GIVE IT UP OR TURN IT LOOSE

It's done folks. It's been merchandised and marketed, misused, and misunderstood, and it is done. Dead as a door nail. Believe me, if you're younger, whatever it is that you think is punk rock is, it's just a way to sell patches, buttons and black clothes. (As my Dad said to me back in the day, "Oh, I get it. You're just being different together.") So, you want some proof? How about robots playing the Ramones? Or Malcolm McLaren and Vivien Westwood's punk rock get-ups in the collection of the Costume Institute of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art?

Here's what bugs me other than the punk rock angle. (Which really doesn't get me all that worked up. I just like shooting my mouth off.). Just looking at the complexity of the Ramones playing robots, you know it took an awful lot of time, money and know- how to create, program, set up, and all that jazz. What could the creators have done more effectively with less time and effort? That's right. They could have actually picked up a guitar and learned three chords.

As for the McLaren/Westwood collection, check this article to read about the factual errors that were included. Here's what bugs me about that: They were pretty glaring. Anyone who knows a little more than average about UK punk rock of that era would catch these errors. That doesn't bug me as much as it does thinking about what other factual errors might exist in the museum.  Picasso and Banksy were pals. True story. Done and done.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
ATV - How Much Longer mp3 at Faking It 
Sex Pistols [sic]- Friggin' in the Riggin' mp3 at Joi Ito
Visit:
Observer article highlights Met’s embarrassing punk flaws.at Paul Gorman Is Check the links at the bottom too.
McLaren and Westwood collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

OI DUDE...

Hadn't heard this one in a while, and, I gotta say, when I did it put me smack dab back in my late teens, pouring through NY Rocker, looking for the ad to mail order straight legged black jeans from Trash & Vaudeville (really, hard to imagine but back then it was the only place you could find them). I was still living at home, had a $75 Honda 90 for transport, and in it, that is punk rock, deep. It changed the way I looked at things going forward, and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that really is its legacy. Not the music, not the spiked hair and not the straight legged black jeans. Mark Perry knew that, way back then. He was the editor [sic] of Sniffin' Glue, one of the UK's earliest punk zines, and lead singer of Alternative TV.

I don't remember if Killed By Death, the hosting blog of these golden oldies, disables direct linking or not. But you'll probably want to go there anyways. That site is chocked full of early punk goodies; some you'll know well, some worthy obscurities, and a hell of a lot that probably shouldn't have ever been released. But that's part of it. Anyone could do it, and anybody did.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Alternative TV - How Much Longer mp3 at Killed By Death
Alternative TV - You Bastard mp3 at Killed By Death
More (a couple Cali-centric searches):
Dangerhouse Records posts at Killed By Death The Avengers, X, the Deadbeats, the Weirdos and the Randoms
Slash Records posts at Killed By Death The Germs and the Plugz
Visit:
Alternative TV, aka ATV, at Wikipedia
Sniffin' Glue at Wikipedia