Making Punk Look Stupid

[Wes]

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/talking-heads-77-album-made-punk-stupid/

 

[Apesbrain]

I don't know about the "making punk look stupid" part, but I loved this LP. Bought it out of the rack at Disc-O-Mat on Seventh Ave. based on the cover alone. It was so refreshing; I played it to death. The perfect antidote for the dreck of the Disco era.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Re:

“What punk music seemed to have missed at the time was…”

No, the author doesn’t get punk. How to explain?

And that sums up Talking Heads.

I love ‘em, but when it comes to punk…made in Japan from cheese and chalk.

 

[ebslo]

Punk don't give a fuck about that.

 

[mhardy6647]

far out magazine.

cool, daddy-o!

Punk? Stupid?
Perish the thought.

 

[Wes]

Thanks for listing mostly post-punk...

 

[Ken1951]

November 1975 - played this thing all the way through 4 times the first night I had it. Totally blew me away.

 

[pads]

Punk was never "stupid" it was at it's heart a reflection of the society it inhabited. I get the impression from the author that he wasn't around in it's heyday. I was. Travelling in the UK in the late 70's was an experience, recession, a government on the verge of collapse, the rise of Thatcherism all added up to a depressed and angry youth. The Sex Pistols, early Clash and others were the inevitable outcome. I should add I love the Talking Heads but they were from a different environment, they had an education, art school, and a completely different vibe than those raised in the lower classes in London, Manchester, etc and lets be clear, class was and still is a major contributor and issue in English society. They weren't living in squats wondering where their next meal was coming from. I met and hung out with a number of punks back then, many came from troubled backgrounds, the music was their release. Of course the record companies moved in, corporate greed had its day, many of the bands did well and inevitably the movement collapsed but the ideal will never disappear, the match was lite and I guarantee it will rise again. If anything punk spawned the genres that followed allowing a more gritty realism in the Ska and New Wave that would replace it. Talking Heads included. It's been tempered these days and you have to search for those still carrying the torch. To call it stupid is to deny the impact it had and the history that gave its rise.

 

[Soniclife]

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/talking-heads-77-album-made-punk-stupid/

I think this is one of the dumbest articles about music I've ever read, I wonder if the author was once dumped for not liking punk.

 

[Galliardist]

I can't let this go without a mention of the Clash (definitely punk, definitely not stupid) or the Stranglers (may or may not have been punk, I never worked that out). Oh, I see a reference to the early Clash above, but as they moved on they didn't sell out until after Combat Rock, at least.

I'd say Talking Heads were in the vanguard of the "New Wave" myself. Even then. Elvis Costello was there first!

 

[Wes]

I see we are having some taxonomic issues w.r.to what is or is not punk.

Also, many punks don't like to see punk dissed...

Finally, I expected more clever criticism of this article.

e.g. "After reading that article I wanna be sedated."

or... "After reading that article I had to go bang my head."

 

[pads]

"Finally, I expected more clever criticism of this article."

One would need a clever article first.

 

[Vini darko]

Punk don't give a fuck about that.

Best answer

 

[scrubb]

I think the author is conflating commercialized punk of UK and New York with the non-commericalized DIY movement, seen particularly in the Western U.S.. The author says: "What punk music seemed to have missed at the time was that you could have the anger, the frustration, the refusal to be pigeonholed within your songs and still make your audience dance rather than pogo." Why should you need to dance? Punk is about raw katharsis of rage. Flailing seems the best response to that.

Maybe partly as reaction to 'Heads:77, this band formed one year later. It not art-school art and that's perfectly fine. They don't care if anyone likes it or not. And it's not about dancing. It's about the raging on the hypocritical state of civilization.