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did the sex pistols kill punk rock?


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Yikes! Have I been a sucker, or what???!

To think I've nearly lost my job and access to my children on account of this loser.... :doh: :blush: :crazy:

Thanks for the tip-off, Mr Mitty: I only wish you'd turned up about 6 weeks ago...

I think I did try to warn you...but you still like a good mass debate :blush: Honest...it'll make you go blind.

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So are you saying that England would be different today if the Sex Pistols never existed? If so, then what specifically would have been different?

Well, yes Paul. I am saying that. Even my eldest brother, (no more a punk than my mother), would probably agree with that....

But I tell you what...why don't you pop over sometime when we've both got a free weekend: we can hit the reefer and talk "parallel universe scenarios". ;)

Bring the family along, it'll be fun.

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Bring the Family is a wonderful album by John Hiatt...saw him last year...fantastic songwriter with a huge catalogue of hummable tunes, some of them even a bit challenging...try humming a 'punk' tune and you'll soon realise the difference between 'music' and 'sounds'...the moment you can hum the melody...it stops being 'punk'

;)

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I think we may have stumbled upon the 'crux of the biscuit' (that's French for 'twice cooked...by-the-way) as Zappa definitely said...'Punk' was meant to have thrown all previous musical life-forms into the bin...and, indeed, many of the offerings of the punk genre did do that...but, unfortunately for them, memetics, (look it up) ensures that anything 'un-musical'...i.e. 'unfit'is destined to eventually die....all that will survive is certain to have a 'melodic' content...hence the survival of the Sex Pistols and the Buzcocks...against their less melodic rivals :blush:

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No....almost the opposite...the sex pistols were what they were because they beautifully perfected the 'art' of being exactly on the 'cusp' between the musical and the un-musical...for a while...they did guitar solos (remember?) but they were short and shite...they did 'riffs' (but they were short and simple...as opposed to long and 'hard' qv 'Led Zeppelin') They did melodies...but they were short, hummabble, but un-harmonised...any fool could repeat them....ooo, errrr, 'urry up 'arry....any fool did.!

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole purpose of punk rock to be simple and either enjoyable or pissed off? It isn't meant to be analyzed! So no, I don't think the Sex Pistols killed punk rock, but this thread might be doing it. I think I'm going to go listen to the Dead Kennedys and weep.

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Sorry for that Walter Mitty character who showed up here--theres some people out there who like chasing me around some of the messageboards I subscribe to and hassling me...I guess I have that affect on psychotic people (?!?)

I just ignore them and I hope they dont come here and bother all of you folks here.

Like I said before, I have actually been treated real nice here and I appreciate it.

Also are you serious about letting me stay at your place if I ever come to England? My kids only 4 months old right now, but maybe in a year or two we could make the trip...

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I believe folks were beginning to draw their own conclusions before I said anything.

I note you were banned from the NME (New Musical Express) boards yesterday too, one of the most permissive music boards on the net.

I agree, the users of this board are nice, which is why I felt compelled to give them the heads up.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole purpose of punk rock to be simple and either enjoyable or pissed off? It isn't meant to be analyzed! So no, I don't think the Sex Pistols killed punk rock, but this thread might be doing it. I think I'm going to go listen to the Dead Kennedys and weep.

OK, I will. The "whole purpose of punk rock" is debatable. Not meant to be analysed? Why on earth not? Until very recently, our debate focussed more on punk as a "cultural phenomenon", rather than on the genre's aesthetic appeal. To consider "punk rock" as being only concerned with simplicity and anger sells the subject short...As I suggested earlier: in the UK, punk is still regarded by many as a pivotal point in the history of popular music- a "watershed", if you like. That seems to render it a valid topic for discussion.

I can't see that by debating and analysing the phenomenon of "punk", we are doing any harm at all. If one or two people learn something they didn't already know, we might even do a tiny bit of good. Part of the purpose of a "music forum", I would suggest.

To draw an analogy: "disco music" is basically geared to getting people up on the dance floor, right? Could hardly be simpler. We could just say "no further analysis required". Then we would never look at the genesis of dance-music, consider why "pure dance music" has been much more popular at some times than others, discuss the evolution of the genre and/or its cultural significance, its relationships with other genres, etc. Which would be "our loss".

Discussion is good.

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Also are you serious about letting me stay at your place if I ever come to England? My kids only 4 months old right now, but maybe in a year or two we could make the trip...

Good question.

I wouldn't want to rule it out altogether, but first you'll have to convince me that I wouldn't wake up to find a sack over my head and my wife and children butchered in their beds.

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I think one of the things that seperated Punk from Rock was that Punk was intentionally taking a pi** on the established Music Industry--punk didnt want their songs on the radio, they didnt want to play to jocks and hipsters in huge arenas, they didnt want 'polished' and slickly produced albums and songs, and because of this the developed a DIY attitude.

Okay, now THAT is just being stereotypical.

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