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Most Influential Punks


johnnyguitar

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I already signposted this link on another forum, but what the heck. It goes some way to shedding some light on who were the "progenitors" of what became known as "punk",so may be of interest to those contributing to this thread....

www.uk-dance.org/knowledge/social_aspects_of_music/000056.html

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I mentioned The Germs. I dont know about them being the first or most influencial, but they were good. I will stick with X being my favorite from that era. Too bad Darby killed himself.

I might be a little off on my dates for them being the first. But I consider them influencial, espeially when it comes to lyric writing. Darby had this way of writing that even reading htem on a page they still stand out.

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I saw an old TV show tonight, The Lords of the New Church were playing a couple of songs. I remember they tried to be very punk in their attitude (they even had the guy who played drums or guitar with The Damned in the band...) but they were more "heavy" than what I remembered.

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I saw an old TV show tonight, The Lords of the New Church were playing a couple of songs. I remember they tried to be very punk in their attitude (they even had the guy who played drums or guitar with The Damned in the band...) but they were more "heavy" than what I remembered.

"The Lords" were a pretty good band; I only saw them "live" the once, down in London. They certainly had "punk rock credentials" being a "super-group" of sorts. As well as Brian James of The Damned on guitar, they were Stiv Bator, formerly of The Dead Boys (vocals), Dave Treganna, ex-Sham 69 on bass and Nicky Turner from The Barracudas (drums). I only have one of their albums (eponymously titled) on vinyl. It has some great songs on it: "New Church", "Open Your Eyes", "Holy War". I remember as a "teen-punk", spending a Christmas voucher on the "New Church" single and feeling well chuffed. (That's "very pleased" round our neck of the woods). :)

Thanks for reminding me about them. I'm off to go play the album now! :thumbsup:

P.S. Apparently Janmes and Treganna reformed the band earlier this century, but I haven't witnessed the results: the reunion may have fallen on its a*se for all I know...

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blur? punk?

Well, no. You wouldn't describe Blur as punk. But the original question has two parts. If you take the (not unreasonable) position that The Kinks are the "forefathers of punk" as Miamisammy did, then it's understandable to go on to suggest that they might be proud of Blur, whose debt to The Kinks (in terms of "influnces drawn upon") is immense.

Another band / artist, similarly influenced by The Kinks, but who are more closely more identifiable with the UK "punk- rock / youth explosion" would have to be THE JAM / Paul Weller.

I'm pretty sure The Kinks guys would have appreciated what The Jam were about.

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I read they formed a band called something like "The Lords of New Church resurrected", with Treguunna and... I´d have to check... I saw the Lords many times as they loved Spain and we even made a couple of TV live shows with them. They used to play a lot in Madrid and I guess I remember I saw them in France too.... I have two of their albums (one is a French copy dedicated et all, so I think I did see in Paris...) and they were a really exciting band. Funny, they would age quite qell compared to other bands I saw in these times, such as Killing Joke, for instance. I also saw some Alan Vega (Suiicide) and he wasn´t bad... I don´t know what happened with The Damned though, I know Captain Sensible used to play on his own...

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The first people that people usually think of are The Sex Pistols. But let's not forget that they were put together just like a teen pop group. At least they had the attitude.

I agree with Sammy about the Kinks, but also want to add MC5, who were fairly punkish back in the 60's.

And don't forget that The Police, Blondie and Elvis Costello were part of the late 70's British punk movement.

I don't know who they would be proud of, save for Sting, who would be most proud of himself.

The first of your statements (about The Pistols) has been picked apart elsewhere, so I won't bother with that one. (Huge sigh of relief all round??)

The Police were only part of the punk movement if "cutting your hair short and dyeing it blonde" qualifies as punk, (though their first, very rare / collectable single "Fall Out", pre-Andy Summers, is "a bit punky") Mind you , Stewart Copeland was well into punk stuff, even into the 80s when everyone else said Punk was Dead. I remember an end of year feature in Smash Hits magazine in which he voted Chelsea's "Evacuate" as his single of the year. Also, as part of his interest in "movie-making", he filmed a tour of The Anti-Nowhere League and a few other "third-wave" punk bands, which he made into a documentary. His brother Miles ran a label "Illegal" which released quite alot of punk stuff (Lords of The New Church, Menace, Chron Gen, Chelsea) as well as Wall of Voodoo's splendid "Mexican Radio" and the first single by The Alarm.

But The Police, punk? Only by the stretchiest stretch of the imagination.

Blondie? A fantastic, legendary band, yes. But hard to describe them as significant in the late 70s British punk movement, for reasons to obvious to go into.

