I just don't want to screw this entry up. Punk rock turned my life around when I was in high school, it got me started on this journey, it gave me the necessary mindset of rebellion and fighting back and questioning everything, and it "began" here. I know I've been talking about a bunch of different bands in this blog that show the beginning of punk. I know there was already a Ramones album in 1976. But those were the spark and the fuse. This is the ignition. Everything else is going to the "also worth mentioning" section in this post.
Of course, the stuff I include as part of the punk movement will include new wave, post-punk, and whatever other associated styles I feel like including. Such as David Bowie.
Two Bowie albums in one year? You bet! And he's part of this. He worked with Iggy Pop, after all. He's an enigma really. Or just complicated. The first album in his "Berlin trilogy" with Brian Eno was Low, whose first half was full of short, fast songs. Just listen to this. It fits perfectly into 1977.
David Bowie "What In The World"
The second side of the album is a little more of what I would have expected from a Bowie/Eno collaboration with longer, slower, more instrumental songs. The next album in the Berlin Trilogy was "Heroes," one of the few times it is correct to put the name of an album in quotation marks. I think more artists should do that when an album shares its name with one of the songs. Or does he mean the other use of quotation marks, implying the "heroes" that we can be are not real heroes? "Heroes" is a great album though, everyone knows that song is one of his best. The rest of the album is quite great as well. It has a similar layout to Low in that the more song-oriented songs were at the front half with some experimental/instrumental/more-Eno-influenced tracks on the back end. "Sense of Doubt" is a very creepy track that would do well in a suspense movie.
So I feel like I am using the word "punk" way too much here but I don't know how else to go through this. But I'd just like to apologize for that. The godfather of punk Iggy Pop should have been right at home in 1977, because what his band had created was now exploding, but while The Stooges could have had a big payday (I'm sure they did when they finally did reunite recently) if they'd stuck together or got back together for this and played CBGB, instead he went solo, working with David Bowie, and exploring new territory. I think the only way the term "post punk" is valid is because it was what Iggy Pop did post punk. Because besides that, it really came up at the same exact time as punk. 1977 was the landmark year for both genres. But ok, Iggy Pop put out two solo albums in 1977. The Idiot was what I theoretically should like more because it's darker and more artsy. And I do quite like it. But I actually prefer Lust For Life, despite some misgivings about the title track. It's a fun song, it's good to dance to, but it's been played on too many commercials and is too repetitive and long for me to enjoy. But once you're past that song it's post-punk brilliance. His vocals have the same urgency as they did in the Stooges but the bed they ride on is all over the map, from ballads to rhythmic exercises.
Iggy Pop "Some Weird Sin"
And there was Elvis Costello's debut! My Aim Is True! And what a wonderful debut. Not much related to punk in sound, but in attitude and everywhere that matters it is pure and true. "Alison" remains one of my favorite songs of all time. Who can't relate to that one? But what I really love are the bonus tracks that came with the Rhino reissue. A bunch of old demos. I don't know of any other versions of some of these songs, such an early display of absolute brilliance from one of rock's best songwriters. Just him and a guitar. And poetry. Here is one of my favorites but before I "play it for you," let me also mention that when Elvis Costello was on Colbert a while back he was having voice issues and Colbert said he'd sing a song with him. Elvis challenged him with this song, such a rare deep cut, and Colbert knew all the words and nailed it. I didn't know there would be a way for me to like Colbert more, but then he pulled that off.
Elvis Costello "Cheap Reward"
Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage...
Another highly prolific artist is David Byrne and of course he got his start in a little band called the Talking Heads. Their debut, aptly titled Talking Heads: 77 is a very impressive debut. They are already so well established in their sound of African rhythms, funk, and yet something still very caucasian. I think I'll have more on them as we get into their catalog with Eno, but the first album already had the brilliant hit song (still persisting today) "Psycho Killer." But the song that closes the album is one of my favorites, as it keeps some of the funk rhythm but incorporates more of the CBGB rock influence and energy, perhaps as a preview of what the band would go on to accomplish.
Talking Heads "Pulled Up"
Does anyone else think Television singer Tom Verlaine sounds a lot like Gordon Gano? What? There are other amazing things about their debut album Marquee Moon? Such as EVERYTHING ABOUT IT? The sense of rhythm, the technical prowess of the entire band, it really is a direct influence of what would one day become math rock. The way the guitars interweave into an odd combination of driving the rhythm and disrupting it with noise, it also reminds me a lot of Joey Santiago's work in the Pixies. Here is a song that emphasizes that as well as the Gordon Gano-ness of the vocals (yes I do realize that Gano sounds like Verlaine and not the other way around).
