Friday, January 30, 2009

Knorkator buchstabe



Knorkator "Buchstabe"

The video to Knorkator's song "Buchstabe" as seen on their DVD "Zu Alt".

Toy Dolls deidres a slag



Toy Dolls "Deidre's a Slag"

Toy Dolls idle gossip



Toy Dolls "Idle Gossip"

Captain Beefheart ice cream for crow



Captain Beefheart "Ice Cream for Crow"





From YouTube uploader:


Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band; directed by Don Van Vliet (with much uncredited assistance from producer Ken Schreiber), cinematography by Daniel Pearl (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre); Don Van Vliet (vocals, harp), Gary Lucas (guitar), Jeff Tepper (guitar), Rick Snyder (bass), Cliff Martinez (drums); filmed on location in the High Mojave Desert near Lancaster, California; clip rejected by MTV USA as "too weird" upon release, now in the Permanent Film and Video Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; track taken from the 1982 Virgin album "Ice Cream for Crow"



From Wikipedia Captain Beefheart entry:

Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet on January 15, 1941) is an American musician and visual artist, best known by the pseudonym Captain Beefheart.

His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called The Magic Band, which was active from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. Van Vliet was chiefly a singer and harmonica player, occasionally playing noisy, untrained free jazz-influenced saxophone and keyboards.

His compositions are characterized by their odd mixtures of shifting time signatures and by their surreal lyrics, while Van Vliet himself is noted for his dictatorial approach to his musicians and for his enigmatic relationship with the public.

Van Vliet joined the newly formed Magic Band in 1965, quickly taking over as band leader. Their early output was rooted in blues and rock music, but Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (as they were collectively known) gradually adopted a more experimental approach.

1969 saw the release of their best known album, Trout Mask Replica, which was produced by Van Vliet's childhood friend Frank Zappa and is today regarded by some as a groundbreaking and influential masterpiece.

Van Vliet released several more albums throughout the 1970s, but his group was beset by shifting line-ups and a lack of commercial success.

Towards the end of the decade, he settled with a group of younger musicians and received acclaim for his three final albums, released between 1978 and 1982.

Van Vliet's legacy is one of limited commercial success, but nonetheless one with a devoted following. Despite this lack of commercial success, his influence on musicians, especially those of punk and new wave, has been described as "incalculable".

Since the culmination of his musical career in the early 1980s, Van Vliet has made few public appearances, preferring a quiet life in his northern Humboldt County, California home where he has concentrated on a career in painting.

His interest in art dates back to a childhood talent for sculpting, and his work—which has been described as a "neo-primitive abstract-expressionist aesthetic,"[3]—has received international recognition.

This Heat health and efficiency



This Heat "Health and Efficiency" 1985


According to Wikipedia This Heat entry:


This Heat were a British experimental music group formed in late-1975 in Brixton, London by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward (drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Williams (keyboard, guitar, bass, vocals, tapes).

This Heat were active in the ascendancy of British progressive rock and punk rock, but stood apart from those scenes due to a radically inventive approach that touched on numerous different styles and genres, but was always confrontational and politically charged.

Their commercial success was limited, but This Heat are widely considered a missing link between progressive rock (especially krautrock) and such later experimental genres as post-punk, post-rock, and noise rock.

Band history

Their first radio airplay came in early 1977 from legendary DJ John Peel, to whom they sent a demo tape recorded in the band's 'Cold Storage' studio, which they'd converted from a disused meat factory. During this time, they also recorded a session with Ghanaian percussionist Mario Boyer Diekuuroh, parts of which later appeared on a 1982 split cassette with Albert Marcoeur, released by the French experimental rock magazine Tago Mago.

Their self-titled debut album was recorded between February 1976 and September 1978, and was released in August 1979. It was characterized by heavy use of tape manipulation and looping, combined with more traditional performance, to create dense, eerie, electronic soundscapes. Also released in this period was an EP, Health & Efficiency, which foreshadowed the more rock-oriented sound of their second album.

