Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 15, 1993 TAG: 9302130193
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: J.D. CONSIDINE THE BALTIMORE SUN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
PUNK ROCK NOSTALGIA
Back in 1977, when punk was just beginning to make itself known outside the underground clubs of London, New York and Los Angeles, the idea would have been unthinkable. Never mind that few of the bands involved expected their music to last long enough to be remembered; nostalgia itself seemed somehow inimical to punk's here-and-now world view."No future, no future!" howled Johnny Rotten at the end of the Sex Pistols' infamous anthem "God Save the Queen." "No future for you!" And they meant it, man.
Punk saw itself as rock 'n' roll's wrecking crew, less interested in building a new tomorrow than dislodging an increasingly meaningless rock star establishment. "No More Heroes" was the way the Stranglers put it, and it went without saying that this included punk rockers as well.
Yet 16 years later, punk is not only remembered fondly, but is considered the very cornerstone of modern rock. Just look at Nirvana, the multiplatinum Seattle act that was recently the focus of a documentary entitled "1992: The Year That Punk Broke." Nor was that meant ironically; as frontman Kurt Cobain admits, his group is in some ways just a punk rock tribute band, "like an Elvis or Jimi Hendrix impersonator."
No wonder, then, that the rock world is awash in punk rock artifacts. In fact, it is quite a multimedia assault, with recent entries ranging from books like Jon Savage's study, "England's Dreaming," to video releases of the Sex Pistols' "Great Rock and Roll Swindle" and the Clash's "Rude Boy," to CD reissues of long-forgotten classics like "Germfree Adolescents" by X-Ray Spex or Stiff Little Fingers' "Inflammable Material."
But nothing expresses the current enthusiasm for punk rock's past better than Rhino's new D.I.Y. (after the punk credo, "Do It Yourself") series. With nine volumes organizing the music's seemingly chaotic development into neat categories like "U.K. Punk," "The New York Scene" and "American Power Pop," the D.I.Y. albums offer an exhaustively researched, impressively inclusive overview of the punk era (mostly from 1975-1979).
Skim through the song titles, and it's easy to sense the rebellion that was in the air. As the Sex Pistols called for "Anarchy in the U.K.," Eddie & the Hot Rods complained of "Teenage Depression" and the Adverts boasted sarcastically of being "One-Chord Wonders."
And that's just in the first album, "Anarchy in the U.K.: U.K. Punk I" (Rhino 71171); subsequent volumes include such attitudinal classics as Wire's "I Am the Fly" on "The Modern World: U.K. Punk II" (Rhino 71172), the Heartbreakers' "Born to Lose" on "Blank Generation: The New York Scene" (Rhino 71175), and the Dils' "I Hate the Rich" on "We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene" (Rhino 71176).
For all the lyrical bluster, though, most of the music sounds quite tame. Of course, some of that can be chalked up to the passage of time, inasmuch as rock has gotten a whole lot harder and faster in the years since punk first began.
But it isn't entirely a matter of acclimation, because as much as punk pretended to offer musical rebellion, what it delivered was simply a return to rock 'n' roll basics. Forget the look, the politics, the posturing; what punk rock was really reacting against was the overstuffed inanity of mainstream '70s rock 'n' roll.
Punk's progenitors hated the emphasis on virtuosity and elaboration that so-called "progressive" rock had introduced, and they positively loathed anything that included light shows, lengthy solos or more than three verses. Not for nothing did Johnny Rotten scribble the words "I Hate" at the top of the Pink Floyd T-shirt he wore when auditioning for the Sex Pistols.
In that sense, punk was less a revolution than a reformation, placing the emphasis on its fundamentals: three-minute songs, simple choruses, no flashy instrumental stuff. And above all, no rock stars. Because as in the early days of rockabilly and doo-wop, punk held out the promise that making music was something anyone with a guitar, a voice or an idea could realize.
True, that often left some pretty raw edges on the performances, as is evident in Polly Styrene's straining vocals on "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" (from "Anarchy in the U.K."), or in the ragged, sometimes mismatched harmonies of John Doe and Exene Cervenka on X's "Los Angeles" (from "We're Desperate"). But that hardly took away from the music's power. Indeed, the Ramones proved again and again that simplicity was very much its own reward, and a song like "Blitzkrieg Bop" (on "Blank Generation") packed more pleasure into two minutes and 12 seconds than Yes usually managed in an entire album.
Even better was what punk did for the world of guitar pop. Not every new waver was a bile-spitting misfit, remember, and there were quite a few bands that shared punk's attitude and aesthetic, but nonetheless made music that owed much to the Beatles.
"Teenage Kicks: U.K. Pop I" (Rhino 71173) and "Starry Eyes: U.K. Pop II" (Rhino 71174) are filled with Brit-rockers who liked a good tune every bit as much as they loved a lean guitar rave-up, and whose songwriting often came from the same tradition that inspired the British Invasion bands of the '60s.
Just how much these acts owe to the sound of the '60s ought to be apparent after a single hearing. Who else but the Byrds could have inspired the chiming guitars of the Records' "Starry Eyes" (on "Starry Eyes," natch)? Isn't it obvious that Nick Lowe's wickedly warped "Marie Provost" (on "Teenage Kicks") is just a Kinks song gone wrong? Still, in case the listener is a bit on the slow side, producer Gary Stewart pounds the point home by adding the Searchers' comeback hit "Hearts In Her Eyes" to the second volume.
Fortunately, no such prodding is needed for the U.S. power pop entries, but that may have more to do with the way the American garage rock aesthetic kept '60s rock alive than with any connections the compilers could have made.
After all, "Come Out and Play: American Power Pop I" (Rhino 71177) opens with "Shake Some Action" by the Flamin' Groovies, a San Francisco band whose existence stretches back to the early days of the Grateful Dead but whose sound never went further than the Beau Brummels, and most of what follows offers only minor variations on the formula.
Taken as a whole, this series is both an excellent introduction to the punk tradition, and a pointed reminder of how much great music went unheard as American radio ignored these bands and concentrated instead on Linda Ronstadt, Boston and the Bee Gees.
Punk v. Pop
Granted, it's not without its faults. "Mass. Ave.: The Boston Scene" (Rhino 71179) makes too much of too little, and would be hardly worth hearing were it not for the demo version of the Cars' "You're All I've Got Tonight" and Mission of Burma's fast-and-furious "That's When I Reach for My Revolver."
Then there's the historical perspective. Even though it was a British tour by the Ramones that inspired the Sex Pistols to make music, the Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." is track one on volume one, while the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" doesn't turn up until four volumes later. Nor is it always clear what differentiates punk from pop. For example, the Rezillos "(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures" is included on "The Modern World: U.K. Punk II," while the same group's "Top of the Pops" turns up on "Starry Eyes: U.K. Pop II." So was the band pop? Punk? Both?
Naturally, there are also a few omissions. Neither "Anarchy in the U.K." nor "The Modern World" include any offerings from the Clash, apparently due to licensing difficulties. "Blank Generation" inexplicably forgets Talking Heads. And with 38 songs spread across two volumes of American Power Pop, it's hard to believe there wasn't room for the Razz's "You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)."