Subculture book submission from 1999 (rejected)
I recon this alternative punk music phenomanom went on in every town word-wide. Of coarse I have to assume the roots of this whole thing started in New York… was it the Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges, or the Dead Boys??? Lets face it, probably the first punk that the world documented was Elvis. Kids were looking for energy and change from what the mainstream told them to do and listen to… yeah that’s what I’m trying to say!!
My name is Ricky, and this is my story of what happened to me as a youngster and where I am now. The compilers of this book asked me to write a little something in regards to punk rock and the punk subculture scene. I was quick to tell them anything I have in my head is old and probably irrelevant to what it’s all about today… still punk is a part of my life and I have to say that’s what I am… a poser! The real story of punk can be read about in many other coffee table books…. Written by real posers!
I work in a repair shop and I happened to notice the three styles of men as we sat around at coffee break. Bill, who’s the oldest, has slicked back hair and talks about his glory days in the 50’s where he raced car’s and listened to rock-n-roll and country. Wynn, a man of the 70’s, still has a perm type hairdo and whares a gold chain around his neck. Wynn often rants about his favorite music by the Tom Jones and Peter Frampton. Then there is me, a product of the late 70’s early 80’s, who has a shaved head and babbles about seeing great bands like Black Flag or the Dead Kennedys… when I was a kid eh!!!
You’ll notice I don’t work with any hippies… Remember the Sex Pistols used to say “Never Trust a Hippie!”. Isn’t it funny how some of them run our government now…. But they say they never inhailed! We are products of our youth, and although a most of us grow up and become part of the big picture, some of us keep our style, or lack of!
I find myself wondering what my attraction to the punk rock movement of the early 1980's was all about. Back when i was14 i wandered into an all ages punk show to find a group of kids who were bored with themusic that the radio was telling us to listen to. It was an agressive musicand it somehow made me aware that it was all right to say FU#K YOU. This was something i had desperatly wanted to tell my stepfather since the day hestarted to twist me into the quiet and confused kid i was. Phycologically this might have had something to do with my attraction but on the other side of the coin it was just plain FUN!! The music was new and raw, or was it a rehash of what the true spirit of Rock-n-Roll was all about . It seemed to be structured for the greasy dirtykids of the lower class areas, not like the rich kid sell out punk we heartoday. None the less the energy that was exhibited on the dancefloor was thebest release i had expierenced since my first bottle of alcohol at the ageof 12. I remember the band called the Twisted Minds taking to the stage anddoing their best British imitation played songs by The Clash, Pistols, andthe Ramones. My friend smiled at me and the next thing i knew i was feelingthe power of this music on the dancefloor. My legs were stomping around asfast as the music was playing and my arms were wailing around like a birdjust released from his cage. We were slamdancing wile others on theoutskirts pogoed. The next song started and i found myself bumping into myfriends at uncontrollable speed, in a blink of an eye i found myself shovedoff my feet and sliding across the floor, only to be quickly picked up andheaved back into the maylay of kids. More dancing, an elbow to the nose, andafter four or five songs i was sitting off to the side wiping the sweat offmy forehead and trying to breath at a somewhat normal pace again. WOW thiswas fun!! The next band was House of Commons and the dancefloor filled upwith older leather jacketed, heavy duty punks who were chanting HOC HOC.this was one powerfull band and the sight of them scared me. The last bandto play was the Subhumans and the lead singer "Wimpy Roy" came on stage andimmediatlly started trying to kick everyone in the front of the stage withhis workboots. The audience heckled and gobbed on him as he sang his songsof protest and whoa... The Subhumans closed thier show with the song "We don't care what you say FU#K YOU!!" The audience pushed forwrd singing alongand a sea of middle fingers raised in time to the lyrics... We rushed to the streets to catch the last bus home. My vinyl fake leatherk-mart jacket was ripped and the Canadian flag i had safetypinned onto theback was long gone, and my body ached, My friends and i had the best eveningof our lives... this was PUNK ROCK and it was great!! The bus drove away buti could not hear it, just the ringing of my damaged ear drums. Fun
Ricky in the crowd in 1982- bottom right corner… you can tell because I just finished picking my nose. (with both hands)
It all started with a KISS album my dad had…. Strange yes but I think it was 1976-77 ish and on a rare weekend visit to my dad’s I found a Columbia house record box with KISS Alive album in it, this band became my first passion to somewhat non AM radio music. I was riveted to that album and listened to it millions of times. I was a goofy little kid with a bad passion for KISS. One time I purchased a magazine with KISS on the cover and and inside that magazine was a large article on the new sounds of PUNK! I also remember this magazine had a very sexy picture of Debra Harry… this picture took place of the Gene Simmons tongue picture that was stapled on the wall by my bed… Thus, I had begun a somewhat normal fantasy life.