Deceit (1981), the band's second and final album was produced with help from noted reggae mixer Martin Frederick. Deceit found the band incorporating more influence from punk rock, and consolidating the world music influences in their work. Although, like all of This Heat's releases, it sold poorly, Deceit is now seen as a classic of the post-punk era comparable in quality and invention with Closer, Chairs Missing or Metal Box.

[edit] Legacy

This Heat split up in 1982 after completing their final European tour with bassist/vocalist Trefor Goronwy (whose earlier band Dog 2000 with Andy Bole recorded in "Cold Storage") and keyboardist Ian Hill joining Bullen and Hayward.

Hayward went on to form Camberwell Now with Goronwy and ex-This Heat soundman Stephen Rickard, and remains musically active. Charles Bullen had a solo venture called Lifetones, and released one record, "For a Reason", in 1983 on his Tone of Life imprint. Bullen later released the album "Internal Clock" under the name Circadian Rhythms in 1998.

In 1993 a new album of previously unreleased This Heat recordings was unearthed. Repeat featured three long tracks, including the title track, a 20 minute remix of "24 Track Loop".

"Out of Cold Storage", a box set of all the band's official recordings, was released in June 2006 on This is!, a new Recommended Records sub-label set up by Charles Hayward and Charles Bullen to re-release This Heat's back catalogue.

The set comprises This Heat, Deceit, Health and Efficiency, Made Available and Repeat, plus Live 80/81, a CD of concert recordings.

Williams later formed Flaming Tunes with Mary Currie and released a cassette of new material, in a much softer style than that of This Heat. He died in late 2001.

Patti Smith Group ask the angels



Patti Smith Group "Ask the Angels"

Stockholm, Sweden 1976

Patti Smith feedback and poetry



Patti Smith "Feedback and Poetry"

Johnny Rotten interview Finland tv 1987



Johnny Rotten interview 1987 on Finland TV

"I find honesty is the most offensive thing in the world. And you've just been attacked with it." - Johnny Rotten aka John Lydon

Johnny Rotten NYC 2007 interview



Johnny Rotten "NYC 2007 Interview"




From YouTube uploader:



What becomes a legend most? It depends on how accurate the legend is in relation to the person.

In the case of John Lydon, you might start with his autobio "Rotten: No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish" discounting of course, the myth that's always created whenever we attempt to write about ourselves. Still, it's an interesting and very honest story, and it sheds light on his individuality and goes a long way in loosening up the dogma that Punk as a music became, and reminds us of the funkier, disaffected angels that inform whatever Punk as a philosophy was, and hopefully, continues to become.

So when you consider Lydon the person and realize that he was more a catalyst than a dogmatist, the idea of him judging a talent show (Bodog.com's $1 Million Battle of The Bands) isn't really so anomalous, although talent contests by definition would instantly seem counter-intuitive to punk's attempted destruction of the rock star deity and the bloated corporate label.

Of course, punk never completely accomplished this, maybe cuz once one person does something new, either a) everybody copies it to the point of redux, or b: everybody worships the originator to an unreasonable point or conformity.

Punk as music has suffered both fates at times, tho punk as philosophy has certainly had a considerable, if not total, impact - probably because the philosophy existed long before the music.

Coincidentally, while working on this I received an email from a publicist a bout a contemporary band that the late Mr. Tony Wilson said made him feel the same excitement he'd felt at the Sex Pistols' first show, which of course is a legendary event that I simply have to ask Lydon about.

And of course, Lydon initially declines the offer, and rightly so, before sharing very lucid thoughts about punk as philosophy -- and then tearing into Green Day, whose platinum record adorns the room we find ourselves in.

At one point in this interview another platinum record on the wall haloes him and he seems a saint of rock and roll. At another camera angle, the shiny circle looks like a saw blade slicing into his head. Lydon certainly suffered both fates and lived to not tell about it if he doesn't want to, but thankfully, he shares a lot in this conversation and I'm very grateful.