Elvis Costello temporarily epitomised "New Wave", but punk? No.

I did like the pay-off line about Sting though!

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I read they formed a band called something like "The Lords of New Church resurrected", with Treguunna and... I´d have to check... I saw the Lords many times as they loved Spain and we even made a couple of TV live shows with them. They used to play a lot in Madrid and I guess I remember I saw them in France too.... I have two of their albums (one is a French copy dedicated et all, so I think I did see in Paris...) and they were a really exciting band. Funny, they would age quite qell compared to other bands I saw in these times, such as Killing Joke, for instance. I also saw some Alan Vega (Suiicide) and he wasn´t bad... I don´t know what happened with The Damned though, I know Captain Sensible used to play on his own...

When I lived in France (1985/86) The Lords were enormously popular, much moreso than over here.

But I'm a bit disturbed by your reference to Killing Joke, probably my favourite band of all time. :bow: :bow: :bow:

Despite going "down the toilet" in the mid/late 80s, Killing Joke have recovered to put out a series of excellent albums, and can still cut the mustard live, if my recent experience is anything to go by. Of course, it's difficult when you used to be "The Best Live Band On Earth". ;)

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So I accidentally referred to Blondie as part of the late 70's British punk movement. But they were definitely part of the 70's New York punk/CBGB's scene.

The original question was who were the most influential punks in general, not necessarily on punk music. I realize that I'm exploiting a loophole, by the way. Elvis Costello and The Police have certainly loose connections to the style, but they did have as much influence as anybody else. We seem to be in universal agreement about the Kinks, so what's the difference here?

Punk is as much about attitude and the D.I.Y. aesthetic as anything else, and these artists certainly shared in it. Ask any of the newer punk bands (Green Day, Weezer, etc.) and I'd bet my life that they would cite these artists as huge influences. I'm not in any way classifying Green Day and Weezer and real punks; just agreeing for once with popular opinion.

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Sorry Daslied. Reading your post and re-reading mine, I realise I've probably done you a disservice. I hope I haven't caused offence, though I would understand if I have. :blush:

You quite rightly pointed out the significant role of MC5, but then I went and focussed on some fairly trivial points of disagreement. It's a fault I have...

I think we all interpret johnnyguitar's original question from a slightly different angle, y'know?

That's partly why I avoided contributing to this thread for so long....Too big a question: impossible to answer...

Anyway, sorry again.

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No no no, don't apologize. I love that we can have a civilized discussion about music here, so I'm glad you said what you did.

Everything I do focuses on minutae/pointless trivia, so then we share a fault. I agree that we're interpreting the question differently, and that's ok. I also agree that the question is way too subjective for one single answer, so it's good that different opinions are being expressed.

Again, you have nothing to apologize for, and no offense taken whatsoever. I've enjoyed all of your posts.

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I'd love it if you could explain what you found attractive / talented about Miss WOW.

(Please don't just say "her tits")

...err, well she did have huge ttttttt...talent, but I guess it was mostly the strategically placed Elastoplast that I remember with great fondles..errr, fondness. OK, I was young, I was impressionable... and I wasn't getting it much. :blush:

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...err, well she did have huge ttttttt...talent, but I guess it was mostly the strategically placed Elastoplast that I remember with great fondles..errr, fondness. OK, I was young, I was impressionable... and I wasn't getting it much. :blush:

Hang on a minute...when was The Plasmatics "heyday"? (I use the term loosely...) 4 weeks in the UK chart, reaching the giddy heights of No.55 in 1980? You were young, impressionable, not getting any....that sounds so like me. Mind you,I was only fifteen at the time... For some intangible reason johnny, I've had you down as a "slightly older chap", (probably your encyclopaedic knowledge of 40 years of rock'n'pop!!!) Sorry if I've misjudged you...

Getting back to the point though...Over the last 25 years I must've read a ton of interviews with punk bands in music mags/fanzines, and I don't recall a single one that cited The Plasmatics as "an influence". I've only ever met one person who actually claimed to like'em.(Until now...) So I'm not sure they really warrant a place in this thread on either account. We may have 'boobed' there.... :blush:

Oh dear, I think it's probably for the breast if we leave it at that, don't you?

Finally though, I would like to add in tribute to the now-departed Miss O'Williams, "Wendy, even if your musical legacy was not that spectacular, on behalf of johnnyguitar and many other easily-impressed juveniles.....

.... :drummer: ...."Thanks for the mammaries"

(blind-fitter crawls under rock)

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