A non-philosopher reader recently asked me why I'd stopped blogging about punk rock. That I had stopped somehow escaped my attention. So here goes...
I've acquired several recent releases by New Model Army. NMA was probably my favorite punk band throughout my college years. They struck me as a good example of where punk rock should have gone following the demise of the Clash. Anyway, they've persisted in recording albums and endlessly touring, despite a few serious lineup changes and the death of their founding-member drummer.
I've given the most recent releases a close listen, and I've even checked out the lead singer Justin Sullivan's solo acoustic album. The verdict: Would someone please tell them to fucking stop? None of the new material holds a candle to Ghost of Cain or Thunder and Consolation. They're ruining everything. Mr.Sullivan should disband the unit entirely and record another acoustic album.
And while I'm at it: what the fuck has Billy Bragg done for us lately?
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12 comments:
Unfortunately, Billy Bragg began to show signs of suckiness with Don't Try This at Home, largely sucked with William Bloke, and finally achieved maximal sucktitude with English, Half English. I haven't bothered to listen to anything he's done since then. Once you've sunk to those depths, there's no coming back up.
In my opinion, his masterpiece was Workers Playtime.
Okay...HTLML is not working out for me today.
Here's what John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) has been up to lately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hzQsvxtLTM&eurl=http://laughingsquid.com/sex-pistols-john-lydon-stars-in-butter-commercial/
Can we please tell Killing Joke to cease & desist too?
As soon as the Sex Pistols went on the Filthy Lucre tour, that was the end of my respect of Mr. Lydon. He became that which he had railed against.
Same thing with New Model Army, the band which at one time wrote "Vengeance" & "My Country" was suddenly was performing Neil Young's "Freeworld" and the Doors "The End" in an awful jam band manner. Not punk indeed.
For me, Bragg jumped the shark when he did the project with those precious Wilco folks.
Wow, so much John Lydon bashing.
You do realize that Malcolm McLaren assembled the Sex Pistols as a promotional device for a clothing store?
It's like the 70s equivalent of a boy band put together by a marketing team. So what was Lydon "railing against" again?
What's more, there are some really brilliant PiL records, even if they're not uniformly great. And if he happens to wear a silly white suit, so what?
PiL not lipsynching on American Bandstand
Leo:
In complete agreement about Bragg.
729:
Nice link on the Lydon advert!
Santa,
I', behind you on the KJ moratorium. They had their heyday, and they were once great. Now they're a fucking disgrace.
I saw the Pistols on that reunion tour. Hard to know what to make of it. They were kinda tight. In tune, even. Like a Sex Pistols tribute band.
My thesis has always been that the Sex Pistols were not a band, but rather people pretending to be a band. Shadows in the cave.
Ooopps... I think I just wrote the first sentence to my contribution to *The Sex Pistols and Philosophy* volume in the Pop Culture and Philosopher series!!!
Anon:
I agree. No sense railing against Lydon, who never claimed to be doing anything other than swindling the record-buying public.
Want to contribute to *The Sex Pistols and Philosophy*?
Anon: True. But Lydon always thought that he was being a bit of a subversive element to the media industry in general and the music business in particular. In truth, he was just another cog in the media machine, the well promoted anithesis to the 70's rock establishment thesis.
I love the early PIL stuff and believe Levine is one of the great guitar players of the 80's, but Lydon is a bit of a pretentious douche bag when not making music. To say that the consumers of his "corporation" are irrelevant when precisely consumption is the primary reason for a corporation to exist is a bit of Carrollian whimsy.
If they don't matter as he says, why did he sign with a record label, why obsess about making movies or soundtracks, dressing in a particular style, why even do interviews, appear in a commercial, and appear on Judge Judy? There is a bit of a disconnect between his words and his actions.
I don't disagree with you, santa.
But I would add that the "disconnect" that you're talking about was widespread, if not universal, in that era of punk rock.
For example, The Clash, easily the most respected band of that time as far as politics is concerned, were always on a major label. Always.
There are far worse stories, too, about The Clash and others. (car ad music, anyone?)
People tend to remember what they want from the history of punk, and throw away the rest. I do it too.
Anyway, I don't really mean to defend Mr. Lydon. But there's little reason to single him out.
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