In the past few weeks, I've taped interviews and/or performances from several different legends; Rock Steady Crew's Crazy Legs; Morrissey; Siouxsie Sioux; and Mr. Rotten himself, (video from all coming soon) and it's interesting to see the extent some are, and others aren't, wiling to discuss the days/play the songs from the time when they made their first mark. And they each have a right to share as little or as much from their past as they choose.

But of course, this video interview is about more than the past, or talent contests; it's about what it should be about when The Fates throw you in the Green Room with Johnny Rotten.

Yes, he explains the seemingly-contradictory act of Judging Music in his classic, anarcho-individualistic terms. But he also looks at Richard Branson and the late Tony Wilson, while also throwing in an appreciation for Stephen Colbet, and a love of vinyl records, and whatever else he feels like contemplating.

As for his own "career", he's actually been very busy with this talent contest which (like most contests these days) has proven to have legs and is on FuseTV which i've never seen ('dont have cable).

He's also done a lot of narration for nature programming (again, check your expectations at the door). So the guy's always moving forward, tho' he also doesn't rule out the possibility of touring again with PIL or The Sex Pistols.

I think he should do both, and soon.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Peter and the Test Tube Babies the jinx



Peter and the Test Tube Babies "The Jinx"

Peter and the Test Tube Babies elvis is dead



Peter and the Test Tube Babies "Elvis is Dead"

live 1998 at CBGBs, NYC

crowd wanker "rubbish!"

Peter: "yeah being rubbish is our trademark, we've made a 20 year career out of it."

Fleshtones hex breaker supervindicator



Fleshtones "Hexbreaker/Supervindicator" live

Genuine Imitations oedipus rex



Genuine Imitations "Oedipus Rex"


From YouTube uploader:

everyone's favorite White Plains, New York punk funkers tear it up at the Thirsty Turtle. Will eat your mom.



~

Fleshtones lets go



Fleshtones "Let's Go"


From YouTube uploader:

Italian TV appearance from the 90s that includes an interview with the band and performances of Let's Go! and Stop Fooling Around. The sunglasses that Peter Zaremba is wearing are from the "Fleshtones" range that were featured in the French newspaper Liberation. To tie-in with the launch of the specs a "live" CD-EP was used as a promo item.

Pavement space ghost



Pavement "Space Ghost"

Pavement lorettas scars



Pavement "Loretta's Scars" live 1992

Endank Soekamti love death



Endank Soekamti "Love Death"

Punk rock band from Indonesia.

Pune Ganpati 2008 Chetak Club



Pune Ganpati 2008 - Chetak Club

Manacha Tisara Ganpati, Punyacha Raja, Guruji Talim Mandal - Chetak Club Pathak

Monday, January 26, 2009

Rabbit Junk industrial is dead



Rabbit Junk "Industrial is Dead"

digital hardcore live in Detroit

64 Revolt hurricane LIVE



64 Revolt "Hurricane" live

Swedish bitrockers 64revolt performing at the Hultsfred Festival in june, 2005.

Mission of Burma not a photograph



Mission of Burma "This is Not a Photograph"


Early live performance at The Paradise, 1980. From the DVD, "Not a Photograph."

Raconteurs level



The Raconteurs "Level"

Blackout Shoppers take the 5th



Blackout Shoppers "Take the 5th"

Blackout Shoppers at ABC No Rio 27.12.08

Celibate Rifles dancing barefoot



Celibate Rifles "Dancing Barefoot"

1988 Australian TV. A cover of the Patti Smith song.

Three OClock i go wild



Three O'Clock "I Go Wild"

PiL death disco



PiL Public Image Ltd. "Death Disco"

Pil poptones



PiL Public Image Ltd. "Poptones"

Unseen scream out



Unseen "Scream Out"

Avengers uh oh



The Avengers "Uh Oh"

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Uh Huh Her not a love song



Uh Huh Her "Not a Love Song"

Minutemen king of the hill



Minutemen "King of the Hill"

The Dickies banana splits AND paranoid



The Dickies "Banana Splits"


BONUS VIDEO...




