70s crap

[Greg Montalbano]

At 12:15 PM 7/10/97 EST, you wrote:
>would any of you waxing nostalgic about punk and other 70s ephemera be 
>surprised that some us find it ironic that much of punk was a reaction 
>against, among others, such (hippie or otherwise)  nostalgia?
>what do we crow about now:  "phoney sex pistol mania has bitten the 
>dust?"
>
>Punk was a welcome reaction to disillusion and rock's self-absorption, 
>etc but songs like "Working for the Clampdown" or "Dancin Barefoot", hell 
>even "Because the Night"  still resonate--not sure Horses does anymore.  
>Punk also had some really horrid consequences for music qua music:  lousy 
>musicians. (please don't say that was the point.)

Well, ja.  But --

Maybe you've just detailed what's right about the evolution of forms.
Rock, when it began, was about (among other things) possibilities.  There
was much freedom & more than a little FUN in the music;  when that started
to go sour (punk not being so much a reaction against the "nostalgia", but
more against the sudden inflated sense of self-importance that went against
the grain of its original free-style self-mockery), the punks took over &
made their statement.  When punk became a parody of itself (and a
not-very-amusing parody, at that), the next wave came on;  each wave
building on & commenting on/reacting against what came before.
Thus, continuity is preserved.
And so on, and so on....

~G~  (frustrated rock journalist)