Agony Shorthand
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Thursday, January 08, 2004
THE ULTIMATE POST-PUNK C90, MY TAKE….So this is my haughty and needless response to Jon Savage’s definitive 1976-81 overview tape of “post punk” (loosely defined) in the latest MOJO. I have to say that my tape is so good that I’m going to roast it up for my own listening pleasure. I mean, just look at it! These are what I definitely choose as of January 8th, 2004 as the strongest and most representative tracks of the era and the genre. No doubt I’ll have a revised list tomorrow if I choose to think about it. Savage was close enough to the mark that, upon further review, I have to give him kudos for his choices, at least two of which I’m swiping from him. I also think that, per Tim Ellison, “post punk” is meaningful only in the sense of being a catch-all term – i.e. those bands and artists who built upon 1977 punk with new instrumentation, song structure and a more “artful” approach while retaining the aggression or the experimentation inherent in the medium. I’m comfortable with it, even if others aren’t. So here’s what I came up with:
1. PERE UBU – Street Waves
2. DESPERATE BICYCLES – The Medium Was Tedium
3. RED TRANSISTOR – Not Bite
4. THE NORMAL – Warm Leatherette
5. GANG OF FOUR – What We All Want
6. MARS – Helen Forsdale
7. THROBBING GRISTLE – United
8. TWINKEYZ – Aliens In Our Midst
9. JOY DIVISION – No Love Lost
10. SWELL MAPS – Vertical Slum
11. YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS – N.I.T.A.
12. THE FALL – Prole Art Threat
13. GORDONS – Future Shock
14. URINALS – Black Hole
15. DOW JONES & THE INDUSTRIALS – Ladies With Appliances
16. DELTA 5 – You
17. CABARET VOLTAIRE – Nag Nag Nag
18. METAL URBAIN – Panik
19. ANIMALS & MEN – Don’t Misbehave In the New Age
20. MISSION OF BURMA – Max Ernst
21. SEEMS TWICE – Salient Feature
22. TWO BY FOURS – Little Cities
23. THE BIRTHDAY PARTY – The Friend Catcher
24. FLIPPER – Sex Bomb
25. BILL DIREEN & THE BILDERS -- Alien
26. NEW ORDER – Everything’s Gone Green
Yeah, like Savage, I agree that despite its 1976 release date and the fact that I’m perhaps more partial to PERE UBU’s “Heart of Darkness” or “Non-Alignment Pact”, “Street Waves” is a perfect track to kick this thing off. Sweeping, operatic and hard-driving art punk of the very finest vintage. I really can’t argue. Likewise, Savage was right on w/ THROBBING GRISTLE’s “United”; it just narrows out “Hot On The Heels Of Love” as their best. But he really gave Australia and New Zealand short shrift, a demerit that I’m righting with the inclusion of world-beating tracks from BILL DIREEN, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, SEEMS TWICE and THE GORDONS. And my nod to the “new wave” comes at the very end, with the all-time greatest electro-disco number “Everything’s Gone Green” from budding pop stars NEW ORDER. I’ll tell ya, I reckoned this sort of list-making navel-gazing was useless until the digital age – now I can (and will) have this comp up & rocking in minutes.
1. PERE UBU – Street Waves
2. DESPERATE BICYCLES – The Medium Was Tedium
3. RED TRANSISTOR – Not Bite
4. THE NORMAL – Warm Leatherette
5. GANG OF FOUR – What We All Want
6. MARS – Helen Forsdale
7. THROBBING GRISTLE – United
8. TWINKEYZ – Aliens In Our Midst
9. JOY DIVISION – No Love Lost
10. SWELL MAPS – Vertical Slum
11. YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS – N.I.T.A.
12. THE FALL – Prole Art Threat
13. GORDONS – Future Shock
14. URINALS – Black Hole
15. DOW JONES & THE INDUSTRIALS – Ladies With Appliances
16. DELTA 5 – You
17. CABARET VOLTAIRE – Nag Nag Nag
18. METAL URBAIN – Panik
19. ANIMALS & MEN – Don’t Misbehave In the New Age
20. MISSION OF BURMA – Max Ernst
21. SEEMS TWICE – Salient Feature
22. TWO BY FOURS – Little Cities
23. THE BIRTHDAY PARTY – The Friend Catcher
24. FLIPPER – Sex Bomb
25. BILL DIREEN & THE BILDERS -- Alien
26. NEW ORDER – Everything’s Gone Green
Yeah, like Savage, I agree that despite its 1976 release date and the fact that I’m perhaps more partial to PERE UBU’s “Heart of Darkness” or “Non-Alignment Pact”, “Street Waves” is a perfect track to kick this thing off. Sweeping, operatic and hard-driving art punk of the very finest vintage. I really can’t argue. Likewise, Savage was right on w/ THROBBING GRISTLE’s “United”; it just narrows out “Hot On The Heels Of Love” as their best. But he really gave Australia and New Zealand short shrift, a demerit that I’m righting with the inclusion of world-beating tracks from BILL DIREEN, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, SEEMS TWICE and THE GORDONS. And my nod to the “new wave” comes at the very end, with the all-time greatest electro-disco number “Everything’s Gone Green” from budding pop stars NEW ORDER. I’ll tell ya, I reckoned this sort of list-making navel-gazing was useless until the digital age – now I can (and will) have this comp up & rocking in minutes.
