The punk movement was about the only good thing to come out of the 80s IMO. The Ramones just about single handedly saved the American music scene if you ask me.
I walked out of an Aerosmith concert in the 80s because they were so frigging stoned they couldn't remember their own tunes. Now, you could like The Cramps or you could hate the Cramps but they never forgot their own stuff.
And the Dead Kennedys, now there was a breath of fresh air. And who can forget Black Flag? Or the Meat Puppets? Now bands like that made you want to go out and buy a guitar for Gods sake...
Oh well...these days we get Pink Floyd melodies in elevators. What a world, what a world....
L
Oh man, I loved all that stuff! I was literally right there in CBGB`s in the late `70`s when that whole scene started, that slam dancing stuff... The UK Subs were playing and me and my friend thought a fight had broke out, I remember it to this day clear as day, I was holding a bottle of Bud (underage drinker lol) and when the UK Subs came on this guy plowed into me and I dropped my beer and it smashed, and I was freaking out because I thought this massive fight had started, then I saw nobody was getting hit.. it was all just pushing and shoving and it was a pissa! At that age it was incredible, you could do anything.
I remember one week me and my friends got so rowdy they threw us out lol! Bounced out of CBGB`s! The guy threw us out of the back door, and there was no exit, so we had to climb over this wall onto E.1st street. Oh man, those were the days. That place was insane, you would have to walk backstage to go to the bathroom and walk down these stairs, and you would literally be pizzing next to Johnny Thunders or Henry Rollins. One gig I really regret missing in that place is Nirvana before they got big, that must have been mind blowing.
I also saw the Police play there but at the time we didn`t know who they were, we just thought it was "The Ace" from Quadraphenia and we wanted them to play the Who.
Yeah man, all those great bands back then, and they were all pushed aside for the MTV garbage which is still going on to this day, and if you can believe it CBGB`s is now on the verge of being closed down so NYU which owns it can probably sell it off for dormitories or condos (although they say it is to make more homeless shelters..Yeeeeah riiight!)
>> And the Dead Kennedys, now there was a breath of fresh air.
I don't know if I can agree with Eric Boucher's politics
(Jello's real name)--"When cowboy Ronnie comes to town/
Forks out his tongue at human rights"--but the music's good.
I did get a kick out of the booklet that came with their
best of album; as part of the "Too Drunk To F---" lyrics,
they had something reading
TED KENNEDY's Too Drunk To Swim
b/w PRAY,Mary Jo!
Available at: Hall of Records, Chappaquiddick, Mass.
"Holiday in Hyannisport--er, Cambodia"