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Music can
be beautiful, music can be throw away.. the stuff we sing in
showers. It can be dancey and be so positive. I like all that but
like a lot of others I'm drawn to the negative possibilities of
rock'n'roll. I'm drawn to the Nihilism and iconoclasm of rock.
Big words but what do they mean ? Iconoclasm is the desire to
smash all that's gone before and kill your idols and Nihilism is
the rejection of current moral and established beliefs without
offering or seeking solutions to change it. Its the domain of the
young who hope to die before they get old. In short its saying
'f**k you!' which we have all done at some time. As we look
down the last 50 years all the good bands have embraced nihilism
and still do. It links the Who to The Pistols to Nirvana. From
My Generation to
Pretty Vacant to
Smells Like Teen Spirit the
leap ain't that great. And why should they offer solutions ? The
world will never change from a song. As Rotten once sang
..."Anger is an energy"... All these great songs by
these bands have been simple, direct and infused with for want of
a better phrase 'teen spirit'. Its why these bands live on
because when you first pick up a guitar these are the songs you
can play quickly and identify with. You try playing along to
Zeppelins 'Achilles Last Stand' maaaaaan !!!!!
No matter
how angry or politicised you are though its the music that's counts
and trouble always comes when people confuse music and politics or
try and read too much into a band and its output (hi Charlie
Manson to name but one). Nearly every band in the world has just
wanted one thing and that is to make music and music needs at
least one listener whether to hate it or like it (even these
arty bands). The artist is stuck really. Bands want in varying
amounts the following: to make records that sell, fame and
fortune, a career, to mean something, to be recognised, drugs and
women and a rock star lifestyle. Often when they get it they
implode ( Sid Vicious, Kurt Cobain) or struggle to come to terms
(The Who), or make a career (Stones) pass out of view as
fashions change (Stranglers), change direction (U2) realise they
have nothing more to offer (Eater) or go too far (Hendrix, Brian
Jones ad infinitum)
The
problem most bands have found however is that you can only be
angry for so long and what do you do afterwards before you become
boring. The best bands have been short and sweet and then f****d off. Its hard being a rebel inside the machine. If you want to get
your message across then you have to be in the machine and you
have to play the game and the game changes all the time...Who's
controlling who ? McLaren's incendiary publicity techniques are
now part of the publicists armoury. You can't be a rebel and
win... I'm sorry to say. You can win little battles but you still
need to sell records and so you lose the war. Crass came close
tho I'll dispute they were musical but how did they finish ? Bankrupted because they forgot to charge VAT. What a revolution
!
Messages
stink in music.... anger and frustration is a common currency and
the best punk toons have them. But lets face it we need all the
crap in music and all the varied sounds and images coz then the
good stuff stands out. I'd hate to have punk every day. Variety
really is the spice of life.
So
where did it all start then..... well f**k The Stooges and f**k
the Dolls ....lets go back to the beginning.....
Inside
each part is a wealth of information with links to more detailed
pages on some of the bands and subcultures.
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