Back to this first PUNK expierence, this article had all these great pics of bands like The Ramones, Blondie, Dead Boys, and the Talking Heads. There was also info on what was happening over in the old country, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Sioxie and the Banshees, Gen X, the Jam, and the Specials. My Mom also used to buy me Skateboarder magazine and i noticed this mag was starting to cover some of the punk scene ands not so much Van Halen and Ted Nugent. This new music had to be reaserched! A little hunting in some of the Record stores, I spent my hard earned paper route money on a couple of new LP’s. Never mind The Sexpistols heres the Buzzcocks and the lets not forget DeVOLution. My cheap turntable was just a pumping out the sounds New Wave and Punk. I had found an alternative to this overplayed AM radio shyyyte! It was great and me and my friends met other alternative music enthusiasts (mostly the Reynold crew) and shared this new exciting music. We used to tape our records and trade these tapes with each other… kinda funny how what we were doing years ago was what Napster was all about! Yes this was a great way to hear music and what an explosion of music it was.
I recon this alternative punk music phenomanom went on in every town word-wide. Of coarse I have to assume the roots of this whole thing started in New York… was it the Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges, or the Dead Boys??? Lets face it, probably the first punk that the world documented was Elvis. Kids were looking for energy and change from what the mainstream told them to do and listen to… yeah that’s what I’m trying to say!!
My name is Ricky, and this is my story of what happened to me as a youngster and where I am now. The compilers of this book asked me to write a little something in regards to punk rock and the punk subculture scene. I was quick to tell them anything I have in my head is old and probably irrelevant to what it’s all about today… still punk is a part of my life and I have to say that’s what I am… a poser! The real story of punk can be read about in many other coffee table books…. Written by real posers!
I work in a repair shop and I happened to notice the three styles of men as we sat around at coffee break. Bill, who’s the oldest, has slicked back hair and talks about his glory days in the 50’s where he raced car’s and listened to rock-n-roll and country. Wynn, a man of the 70’s, still has a perm type hairdo and whares a gold chain around his neck. Wynn often rants about his favorite music by the Tom Jones and Peter Frampton. Then there is me, a product of the late 70’s early 80’s, who has a shaved head and babbles about seeing great bands like Black Flag or the Dead Kennedys… when I was a kid eh!!!
You’ll notice I don’t work with any hippies… Remember the Sex Pistols used to say “Never Trust a Hippie!”. Isn’t it funny how some of them run our government now…. But they say they never inhailed! We are products of our youth, and although a most of us grow up and become part of the big picture, some of us keep our style, or lack of!