The Dickies "Paranoid"

July 1979

Strange Dolls Cult in a line



Strange Dolls Cult "In a Line"


Strange Dolls Cult Live at The Monastery, Vienna, 8.6.2006

The Move walk upon the water



the Move "Walk Upon the Water" (1968?) on German TV, the pre-punk psychedelic rock band

Compare their fancy-man moves with video of the MC5, especially "Looking At You".

The Monks boys are boys



The Monks "Boys Are Boys" 1966

The Monks complication 1965



The Monks "Complication"
1965

The influential and ahead-of-their-time pre-punk band The Monks play on German TV in 1965.

Toy Dolls yul brynner was a skinhead



Toy Dolls "Yul Brynner was a Skinhead"

Toy Dolls ellie the elephant



Toy Dolls "Ellie the Elephant"


From the YouTube uploader:


The Toy Dolls are an English punk rock band. They formed in 1979, playing their first concert at Millview Social Club, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, on 20 October 1979.

While much punk rock is political or angry, the Toy Dolls worked within the esthetics of punk to express a sense of irreverent adolescent fun with irreverent lyrics and song titles such as "Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead", "My Girlfriend's Dad's A Vicar" and "James Bond Lives Down Our Street."

There is often alliteration in their song titles (e.g. "Peter Practice's Practice Place", "Fisticuffs in Frederick Street", "Neville is a Nerd").Their albums usually include a cover version of a well-known hit song, usually sped up to the usual punk rock tempo.

Covers have included "Toccata in Dm", "Sabre Dance", "Livin' La Vida Loca", "Lazy Sunday Afternoon", "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and "The Final Countdown." They have also recorded parodies of popular songs, such as "The Kids in Tyne and Wear (Kids in America)" and "The Devil Went Down to Scunthorpe (The Devil Went Down to Georgia)".

Their albums often start with a short intro with a catchy guitar riff, and end with an outro, which is usually a slightly longer variation of the intro riff. Their lyrics are usually based on singer Olga's experiences and favorite soap operas.

Most of the band members have nicknames and are rarely seen without their cartoonish rectangular sunglasses. Although they appeared bare-eyed on the One More Megabyte album cover, they have usually appeared in sunglasses ever since the group formed.

Tokyo Sex Destruction break out town



Tokyo Sex Destruction "Break-out Town"

Virgins rich girls



The Virgins "Rich Girls" live on Direct8

"post-punk revivalists"

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

Raw Deals between good and bad



The Raw Deals "Between Good and Bad"

Six Feet Under amerika the brutal



Six Feet Under "Amerika the Brutal"


WARNING: This extreme pacifist video with its anti-violence message may piss off white supremacists, wife-punchers, and war-mongers!

Front 242 headhunter



Front 242 "Headhunter"

Blood on the Wall mary susan



Blood on the Wall "Mary Susan" live

International Espionage dead drop



International Espionage "Dead Drop"

Reazione kids of europe



Reazione "Kids of Europe"

Blossomhead something missing



Blossomhead "Something Missing"

From "Dream Beautiful" album.

Gas Huffer rotten egg



Gas Huffer "Rotten Egg"

From YouTube uploader:

This was Gas Huffer's last video.

Gas Huffer was a band from Washington state that played a sort of rockabilly punk, with lyrics both formal and comical, with antic stage presence. They classified themselves loosely in the Garage punk genre.

The band created comic books with each album (drawn by all four members of the band, including Joe Newton), that contain the lyrics to the songs. This was done for every album up to (and including) "Just Beautiful Music".

They are contemporaries of many Pacific Northwest rock groups.

Gas Huffer played its final show - dubbed "The Last Huffer" - at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe on January 14, 2006. Opening the show were Girl Trouble from Tacoma, Washington, and Canned Hamm from Vancouver, British Columbia.

