So 1976. It's punk or who cares, right? Kind of. Obviously there was other worthwhile stuff so I'll talk about that first.
How about the other 'unk? Funk? The first full album to come up was Mothership Connection by Parliament. One very problematic song aside ("Handcuffs," a pretty creepy song about wanting to handcuff one's woman so she doesn't leave), it is a funk party that just keeps going. Get on the Mothership, baby, and let's groove all night.
The other big soul/funk/whatever album I had from 1976 was the masterwork, the apex of the entire discography of Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life. This is something else entirely from everything else I've had to say about Stevie Wonder thus far (even though it seems I didn't really have much to say before this). It's free, it's less cheesy, it's catchy, it looks at the past, present, and future of black music. The jazz influences on here are great, particularly in the fact that he brought in Herbie Hancock for a song. It's got some disco, some funk, some soul. It has a very famously sampled beat in "Pastime Paradise" which also makes me think of 90s hip hop. I also used this as a way to get excited about my between-AEFAE-listens catchup on new music because I got the new Janelle Monae album and I feel like they share a lineage. There's love songs, there's political songs, and there is this great instrumental.
Stevie Wonder "Contusion"
Where there is funk there is disco. Well maybe not the same exact place. But funk's brother, the overachiever (commercially) of the two children of soul, the polished one that got good grades and etc, established itself alongside the punk kid named funk. Jr Walker seemed to take another turn to the disco side of things with the singles from 1976 ("You Ain't No Ordinary Woman," "I'm So Glad") and the Bee Gees were officially in full disco mode with "You Should Be Dancing." None of these songs caused much derision to me, but I know what was lurking on the charts.
David Bowie was still pretty poppy on Station to Station despite long track times (only one under 5 minutes!). Sources say that this was a transitional album from his disco/soul stuff to his more experimental phase (Berlin trilogy with Brian Eno). So it's gonna be the last "easy" one here.
I wonder if Small Change isn't Tom Waits' greatest album from this early period. Kind of his Rubber Soul, if you will. Meaning it's the one that showed the first real hints at the greatness lying ahead. All his early stuff had shades of it, but this is the album with "The Piano Has Been Drinking." And "Tom Thaubert's Blues." And "I Wish I Was In New Orleans." That last one is the reason I sought this album out. I saw a live performance of that song and it made me miss New Orleans, so I knew I wanted that song. It took me a while to track down the album at a decent price...and now it turns out to be one of his best. Still jazzy, impossibly cool, but showing flaws and maybe a little less calculated.
Tom Waits "The Piano Has Been Drinking"
The Runaways can probably be considered at least a little bit punk. Pop punk. Power pop. Something. Rock & roll. You know. Hard rock? Of 1976. They did cover a Velvet Underground song and the Blondie bassist played on this album (thanks wikipedia!) so they have their creds. I like their fire, I think of them as somewhat a rocked out/updated version of the Shangri-Las. I think mostly because the final track "Dead End Justice" is a story song with talkin' that reminds me of some of the Shangri-Las' cautionary tales. There's something more modern, more liberated (ironic I know since it's about them being in prison) about it though.
Was the first Modern Lovers album considered punk? It's at least in that school of Velvet Underground inspired, rough-and-rumbly, energized rock music. Wikipedia tells me it was actually recorded back in the early 70s but just not released until 1976. How about that. I feel like everyone should already know all these songs. Should I post one? It's one of those albums that has so many great songs that serious music people already know. So maybe I'll leave at that?
Blondie officially let me know that the CBGB scene was in full operational mode at this time. Which makes me very happy. There is something about Blondie. They were part of this scene, one of the first bands in it, and they fit in quite well...but they also played pop music. Anger about them doing a disco song seems silly because while the Velvet Underground influence is apparent and there are some moments of real punk rock (absolutely check out "Kung Fu Girls") they really were a pop band.
Blondie "In The Sun"
Patti Smith's second album Radio Ethiopia did seem to push toward a more punk rock sound, at least in some cases. Particularly the first track "Ask The Angels." But I feel like it looks forward more toward The Clash than any other punk act. It's that diverse in genre exploration while keeping the punk attitude.
So of course this is all to build up to the self-titled debut album by a band called The Ramones. The officially credited "first punk band," I am reasonably confident in saying they are the first band that the word "punk" was used to describe and while they didn't create the sound they created an identity around the sound that I don't believe I heard in this project before them. 2 minute songs, power chords, simple lyrics and simple songs. Played fast. The revolution starts here. Draw the line in the concrete. With a jackhammer. I can't really describe what I felt when it came on in my car. "HEY! HO! LET'S GO!" Turned up the volume, yelled along, and it was just a rush of excitement. We are past the boring 70s rock, time for something with real energy.
Ramones "Beat On The Brat"
Other stuff worth a word or two:
- (My) Tom Petty debut! "Breakdown."
- I may have been missing the full album, but the the hits that Queen released in 1976 were very awesome. Particularly "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" and "Somebody To Love."
- Nilsson's ...That's The Way It Is is (currently) the last work I have of his in my collection. He will be missed. Greatly. Appropriate that the first song on the album is called "That Is All" in addition to the album ending with a reprise of that. It's not his finest work and I'm sorely lacking in his latter era stuff but I could stand to spend a lot more time with his latter discography.
- It's for the suits man! Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. It came up after The Ramones had already refreshed me, so I was mostly bored/disinterested. They have some catchy songs (particularly album opener "Second Hand News") but even though this is a mammoth of a popular album and probably pretty critically acclaimed, the only reason I own this album is because I feel like I'm "supposed to." But in the context of this, it just reinforced that I'm a punk rock kid.
On The Next Installment...
It's hard to think that anything besides punk rock would be important in 1977. It's the year of punk! So Plastic Letters, Buzzcocks, The Clash, My Aim Is True (Elvis Costello may be my favorite artist of all time), TWO Iggy Pop solo albums, Joy Division, Rocket To Russia, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, and Television. Whew!! But besides that, it was also the year of Saturday Night Fever, Billy Joel's The Stranger, Exodus, the first two chapters of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, Dennis Wilson, and Kraftwerk.
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