The title of yesterdays post, "Get Pete Frame On It", was something I didn't entirely expect many people to get. Usually in a case like that, I don't feel the need to explain it, I just consider it a nod to the fiends that do get it. But Pete Frame was such an important support player, it occurred to me that he's someone you should know. Frame was a music writer, and founding editor of Zig Zag, a British music magazine that debuted in 1969, but what he is best known for is his series of music oriented family trees. That's where the reference in yesterdays post title comes from. An imagined Cedric Brooks family tree would include Carlos Malcom, Sun Ra, Tony Allen, Fela, and a shitload of others.
Frame's family trees were an insanely cool resource for anyone who wanted to see where a line up of a particular band, or multiple related bands, came from. The format contained concise descriptions and held a remarkable amount of information for what was typically a two page spread. First appearing in the early seventies, they still hold up. even with all of the online sources of information today. They were later published in several editions in book form, The Complete Rock Family Trees, all now out of print but readily available used online. In 1990, the BBC did a series based on his family trees called "Rock's Family Trees" narrated by John Peel.
Here's a sample family tree of Frames's, of New York bands in the CBGBs era, along with the accompanying BBC show of the same period. Watch that, it's good. Lots of old footage. There's another link down there to one of the early London punk scene, and links to just a couple copy cats, of which there are many. The two Frame influenced family trees below are just the first I happened to look at, one for the Cramps and Gun Club, and one for Dischord and Ian Mackaye related bands.
Sanple trees:
The Influence of the "New Wave Nine" at Nihilism on the Prowl Clash, Sex Pistols, Generation X, Damned, Alternative TV, Subway Sect, etc. I think Frame was afraid of the word "punk".
Video:
Fan made family trees:
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