At the conclusion of Girl Trouble's set, K.P. Kendall called Gas Huffer's Tom Price to the stage and presented to him a "Certificate of Achievement".

Prior to Gas Huffer, Tom Price played with The U-Men.


~

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Anti Flag captain anarchy



Anti Flag "Captain Anarchy" with Sims animation

The Fall hit the north



The Fall "Hit the North"

Rubber (0) Cement butyl rna world



Rubber (0) Cement "Butyl RNA World"

Groovie Ghoulies running with Bigfoot



Groovie Ghoulies "Running with Bigfoot"

Cellar Zombies bitch



Cellar Zombies "Bitch"


This video is a part of the DVD that was recorded on saturday the 26th of November 2005, in 'de Gaffelaar', Zwartewaal, Voorne Putten, the Netherlands.

It's an underground punk festival, performed by Watergeez (punk, part 01-08), de Prutsers (punk, part 09-21), Terror Defence (D-beat, part 22-33) en The Cellar Zombies (Psychobilly, part 34-40).

Trailer Park Kings too much to dream



Trailer Park Kings "Too Much To Dream"

cover of pre-punk psychedelic garage band Electric Prunes hit single "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night"

Gumbabies how can I win



Gumbabies "How Can I Win?"

Falling Pianos guantanamo



The Falling Pianos "Guantanamo"

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Anniversary Circle understand



The Anniversary Circle "Understand" the Bush EDIT

Stolen Minks consecutives



Stolen Minks "Consecutives"

Rich Kids on LSD beautiful feeling



RKL Rich Kids on LSD "It's a Beautiful Feeling"

The Mummies fight to live



The Mummies "Fight to Live on the Planet of the Apes"

Casualties riot



The Casualties "Riot" live at Knitting Factory

Diodes time damage



The Diodes "Time Damage"


From YouTube uploader:


The Diodes formed in October 1976 and within 7 months opened Toronto's first punk club, The Crash 'n' Burn.

The club gave the nascent punk scene a focal point but also brought a lot of media notoriety. By August 1977, the Crash 'n' Burn was forced to close, an occasion marked by a sold out show featuring the Dead Boys.

Thirty years later the Diodes not only reform to play Dundas Square during the North By Northeast music festival, but return to visit the art college (OCA) where they came together and the building that used to be the Crash 'n' Burn, now a lawyers' office. Here's some exclusive footage from an upcoming documentary on the band directed by ToBeScene's Aldo Erdic.

Television Personalities painted word



Television Personalities "Painted Word"

Bloc Party helicopter



Bloc Party "Helicopter"





Bloc Party "Helicopter" live on Jools Holland

Monday, January 19, 2009

Rich Kids on LSD drink positive



RKL Rich Kids on LSD "Drink Positive"

Band of Susans now is now



Band of Susans "Now is Now"

"Now is Now" song from Band of Susans' The Word and the Flesh album, Restless Records, 1991.

Rise Against give it all



Rise Against "Give It All"

Gang of Four tattoo



Gang of Four "Tattoo"

Drumcorps Aaron Spectre this time



Drumcorps (Aaron Spectre) "This Time"

64 Revolt you cant hold us back



64 Revolt "You Can't Hold Us Back"

The Kills sour cherry



The Kills "Sour Cherry"

The Kills played a storming set at Antone's in Austin, TX during the 2008 SXSW Music Conference.

The Kills on East Village Radio



The Kills on East Village Radio

Bauhaus kick in the eye



Bauhaus "Kick in the Eye"
1982

NYC Punk Rock url logo

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Anti Flag war sucks lets party



Anti Flag "War Sucks Let's Party"

Blood on the Wall baby likes to hollar



Blood on the Wall "Baby Likes to Hollar"


Blood On The Wall video directed by Theo Angel. Though this song appears on their Self Titled album from 2004, this version is from their self released 7".

