In Reply to: Back it up one notch posted by Zipcord on January 3, 2007 at 08:00:51:
The bloat of the early 70s was in all directions. Was it ELP who insisted on an expensive antique middle eastern rug to go under the drum kit?
Personally I hated both the dull bombast of heavy/stadium rock and the up-its-own-arse-ness of prog and fusion (or at least much of it) and had gone off in search of country and old soul by the 70s.
But I think that taking a flame thrower to the whole business (attitude) was the point.
Lydon was in fact a big fan of Beefheart, Tim Buckley and (if memory serves me correctly, Van Der Graf Generator).
Having toured with a lot of the punk and new wave bands (and although we use names like those as convenient pigeonholes, they have a limited use) and some of them were just bloody fantastic. As for the Ramones being the model, well I think Richard Hell could stake a claim, but beyond individuals, there were parallel (albeit small) movements in New York and London at that time disillusioned with music and wanting an alternative and both took to it.
Such established figures as Elvis Costello who is surely one of the best writers of his generation was in there at Stiff Records, and Joy Division who were probably pivotal quickly (under the inspired hand of Martin Hannett) brought in that Can-beat or Neu influence and made Love Will Tear Us Apart and Atmosphere, arguably 2 of the greatest recordings ever made and certainly comparable (in more than one way) to say Voodoo Chile.
One great thing about the "punk" movement was that it put music back in the hands of anyone/everyone who wanted to make music and opened up the myopic music business especially with the introduction of indie labels and home produced records.
Many of my favourites fell by the wayside, The Beat, Wreckless Eric, Teardrop Explodes, Big In Japan, ahhh, half a lifetime ago...
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Follow Ups
- scorched earth policy - dave c 12:44:31 01/03/07 (0)