A History of Punk Rock: Unit 5 PDF

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Section 5 from the course textbook A History of Punk Rock...

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Page 1 Watch Out! Punk Is Coming! “I saw the magazine (John) Holstrom wanted to start as a Dictators album come to life. On the inside sleeve of the record was a picture of the Dictators hanging out in a White Castle hamburger stand and they were dressed in black leather jackets. So I thought the magazine should be for other fuck-ups like us. Kids that had parties when their parents were away and destroyed the house. You know, kids that stole cars and had fun. So I said, ‘Why don’t you call it Punk.’” — Legs McNeil, former senior editor at Spin and PUNK magazine’s “resident punk” In the United States, a very different kind of punk began to emerge in New York at the same time as the first English punk bands appeared in London. Both brands of punk had audiences of disaffected and discontented young people who had grown tired of the empty excesses of the popular mainstream and were looking for something new. However, English punks were, byand-large, working class kids caught in the midst of a desperately failing economy, while their American counterparts were typically suburban, often educated, and more attuned to artful pursuits than simple expressions of anger and rage. Nonetheless, there was a common bond in their embrace of alternative lifestyles, aggressive music that was opposed to the pop mainstream, and a rebellious attitude that challenged public norms and existing standards of behavior. The essence of punk in America was rebellion, as it was in England, and rebellion continued to be the thread that connected all things punk to one another on both sides of the Atlantic. The word “punk” had been used in the music press since the early 1970s to describe a variety of different bands that ranged from ? and the Mysterians to Iggy Pop and The Stooges. In 1972, Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group referred to 1960s garage bands like the Seeds and the Barbarians as playing “punk rock” in his liner notes for the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era compilation album. Punk magazine – which was started by John Holstrom, Legs McNeil, and Ged Dunn in late 1975 to chronicle and examine the underground music scene in New York – likely played the most important role in building the connection between the word “punk” and the music played at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. Holstrom, McNeil, and Dunn also plastered the Lower East Side with posters that read, “WATCH OUT! PUNK IS COMING” throughout 1975, which brought attention to the word and its association with the New York underground music scene. The word “punk” was quickly picked up by the British music press and used to describe the kind of music that was beginning to be played in small London clubs by bands like the Sex Pistols. By the spring of 1976, “punk” was the accepted term for the new music being played on both sides of the Atlantic. “The word ‘punk’ seemed to sum up the thread that connected everything we liked — drunk, obnoxious, smart but not pretentious, absurd, funny, ironic, and things that appealed to the dark side.” — Legs McNeil Although the violence, nihilism, and venom that accompanied British punk was seldom on display in America, a fundamental disaffection with mainstream society and culture was at the root of American punk as it was in England. What was different was the music, although most outside observers were slow to pick up on the subtleties that separated American punk bands from their English counterparts. In 1976, Max’s Kansas City held an Easter Rock Festival between April 11 and 22 that featured The Heartbreakers, The Ramones, and Wayne County as headliners with new bands like Blondie, Talking Heads, Pere Ubu, and Suicide as openers, which characterized the diversity that was

