West Coast punk

[Deebank]

the whole thing's a myth.

dysfunctional frat pack.

the US don't do punk.

Maybe not on the West Coast, but they invented it on the East Coast.

[Deebank]

Yonks! Double post.

[Bungo the Mungo]

the whole thing's a myth.

dysfunctional frat pack.

the US don't do punk.

Maybe not on the West Coast, but they invented it on the East Coast.

absolute rubbish.

johnny rotten and the sex pistols.

[Six String]

Is it punk? I've no idea.

I've never been especially interested in this stuff, 'cos what I've heard just features really speedy tuneless riffs and the sound of a 'hard man' at the front, throwing up.

Isn't that what punk is all about regardless of place of origin?

[nathan]

I really like the bands that didn't exactly try to do hardcore punk but more like build on conventions that were already in place and send them into a different gear.

Bands like The Descendents and The Queers took Beach Boys harmonies and melodies with Dictators-like irreverence and made a fun little mix. Not really punk in the traditional sense but a damn good time anyway. You could make a good case that pop-punk as it's known today got a real shot in the arm on the west coast.

I don't know if I could live without that early singles compilation of Black Flag either. They got pretty shitty in a hurry though. Ditto with the Circle Jerks.

And I will never be embarrassed of loving the first few Screeching Weasel LP's.

The Germs are pretty crap though and this is coming from someone that actually owns some of their stuff and listens to it from time to time.

[Deebank]

the whole thing's a myth.

dysfunctional frat pack.

the US don't do punk.

Maybe not on the West Coast, but they invented it on the East Coast.

absolute rubbish.

johnny rotten and the sex pistols.

Richard Hell and pals might beg to differ.

[Jumper k]

I can do you a good all-encompassing comp if you like Coany.

[bobzilla77]

I like all the records in Matt's post, that's not a great list for beginners. It's some of my favorite stuff there is.

Whether it will translate to anyone else is questionable. It is definitely an acquired taste, and definitely a different kind of thing than you had in UK /NYC 1976. None of these bands thought they were gonna have hit singles, which is all the Ramones or the Buzzcocks ever wanted. These people let their freak flags fly.

The Descendents might not be a bad place to start. It's solid power-pop with catchy choruses and funny lyrics. They're the "clean" end of the scale where Flipper are on the other side - super noisy and surreal.

I'll also throw in a mention of the Urinals/ 100 Flowers. Very odd but very catchy, and never deliberately off-putting. They start out barely able to play their instruments but get good in a hurry.

And the Flesheaters' A Minute To Pray A Second To Die, which got its own thread not long ago, is one of my all time favorites from the scene. It's not hardcore, it's a weird, Beefheartian take on American roots music.

[Sneelock]

I like Matt's list too.
If the forum were on fire and I had to grab one it would probably be "Los Angeles" but it just might be that first FEAR album!!
seriously, I adore that fucking thing!

I had a real love/hate thing going with the local punk of the day. I didn't like the fans who sat on my car and wouldn't get off but I sure did like a lot of those records.

those first Dickies albums are a lot of fun too. is it punk? I don't care - they're fun records and they would have conquered FM radio if the world was fair.

[bobzilla77]

those first Dickies albums are a lot of fun too. is it punk? I don't care - they're fun records and they would have conquered FM radio if the world was fair.

John might like them, they sound like they're from England.

[sloopjohnc]

the whole thing's a myth.

dysfunctional frat pack.

the US don't do punk.

I was thinking about this the other day---the difference between UK and US punk. As usual, the English added more fashion, style and artifice to theirs. Whether a young punk copied the self-destructive Pistols look with well-placed rips and zippers or the revolutionary commando garb with the flashy red kerchiefs of the Clash, it was all very contrived.

As usual, American hardcore punk filled itself with testerone, cuz that's what we do, and the early atmosphere of outsider inclusion between punk rockers got really angry and macho. Like our culture, there was nothing subtle about it. It was full speed ahead, pedal to the metal, unabated anger with guitars.

For awhile, the two brands of punk crossed lines when you had Discharge and GBH out there. They seemed to take a more American approach to the music, if not in the lyrics so much, but in the music.