Chungin and the Strap-on Faggots victor



Chungin and the Strap-on Faggots "Victor"

Siouxsie and Banshees love in a void



Siouxsie and the Banshees "Love in a Void"

live 1979 on music show Something Else, with Robert Smith of the Cure

Teenage Head some kinda fun



Teenage Head "Some Kinda Fun"


From YouTube uploader:


Live clip from 1983

Teenage Head are a Canadian rock group, who were one of the most popular Canadian new wave/punk rock bands in the early 1980s.

They were sometimes referred to as the "Canadian Ramones", despite the fact that their sound was closer to rockabilly than to some of the Ramones' 60s pop influences.

Nevertheless, they shared with the Ramones a love of goofy lyrics and a ferocious live show. Although the band are still recording and touring as a unit, they have never succeeded in recapturing their early audience.

Dilettantes ready to go



The Dilettantes "Ready to Go"

Blood on the Wall reunite on ice



Blood on the Wall "Reunite on Ice"

Johnny Thunders arms around a memory



Johnny Thunders "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"

Black Lips bad kids



Black Lips "Bad Kids"

Chungin and the Strap-on Faggots punk v gorode



Chungin and the Strap-on Faggots "Punk v. Gorode"

Toxic Slut pop song



Toxic Slut "Pop Song" at Punk Aid 2003

Spitroast neat kids



Spitroast "Neat Kids" Punk Aid 2003

Television Personalities wheres bill grundy now?



Television Personalities "Where's Bill Grundy Now?"

Bad Brains attitude



Bad Brains "Attitude"

UK Subs CID



UK Subs "CID"

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Johnny Thunders: Featured Evolutionist 1-09









Johnny Thunders "Sad Vacation" from Live in Cold Blood (1982)






Johnny Thunders "Born To Lose"



"Music shouldn't be competitive. You like this music and I like that music. I love the Sex Pistols, they're a great band, I loved touring with them."

-- Johnny Thunders





Johnny Thunders obituary on MTV




New York Dolls "Chatterbox"
1973 at Club 82, New York




As we continue the Foundation's research project entitled "Therapeutic Value of Punk Rock", one name popped into mind. Johnny Thunders. While you may not consider Johnny Thunders a success story, one thing that keeps arising in the discussion of punk and underground music is: how it helps young people gain self esteem and courage. And Mr. Thunders and his New York Dolls and Heartbreakers did a lot in that field.

Sure the New York Dolls sang some gay theme tunes. More importantly though, they were rebels. While they proudly paraded their campy satirical routine, the message young outcasts got was this: "It's Okay to Be You, Fuck the Judgmental Jerks".


To feel like you're an abnormal human mistake is horrible. But when you hear a song that smirks about being "different", that's happy to be weird, that's boasts about how oddness is the spice of life, suddenly you don't feel like it's you against the entire world.

Someone else feels the same! Someone else is getting kicked around by society! Someone else is angry at the fascist governments of the world. Someone else is doing something about it, through music and poetry!

Now to this month's Featured Evolutionist: Johnny Thunders.






Speaking of oddness, even this pick is strange.


He hated the word "punk" and boldly claimed "I never made punk music".

Definitions aside, Johnny Thunders has had one of the biggest influences in rock and punk music, in his old band the New York Dolls and later in his band The Heartbreakers. He carved out a path for what you might call "art punk", trash rock, or dirt pop.

A theatrical style, when done with imagination, exaggeration, or absurdity, can add great excitement and differentiation for a band. Johnny Thunders and the New York Dolls changed their look and stage routines often, always in stark and vivid contrast to the blase plaid shirt and farmer bluejeans all the other bands were wearing.

They were almost a parody of the Rolling Stones, like their poorer but angrier step-cousins.

Glamor. Shock. Controversy. Raves. Misunderstandings. Under-valuations. Promotional negligence. Isolation. Self-destruction. The historic trend of many innovative musical groups in all genres.







As Nina Antonia remarked in 'Dead End Kid", discussing her Johnny Thunders bio to Chris Parcellin:


The early 1970s were an abysmal time for rock'n'roll. The radio airwaves were dominated by limp folkies like James Taylor and progressive rock phoneys like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes.