I find myself wondering what my attraction to the punk rock movement of the early 1980's was all about. Back when i was14 i wandered into an all ages punk show to find a group of kids who were bored with themusic that the radio was telling us to listen to. It was an agressive musicand it somehow made me aware that it was all right to say FU#K YOU. This was something i had desperatly wanted to tell my stepfather since the day hestarted to twist me into the quiet and confused kid i was. Phycologically this might have had something to do with my attraction but on the other side of the coin it was just plain FUN!! The music was new and raw, or was it a rehash of what the true spirit of Rock-n-Roll was all about . It seemed to be structured for the greasy dirtykids of the lower class areas, not like the rich kid sell out punk we heartoday. None the less the energy that was exhibited on the dancefloor was thebest release i had expierenced since my first bottle of alcohol at the ageof 12. I remember the band called the Twisted Minds taking to the stage anddoing their best British imitation played songs by The Clash, Pistols, andthe Ramones. My friend smiled at me and the next thing i knew i was feelingthe power of this music on the dancefloor. My legs were stomping around asfast as the music was playing and my arms were wailing around like a birdjust released from his cage. We were slamdancing wile others on theoutskirts pogoed. The next song started and i found myself bumping into myfriends at uncontrollable speed, in a blink of an eye i found myself shovedoff my feet and sliding across the floor, only to be quickly picked up andheaved back into the maylay of kids. More dancing, an elbow to the nose, andafter four or five songs i was sitting off to the side wiping the sweat offmy forehead and trying to breath at a somewhat normal pace again. WOW thiswas fun!! The next band was House of Commons and the dancefloor filled upwith older leather jacketed, heavy duty punks who were chanting HOC HOC.this was one powerfull band and the sight of them scared me. The last bandto play was the Subhumans and the lead singer "Wimpy Roy" came on stage andimmediatlly started trying to kick everyone in the front of the stage withhis workboots. The audience heckled and gobbed on him as he sang his songsof protest and whoa... The Subhumans closed thier show with the song "We don't care what you say FU#K YOU!!" The audience pushed forwrd singing alongand a sea of middle fingers raised in time to the lyrics... We rushed to the streets to catch the last bus home. My vinyl fake leatherk-mart jacket was ripped and the Canadian flag i had safetypinned onto theback was long gone, and my body ached, My friends and i had the best eveningof our lives... this was PUNK ROCK and it was great!! The bus drove away buti could not hear it, just the ringing of my damaged ear drums. Fun
Ricky in the crowd in 1982- bottom right corner… you can tell because I just finished picking my nose. (with both hands)
It all started with a KISS album my dad had…. Strange yes but I think it was 1976-77 ish and on a rare weekend visit to my dad’s I found a Columbia house record box with KISS Alive album in it, this band became my first passion to somewhat non AM radio music. I was riveted to that album and listened to it millions of times. I was a goofy little kid with a bad passion for KISS. One time I purchased a magazine with KISS on the cover and and inside that magazine was a large article on the new sounds of PUNK! I also remember this magazine had a very sexy picture of Debra Harry… this picture took place of the Gene Simmons tongue picture that was stapled on the wall by my bed… Thus, I had begun a somewhat normal fantasy life.
Back to this first PUNK expierence, this article had all these great pics of bands like The Ramones, Blondie, Dead Boys, and the Talking Heads. There was also info on what was happening over in the old country, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Sioxie and the Banshees, Gen X, the Jam, and the Specials. My Mom also used to buy me Skateboarder magazine and i noticed this mag was starting to cover some of the punk scene ands not so much Van Halen and Ted Nugent. This new music had to be reaserched! A little hunting in some of the Record stores, I spent my hard earned paper route money on a couple of new LP’s. Never mind The Sexpistols heres the Buzzcocks and the lets not forget DeVOLution. My cheap turntable was just a pumping out the sounds New Wave and Punk. I had found an alternative to this overplayed AM radio shyyyte! It was great and me and my friends met other alternative music enthusiasts (mostly the Reynold crew) and shared this new exciting music. We used to tape our records and trade these tapes with each other… kinda funny how what we were doing years ago was what Napster was all about! Yes this was a great way to hear music and what an explosion of music it was.
posted by ricky JaK at 2:18 AM
1 Comments:
great blog!
daftanp
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