Comrade Copehead wrote:Would the british punk scene have happened without the Pistols?
And would they have happened without Talcy Malcy?
I get the feeling that punk would have happened had the Pistols not been around, but it would have been a muted, almost underground scene. The punk explosion of '76-'77 in this country was in a large part down to the impact the Pistols made, no doubt about it.
Sure, there were other punk bands emerging at the same time of the Pistols, but I think many of the bands that emerged in following years were directly influenced/inspired by the Pistols. Granted, of this glut of bands, a lot of them were pish.
I'd put Maclaren up there with Elvis and Dylan for that reason, and wouldn't the little weasel just love that.
Like Elvis, Beatles and Dylan; Punk was a key moment in british ( at first ), and then western music, and I don't know if it would have happened without Maclaren.
I see what you're getting at, and there's no doubt that McLaren played a pivotal role in the evolution of punk in the UK (as I'm sure he'd tell anyone who'd listen...
), but there were bands like the Clash and the Damned coming through at the same time.
Punk would have existed, but it wouldn't have been as "mainstream", for want of a better word.