want to revive them is that they’re suffering from arrested development. However, one of the band (can’t remember which one) appears to have grown up – interviewed by Johnny Walker the other day, he said he now preferred Steely Dan to the Pistols’ stuff. Good man!