70s crap

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

RICHARD ROMEO writes:
> Punk also had some really horrid consequences for music qua music: lousy 
> musicians. (please don't say that was the point.)

Well it depends what you think was punk. e.g. Paul Weller and Bruce
Foxton of the Jam are as fine musicians as you will find anywhere. If
you want a real punk John Lydon has an even better croak now than he
had in 1977 and his erstwhile PIL bassist, Jah Wobble, is
exceptionally talented. Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks wrote pure punk
pop songs which any tunesmith with an ear would be proud of. The
Stranglers were highly competent musicians (they should be having been
an ageing hippy band for most of the decade) and produced some of the
most exhilarating sounds of the late 70s. And The Clash, whose musical
inability did little to tarnish the better songs on their first two
albums, recorded some excellent songs and even finer dub versions on
their later records (London Calling, Sandinista). But my all time
favourite punk band has to be X-Ray Spex, the first punk band to use
sax and to devastating effect, as in their classic single `Oh Bondage,
Up Yours' - 3 minutes of pure bliss.

Anyway, I really liked lots of the lousy musician stuff. Even Sham 69
sounded quite good live. You really really had to be there. I don't
think I have met anyone of my generation from the US who has
understood how much the whole thing was wrapped up with British
culture.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
We drank the blood of our enemies.
The blood of our friends, we cherished.