present in American punk, but was almost totally absent in England. Although there were differences between the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, and The Damned, they all were working-class bands fueled by anger and a shared sense of disaffection that was rooted in social circumstances. In America, The Ramones and Talking Heads may have been part of the same movement, but they were radically different in most other ways. The Ramones was a garage band from Queens that looked and sounded like a street gang with instruments; the Talking Heads were an art-rock band from the Rhode Island School of Design that had decided intellectual leanings and drew musical influences from sources as diverse as ‘60s bubblegum pop and Caribbean reggae. In contrast to both was Blondie, a band formed by an art student and a former Playboy bunny that had their sights fixed on commercial success in the popular mainstream. More than a common social agenda or even a clearly identifiable musical tie, the first American punk bands were linked together by the fact that they all were part of the New York underground and all were decidedly in opposition to the popular mainstream…which in America in the 1970s meant disco. Page 2 Disco Inferno “You know, all I got is the dance floor.” — Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever Born out of black dance music that first became popular in gay dance clubs, disco became the biggest mainstream musical phenomenon in the U.S. since the British Invasion of the 1960s. From 1974 to 1979, disco dominated the popular music charts with its upbeat lyrics and dance rhythms. Part of disco’s success was also tied to its social utility as a distraction that offered a temporary escape from one of the most depressing decades in American history. The 1970s were marked by a seemingly endless series of catastrophes that left Americans battered, dazed, and desperate for any kind of escape from the daily headlines. Economically, the United States spent most of the decade in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Exacerbated by the devastating oil crises of 1973 and 1979, inflation rates soared to the highest levels in American history and would remain at high levels until the early 1980s. Manufacturing declined and unemployment rose. Not surprisingly, crime rates rose in direct proportion to the rise in unemployment. In most American cities, urban crime became a fact of daily life and average Americans fell prey to a litany of fears. “The fear is visible. It can be seen in clusters of stores that close early because the streets are sinister and customers no longer stroll after supper for newspapers and pints of ice cream. It can be seen in the faces of women opening elevator doors, in the hurried step of the man walking home late at night from the subway. The fear manifests itself in elaborate gates and locks, in the growing number of keyrings, in the formation of tenants’ squads to patrol corridors, in shop buzzers pressed to admit only recognizable customers. And finally it becomes habit.” — David Burnham in The New York Times While fear was becoming a constant part of urban life in the early 1970s, so too was sex. The sexual revolution of the 1960s set the stage for sex to grow into a national preoccupation in the 1970s. In 1972, Dr. Alex Comfort published an illustrated sex manual, The Joy of Sex, which topped The New York Times bestseller list and stayed in the top five for over seventy weeks. In the same year, Deep Throat, the first hard-core “adult” film to attract a mainstream audience, was released and would launch a popular interest in explicit pornography that Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times referred to as “porno chic.” “Key parties” and “wife swapping” supposedly

became widespread in upper middle-class suburbia, although the incidence of consensual sex parties was likely exaggerated and more of an urban legend than a reality. Nonetheless, people were more open about their sexuality and more likely to pursue sexual pleasure than at any time in the nation’s history. In terms of music, that sexual openness led to sexually adventurous heterosexual couples discovering the gay dance scene, which was driven by commercial black dance tracks played by nightclub DJs. Catering to an upscale crowd that was initially gay, Steve Ostrow opened the Continental Baths in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel in 1968. Initially, the Baths was a gay club that featured lounge act performers like Bette Midler and Barry Manilow, who provided entertainment to accompany what was described as “a continuous orgy.” However, in 1971, Ostrow decided to turn the bathhouse’s dance floor into a discotheque on non-show nights. With the help of DJ Bobby Guttardaro, who played upbeat soul songs for an increasingly non-gay clientele, the Baths became the hottest nightclub in New York for people of all sexual preferences. At the time, discotheques were still less common in the U.S. than they were in Europe. The name was coined in Paris during WWII after La Discotheque, an underground club that played forbidden American jazz records during the Nazi occupation of the city. After the war, discotheques became a fixture in most European cites and, in the 1960s, they became popular in the U.S. Arthur, opened by actor Richard Burton’s ex-wife Sybil in 1965, became the place to see and be seen for New York’s most glamorous people. The club’s DJ, Terry Noel, became one of the first to “mix” records, blending together three-minute pop songs by groups like the Mamas and the Papas and the Miracles with the use of two turntables so that each song played into the next. Building on Noel’s ideas, Francis Grasso, a DJ at a gay dance club called the Sanctuary, expanded the art of playing records into a seamless and carefully orchestrated experience designed to keep people “dancing all night.” Grasso became famous for “beatmatching” or seamlessly transitioning between records without breaking the tempo or beat. Drugs were a significant part of the early disco experience with 1960s psychedelics like LSD being replaced by “body high” drugs that better fit the all-over sensory adventure of the discotheque: “poppers” (amyl nitrate) and Quaaludes, a kind of tranquilizer, were the most popular. Eventually, cocaine became the drug of choice for the “party people” of the disco scene. "LOVE'S THEME" (1973) Love Unlimited Orchestra Love’s Theme” was written by Barry White as an overture for the vocal track, “Under The Influence Of Love,” by White’s female trio, Love Unlimited, on the album Under the Influence of Love. White, a singer/songwriter/producer whose deep, husky voice and lush musical arrangements made him a ‘70s sex symbol, had already produced a handful of hits for Love Unlimited and had recorded several for himself, including “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up” and “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.” On Under The Influence Of Love, the orchestral overture segued directly into Love Unlimited’s “Under The Influence Of Love,” creating a combined eight minute 17 second dance track that became a sensation in dance clubs in the 1970s. Released as a single in 1973, “Love’s Theme” is one of the few purely instrumental singles to have ever topped the charts in the U.S. and is usually cited as the first disco recording to become a hit in the popular mainstream.