Television "Friction"
When I picked up the Joy Division collection Substance 1977-1980 it was because I was a fan of their post-punk-ish/new-wave-ish songs like "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Transmission." Stuff that was good to dance to. Because at the time I was big on stuff I could dance to. Don't judge. So even though I had my fully developed love of punk rock, I somehow wrote off and did not appreciate the early tracks included in the collection when they were really pretty much just a punk band. Listening again in the context of this project, I was shocked that I had given all these 1977 tracks two star ratings in itunes. Just kind of goes to show you that 1) context is huge and 2) itunes ratings are dangerous because they last until you hear the song again and change your mind, and a low rating may prevent you from hearing the song again for quite some time. So let me say that while this is rhythmic (so therefore post-punk?) it is raw as hell, punk as hell, and I gave this track a revised four star rating.
Joy Division "No Love Lost"
That's a good transition into the "real punk rock" as opposed to all the post-punk stuff. The Buzzcocks showed up briefly here with their single "Orgasm Addict." Maybe the fastest song yet encountered here. Or maybe it was Johnny Thunders' "Get Off The Phone."
And immediately after that came The Sex Pistols' Nevermind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. I got this in high school, of course, and loved it for a while, but in the years since have come to regard it as overrated. Hugely important record, one of the most important ones leading up to another certain other record with "Nevermind" in its title (ahem), but not that great within the context of all this other stuff I've been talking about. Johnny Rotten was willing to sing in a, uh, rotten way, and they were revolutionary in the way they went out of their way to offend people, cashing in on the anger and frustrations of the lower class at the time (and they certainly lived the lifestyle as well, I'm not going to doubt that stories of their final American tour are any less shocking and mindblowing as they are made out to be). There was just better British punk rock at the time.
Yep, The Clash. The Only Band That Matters. One thing that annoys me is American versions of British albums. Particularly with this project. I was ready to talk about their self-titled album's "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" but that song didn't actually come out until 1978. I was all excited that ska-punk was as old as punk itself! But instead it's just nearly as old. Stupid American version of the album, being put out after their second album! Still, "London's Burning" could be considered a ska-punk song so still valid. Once I saw some punk band at a tiny bar and they covered "White Riot." Something was wrong with everyone else and they didn't seem to know the song. But I went crazy over it and got the mic in my face a few times for that one. Great memory. It's hard to believe this isn't the greatest Clash album, because it's one of the greatest albums and probably the best of all these 1977 albums I'm talking about. Not that I've heard the original British version...
And I'll close it out with the same band I closed it out with last time: The Ramones! Two 1977 albums. Leave Home is the first, and I'm a little less familiar with that one. I just got it actually. It all kind of blurs together. They were very true to their sound, to say the least.
Ramones "Pinhead"
Gabba Gabba
We accept you
We accept you
One of us!
They certainly were inclusive as well. A trait of punk rock that persisted and helped me feel accepted by something at last when I discovered it in high school. And then of course Rocket To Russia, the monster of a punk rock classic that includes so many anthems, goes over so easy, ends so fast, that you gotta just turn it up while it lasts. "Cretin Hop." "Rockaway Beach." "I Don't Care." "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker." "Teenage Lobotomy." To name a few.
ONE TWO THREE FOUR!
(you fill in the rest.)
- Dennis Wilson's only (official) solo album Pacific Ocean Blue was quite nice, a very different beast that I can't even try to associate with the punk movement. I think it kind of sounds like Bon Iver. Gorgeous.
- In contrast to most R&B of this time, Curtis Mayfield was still quite great on the album Short Eyes.
- Kraftwerk! I can't say too much about Kraftwerk but Trans Europe Express is pretty great and is officially the first electronic album I've encountered here.
- My only actual Bob Marley album is Exodus. I can see that it is very good but the association with annoying people is too strong for me to want to listen to much.
- I have most of Billy Joel's The Stranger. Kind of a guilty pleasure but not as bad as his 80s work.
- The Bee Gees in full effect! "Stayin' Alive," one of the biggest hits in all of disco, both exemplifies everything that was wrong with popular music at the time and is one of the greatest dance songs of all time. I can hate disco and still love one of the biggest disco hits, right?
- I got a collection of Hall & Oates songs because it was cheap for a lot of songs. And then I realized I kind of hated most of them. But I still can enjoy "Rich Girl."
- There was a VERY brief overlap of the two Elvises! My last Elvis Presley song (except a 2002 remix) was "Way Down." Rest in Peace, king!
- And Queen...well I have some more from them coming up. But all I had for 1977 are their two biggest hits and two of my least favorite Queen songs. Of course, those are "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions."
- Speaking of Queen, The Queens Of Noise had THREE albums in 1977! I'm talking about The Runaways. It got a little tired to me after a while. They are best in smaller doses I think. But their level of rebellion, while a bit quaint next to the punk rock superheroes, was enjoyable and I can see it stirring the kids up.
On The Next Installment...
Punk/post-punk/etc: Blondie, lots more Buzzcocks, more The Clash, more Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe debuts (solo-ly), more Ramones, The 80s arrive early (The Cars! Devo!), a lost Dennis Wilson album, Marvin Gaye returns with an uncomfortably personal album, more of my favorite Queen songs, my last Rolling Stones album, Tom Waits is still great, Warren Zevon, and Willie Nelson does a standards album. Cool!
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