wm@tekchips.UUCP (Wm Leler) (04/06/84)
Punk. Hmmmm. Well, when punk and "new wave" (whatever that means!) first came out, I was very happy. I was getting very bored by what I would call "formula" music -- the stuff that the big record companies were very good at producing. The whole music scene had slowed down. Records were such big business, and promoting a new band or a new record was so expensive that the companies were unwilling to take any chances. Most record companies were spending more time maximizing their profits by fighting record pirates and copyright violators, than by finding and developing new music. So more than ever before we were getting a bunch of schlock. Don't you remember? To me, the whole "new wave" scene was a reaction against this. A reaction against commercialism. The music didn't sound that different, even hard core punk music was nothing new. There have always been bands around whose signal to noise ratio was negative. The main difference was the lyrics. People keep mentioning the Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, and such like that, but to me they were not the bands that really effected the change. Take Blondie (... please). On their first album, who can forget the lyrics: Giant ants from space, waste the human race. Then they eat your face, never leave a trace. The music from that album sounded more like late 50's. But the lyrics definitely were not designed to maximize air-play. Then, of course, american industry discovered that these records, which were not designed to be commercial, were enormously commercial. Teeny Boppers *loved* DEVO. And you could even dance to the B-52's. Who listened to the lyrics anyway? (Remember Ina-gadda-da-vida?) Which brought on the downfall of new wave. It's also why half the readers of this note probably snickered when I mentioned Blondie. It's the old Jefferson Airplane -> Jefferson Sellout syndrome. For the punkers it was even worse. If you are openly contemptuous of the record industry, why not take money from it? Who cares if you become one with the objects of your disgust? Most of the punkers were pretty disgusting anyway. But, then again, maybe I've just been listening to too much Iggy Pop lately. Wm Leler 503/627-5151 wm.Tektronix@Rand-relay {ucbvax|allegra|decvax}!tektronix!wm
toms@syteka.UUCP (Tom Shearer) (04/06/84)
as I just said to billy l, there is no such thing as too much iggy. I advised him, and y'all, to try industriously for overdose however. mr.(last day)mincemeat.