UK punk got pretty close to American hardcore around that time.

But in retrospect, Americans birthed the bitch, the British put fake fangs and a mohawk on it, and the Americans took it back, gave it a buzz cut, and set the amps into overdrive.

[Bungo the Mungo]

But in retrospect, Americans birthed the bitch, the British put fake fangs and a mohawk on it, and the Americans took it back, gave it a buzz cut, and set the amps into overdrive.

you are ronald macdonald.

[sloopjohnc]

But in retrospect, Americans birthed the bitch, the British put fake fangs and a mohawk on it, and the Americans took it back, gave it a buzz cut, and set the amps into overdrive.

you are ronald macdonald.

If anyone looked like they were copying Ronald MacDonald, it was those early London punks.

Talk about clown suits.

[Bungo the Mungo]

But in retrospect, Americans birthed the bitch, the British put fake fangs and a mohawk on it, and the Americans took it back, gave it a buzz cut, and set the amps into overdrive.

you are ronald macdonald.

If anyone looked like they were copying Ronald MacDonald, it was those early London punks.

Talk about clown suits.

where did it all go wrong?

the madness of the board personified.

incredible lack of good taste. why do we tolerate this?

[king feeb]

Don't knock Ronald McDonald.

He has a boss car that looks like a giant hamburger. And the accelerator is at the end of a long cylinder, so it can only be driven by someone wearing clown shoes.

A real Boss Hoss, in other words.

[Sneelock]

I worked in movie theatres in the late seventies in world famous Hollywood California.
we showed some crappy thing with about 10 minutes of sex pistols in it and a bunch of other footage. it wasn't bad but it wasn't what people expected. anyway, this was my first exposure to more than a few british punks at a time. some people had safety pins, I saw a couple feather boas. my favorite lady wore little but rubber shorts and telephone cords. I got into a couple great conversations about Magma with one guy, krautrock with another.

a year or so later we showed "the decline of western civilization". leaving aside historical concerns this was by far the better fim. this was my first exposure to more than a few west coast punks at a time. they dressed the same, they took the same drugs, they looked like they could have been stamped out of a machine. they reminded me of army recruits or chollos. I really liked a good chunk of our "west coast punk" but never warmed to the punks themselves. spitting and cussing at anybody who's handy strikes me as a different sort of thing than spitting and cussing at people who piss you off. maybe I pissed them off. "would you like butter on your popcorn?" SPIT!!!

[Sneelock]

where did it all go wrong?

the madness of the board personified.

incredible lack of good taste. why do we tolerate this?

we talk a lot in the royal we, don't we?

[Bungo the Mungo]

where did it all go wrong?

the madness of the board personified.

incredible lack of good taste. why do we tolerate this?

we talk a lot in the royal we, don't we?

He keeps an eye out for us. He's a good lad.

[Sneelock]

we like him!

[sloopjohnc]

a year or so later we showed "the decline of western civilization". leaving aside historical concerns this was by far the better film. this was my first exposure to more than a few west coast punks at a time. they dressed the same, they took the same drugs, they looked like they could have been stamped out of a machine. they reminded me of army recruits or chollos. I really liked a good chunk of our "west coast punk" but never warmed to the punks themselves. spitting and cussing at anybody who's handy strikes me as a different sort of thing than spitting and cussing at people who piss you off. maybe I pissed them off. "would you like butter on your popcorn?" SPIT!!!

And LA punk was a little more arty than SF punk--except for Orange County. SF punk had more of an industrial thing going for it. If you don't believe me, read Rip It Up and Start Again. There's a good segment on the SF scene there. Don't get me wrong, there was strong artistic streak going through it. But it was more stark. Darker.

Which kinda befits the difference in the locales.

But the hardcore punk scene got very weird. Women and men dressed alike, lots of girls shaved their heads like the guys.

And not to get too jr. Freud, but the English have always been more "out there" as far as fashion and androgyny goes. It was there in the US scene, but American punks were way more puritanical and masked the homoeroticism in the punk scene.