"LOVE TO LOVE YOU, BABY" (1975) Donna Summer n 1975, Donna Summer, who had several hit singles in Europe, approached Georgio Moroder and Pete Bellote, who had written and produced several European hits for Summer, with the lyrics for what became “Love To Love You, Baby.” Moroder took Summer’s idea with the intention of producing an overtly sexual disco track and, although Summer was reluctant to perform the orgasmic moans and groans that Moroder had in mind, she relented and recorded the song as a demo “for someone else.” After completing the demo, Moroder insisted that Summer release it as her own single and, again reluctantly, she agreed. Released under the title “Love To Love You,” the song became a hit in Europe and was brought to the attention of Neil Bogart at Casablanca Records in the United States. Neil Bogart “liked the song so much he wanted to have a long version,” and Moroder produced a seventeen-minute marathon version of “Love to Love You” that was released as “Love To Love You, Baby.” According to the BBC, that banned the song, it contained 23 simulated orgasms. The record became a Number One dance chart hit in the U.S. and went all the way to Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100. Casablanca Records signed Summer to a long-term contract and released her first U.S. album, Love To Love You Baby, with one entire side devoted to the seventeen minute version of “Love To Love You, Baby.” The album also became a hit in both the U.S. and England. The discotheque phenomenon reached its pinnacle in 1977 when Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two Brooklyn restaurateurs, opened Studio 54. The club, located in the heart of the Broadway theater district, adopted a theatrical theme with moveable lighting and changeable sets designed by theater designers. The club quickly attracted celebrities like Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, and Liza Minnelli, but in Studio 54’s relatively egalitarian world, beautiful and interesting guests, often hand-picked by Rubell from the throngs outside, were frequently the true stars of the nightly show. Studio 54 promoted and fueled the rampant hedonism of its clientele and the club became famous for its excess, drugs, and casual sex. Studio 54 also played a role in establishing the careers of the major stars of disco. DJ Ritchie Kaczor debuted Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” and it became the most popular record at the club. Soon, every disco in New York was playing the song and “I Will Survive” eventually became a Number One hit on the mainstream charts.

"I WILL SURVIVE" (1978) Gloria Gaynor Gloria Gaynor was crowned the “Queen of Disco” after a string of dance club hits that included “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Real Good People,” “Walk On By,” and “Casanova Brown” before she released her most enduring disco hit, “I Will Survive.” “I Will Survive” was originally released in 1978 as the B-side to Gaynor’s cover of the Clout’s “Substitute,” but was later rereleased as the lead track after it became the most popular dance track at Studio 54. Unlike her earlier recordings, “I Will Survive” crossed over into the mainstream pop charts, became a Number One hit in the United States and Great Britain, and received the only Grammy ever