With only The Rolling Stones and a few cult groups like The Stooges and The MC5 pumping-out great hard rock sounds the stage was set for a revolution.

It came in the form of The New York Dolls. Blasting out of the gutters of NYC with more attitude and snarling aggression than had been seen before, the Dolls personified rock'n'roll decadence. Unfortunately, due to industry indifference, bad management and a lack of promotion--the Dolls went over like a stinkbomb at the senior prom.

But their charismatic lead guitarist, Johnny Thunders, stood out in a band that included snot-voiced lead singer David Johansen and talented songwriter Sylvain Sylvain.

When Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan quit the band due to drugs and ego problems, Thunders was free to front The Heartbreakers and record solo albums like the stunning "So Alone" (1978).





Johnny Thunders Interview Pt. Nighthawks








Johnny Thunders "Joey"






From "Memories of Johnny Thunders" by Kris Needs.

Johnny Thunders had a tattoo on his right upper arm. A big heart and dagger, emblazoned with the words 'Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die'. Even
when he covered his lower arms with cut off t-shirt sleeves to hide his erm, track marks, the tat was still given breathing space.

...........

First time I clapped eyes on Johnny Thunders in the flesh was in early '74. The New York Dolls were opening a place called the Rainbow Room restaurant, which was situated on the top floor of Biba's department store in Kensington High Street.

Biba's was ultra-hip, very expensive - like a Harrods for the glam era. There were a lot of sequins. Obviously such an extravagant venture didn't last long but, if nothing else, it'll be remembered for that Dolls gig.

Bear in mind that in '74 most 'serious' groups, apart from glam-rockers like Slade, wore denim and plaid shirts. They were not only boring to look at but astoundingly tedious to listen to. You really had to dig for gold in those days - which is exactly why punk rock needed to come along in full force the following year.

But here were the Dolls with every member a larger-than-life personality - Jagger-preening vamped-up caterwauler David Johannsen; archetypal inscrutable bass mountain Arthur Kane; livewire hoodlum rhythm guitarist Sylvain Sylvain [with cowboy holster]; powerhouse drum-demolishing hitman Jerry Nolan...and Johnny Thunders, the lead guitarist.

At the time he was described as a cartoon Keef, with his hair an exploding exaggeration of the patented Richards rooster coiffure. But his look was more a startling hybrid of street-gang cool and street-tart back-room.

What's more, it looked like half his outfit had been nicked during the Dolls' little shopping trip around Biba's ladies department that afternoon. [It had!]

The next time I saw Mr Thunders, he was fronting a different band – the Heartbreakers. This band had come over to play on the Sex Pistols' ill-fated 'Anarchy' tour in '76 - and stayed.

They'd been booked for the tour by Malcolm McLaren, who'd managed the Dolls for a stint the previous year, just before they split up. The Heartbreakers bowled everyone over in the first few months of '77, including myself.

The punk movement had been going strong for barely six months. I was totally immersed in the escalating momentum around The Clash, the controversy about the Pistols and the new bands that kept springing up.

But the Heartbreakers were different and special. They were from New York - the place that had spawned the original punk rock attitude [and I'd been into it since the Velvet Underground ten years earlier, anyway].

In Spring '77, the Heartbreakers were a joy to catch as they played everywhere in London - the Music Machine, Vortex, Roxy, Marquee and Speakeasy. They had the same New York attitude as the Ramones – play anywhere if people wanted to see you, make some dosh and blow them away in the process.

For a few months it worked and I managed to catch them at this peak.








Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers "Chinese Rock"





Johnny Thunders "Do You Love Me?"
(old Dave Clark 5 hit single)

Friday, January 16, 2009

The Horrors count in fives



The Horrors "Count in Fives"

The Clash londons burning



The Clash "London's Burning"


If you wonder why we don't post many videos by The Clash, it's because they aren't a very good band to begin with...plus, uh, some asshole has made most of the Clash videos: Embedding Disabled by Request.