given for Best Disco Recording in 1980. Boston DJ Jack King initially “discovered” “I Will Survive” on the B-side of “Substitute.” “I couldn’t believe they were burying this monster hit on the B-side,” said King. “I played it and played it and my listeners went nuts.” Because of the response the song received in Boston, Polydor A&R man Rick Stevens asked Studio 54’s DJ, Ritchie Kaczor, to “push” the song at the popular New York City nightclub. The first time Kaczor played the record, most of the dancers left the dance floor, but he persisted and eventually built a following for “I Will Survive” at the club. After the song caught on at Studio 54, Polydor brought the record to the attention of radio DJs and it began to gather momentum. Once the record received airplay as the “most popular dance track at Studio 54,” its popularity grew, as music historian Peter Shapiro said, “like a force of nature.” “I Will Survive” was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris, who would later write “Reunited” for Peaches & Herb. Perren also wrote “Boogie Fever” for the Sylvers, “Shake Your Groove Thing” for Peaches & Herb, and produced Yvonne Elliman’s recording of “If I Can’t Have You” for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Gaynor says her vocal performance was inspired by her recovery from a spinal injury sustained after falling off a stage in 1978. Gaynor explained in an interview in 2002, “I began to have a spiritual awakening and decided that I wanted to have more purpose to my singing than people just having a good time…that’s why I chose “I Will Survive”…I wanted to continue as often as possible to give people songs that would have a positive impact on their lives.” The release of Saturday Night Fever in 1977 popularized disco globally and made a star of John Travolta. The film grossed over $100 million and its soundtrack, which featured disco hits like the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and The Trammps’ “Disco Inferno,” became the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. By 1979, disco was king of the airwaves, and roughly 20,000 discotheques existed across the country. The disco sound, though often uninspired and painfully monotonous, was always danceable thanks to the new world of drum machines and synthesizers that supplied a steady “four-on-the-floor” beat for legions of “disco addicts” who found escape on the dance floor. Unfortunately, the record industry made disco “too much of a good thing” and flooded the market with thousands of disco records made by hundreds of disco artists that quickly became indistinguishable from one another. With such oversaturation, it was inevitable that a backlash would occur, and it did, as one radio DJ after another adopted a “Death to Disco” stance in their programming. In Los Angeles, KROQ DJ “Insane” Darrell Wayne buried disco records in the sand as part of a “disco funeral”; Seattle station KISW hosted a nightly show called “Disco Destruction”; and, in April of 1979, New York’s WXLO sponsored a “No Disco Weekend.” On July 12, 1979, Chicago DJ Steve Dahl organized a Disco Demolition Night between games at a White Sox doubleheader and more than 90,000 people attended. The event turned into a near riot and the Chicago Police were finally called in to disperse the crowd. The week of the Disco Demolition Night, the top six spots on the pop charts were held by disco records. Two months later, disco had disappeared from the Top Twenty. Page 3 The Ramones “People who join a band like the Ramones don’t come from stable backgrounds, because it’s not that civilized an art form.”

— Dee Dee Ramone Although The Ramones – and punk in general – played a very small role in the demise of disco, they were an alternative and, in many ways, the antithesis of all things disco. Their look was black leather jackets, long hair, t-shirts, ripped jeans, and black Converse All-Stars. They played loud, fast, uncomplicated rock and roll, which had fallen out of fashion when disco took over the pop charts. They had a sense of humor and wrote songs with simple melodies and catchy lyrics that harkened back to the early 1960s. Unlike their contemporaries at CBGB, The Ramones were not very interested in art-rock or intellectual ideas; they were interested in the kind of rock and roll they grew up listening to that had vanished when disco became popular. The band that became the Ramones was started in early 1974 in Forest Hills in the borough of Queens, New York by John Cummings and Tom Erdelyi, who had played together in a garage rock band called the Tangerine Puppets while they were still in high school. They invited drummer Jeffrey Hyman and singer Douglas Colvin to join them and fixed on the name “Ramones” for the band after Colvin decided that he wanted to be known as Dee Dee Ramone because he liked the pseudonym “Paul Ramon” that Paul McCartney had used in the early days of The Beatles. Colvin also liked the idea that his initals would be “DDR” if he became Dee Dee Ramone because they would be the same as those of the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) where he was born. And so, all of the band members decided to adopt ”Ramone” as a common last name and Jeffrey Hyman became “Joey Ramone” and John Cummings “Johnny Ramone.” Initially, Dee Dee was to be the lead singer and bass player, Joey the drummer, Johnny the lead guitarist, and Tom Erdelyi their manager because he had been a studio intern at Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland Studios and knew a little about the music business. However, Dee Dee found that he couldn’t sing and play bass at the same time, so Joey became the lead singer. Unfortunately, Joey found that he couldn’t stay in rhythm on the drums and sing, so Tom Erdelyi became the Ramones’ drummer – in addition to acting as their manager/producer – and the fourth member of the band as “Tommy Ramone.” What became the signature style of the Ramones – Dee Dee counting out the tempo of every song with “1-2-3-4” and the fact that their songs seldom lasted more than two minutes – were born out of necessity rather than design. Dee Dee counted out the t...