The History of Rock Music: 1976-1989
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The History of Rock Music: 1976-1989 New Wave, Punk-rock, Hardcore History of Rock Music | 1955-66 | 1967-69 | 1970-75 | 1976-89 | The early 1990s | The late 1990s | The 2000s | Alpha index Musicians of 1955-66 | 1967-69 | 1970-76 | 1977-89 | 1990s in the US | 1990s outside the US | 2000s Back to the main Music page (Copyright © 2009 Piero Scaruffi) Hardcore (These are excerpts from my book "A History of Rock and Dance Music") New York's scum 1977-81 TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. Three New York bands (the New York Dolls, the Dictators and the Ramones) had started something that would spread around the world like wild fire and come back to the USA like a hurricane. 1976 was the year that punk-rock became a mass phenomenon in Britain. But in the USA punk-rock was hardly what the British thought it was. "Punks" were the new beatniks, the new hipsters, the new bohemians, not necessarily the heroin addicts with barbaric haircuts and leather clothes. Punks listened to Patti Smith, Television and Suicide. It took a while for "punk-rock" (as in "violent, fast, loud") to conquer the USA the way it had conquered Britain. When it happened, this "hardcore" form of punk-rock became the national idiom for millions of kids, and would remain so for two decades. In fact, punk-rock of the 1980s consisted of a series of tidal waves of subgenres. Roughly, these waves of punks followed an existential trajectory that took them from the initial stance of nihilism and exhibitionism to a stage of no-nonsense sociopolitical awareness to a terminal stage of introversion ("emo-core"). Punk-rock started as the soundtrack of angry young men but, by the end of the decade, had turned into the sobs of a child crying alone in a dark room. The first stage emerged just a couple of years after the Ramones' debut. While the New York scene was ruled by the intellectuals of the new wave, a number of less "serious" punks were roaming its clubs. The Misfits (10) were already a legend in 1977, but it took them five years to release an album, the breathtaking carnival of Walk Among Us (jun 1981/jan 1982 - mar 1982). Their grotesquely horrific atmospheres featured Glenn Danzig's shout (a hybrid of Van Morrison's Gloria and Jim Morrison's Break On Thru), but, mainly, exploited the Ramones' idea of concise catchy rapid-fire rock'n'roll. Another shocking act of the time, the Plasmatics, captured the headlines for a few months, selling an image of obscene, vulgar, perverted, raw and barbaric animals. But they were Edited and updated in 2010 by Rocco Stilo selling the image, not the sound, which, in itself, was closer to heavy-metal. Indirectly, the Plasmatics began a tradition of "scum-rock" that followed on the footsteps of the decadent acts of the early 1970s. After them came GG Allin (by far the "worst") in Boston and the Meatmen in Washington. Amoral sex, not punk-rock, was the attraction that they were promoting. Punk-metal 1983-85 TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. Merging punk-rock and heavy-metal was not a particularly original idea (the Ramones had done it in 1978), and it was certainly not too difficult (given that both relied on aggression). So it was bound to happen, and to get bigger and bigger. Punk-metal crossover was pioneered by Los Angeles' Suicidal Tendencies (1), namely on their spectacular Suicidal Tendencies (early 1983 - jul 1983), and by North Carolina's Corrosion Of Conformity (1), whose breakthrough recording was Animosity (? 1985 - oct 1985). Both of them eventually became regular heavy-metal bands. Agnostic Front (1) led New York's hardcore punks towards heavy-metal, particularly on the seminal Cause For Alarm (? 1986 - ? 1986). Former Misfits singer Danzig had already experimented with this format on Initium (mar 1981/? 1984 - jun 1984), the debut album by his new band Samhain (1). It was a historic meeting and it became one of the main themes on the East Coast. Boston was one of the key centers for punk-metal crossover, beginning with the generation of Jerry's Kids, and SS Decontrol. Boston's hardcore madmen Siege, who only recorded nine (brief) songs, mostly for their cassette Drop Dead (feb 1984 - may 1994), pioneered the super-frenzied blastbeat-driven style of grindcore Boston's main punk group was Mission Of Burma (10), who were not properly hardcore, but rather a mixture of punk-rock, pop, heavy-metal and progressive-rock. The elastic power-pop of the EP Signals, Calls And Marches (jan/apr 1981 - aug 1981), driven by guitarist Roger Miller's loud signatures, led to the versatile and erudite crossover of the album VS (jan/apr 1982 - oct 1982), one of the most influential albums of punk-rock. Martin Swope's tape manipulations and Peter Prescott's drumming were emblematic of the opposite forces that pulled their melodies apart. Boston's Gang Green (1) led the skatepunk nation and eventually found their true voice on You Got It (? 1987 - ? 1987). Washington's art-punk 1980-85 TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. Punk-rock was born in New York, but New York was never the capital of punk-rock. The relationship between the two was always cold. New York was always warmer to the intellectuals. Washington was the first city to advance its candidacy as capital of the hardcore nation. >From the beginning, Washington's line-up was impressive. The Bad Brains (11), a quartet of black Rastafarians, created a mixture of reggae, punk-rock, funk and heavy- Edited and updated in 2010 by Rocco Stilo metal that was ten years ahead of their time. The early singles, such as Pay To Cum (1980), and the album Rock For Light (early 1982 - mar 1983) displayed Paul "H.R." Hudson's bellicose shout (simultaneously reminiscent of Prince, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant and Johnny Rotten) matched with Gary "Dr Know" Miller's repertory of Hendrix-ian riffs and glissandos. The songs were odes to street life that wed the contemplative tone of Jamaican spirituality and the materialistic wrath of the urban USA society. Under the influence of Clash and Police, I Against I (? 1986 - nov 1986) used reggae in a more conventional way, but still achieved the charisma of a sincere, vibrant call to arms. Scream's Still Screaming (oct 1982 - jan 1983) was a similar infusion of metal and reggae Minor Threat (1) were propelled by Ian MacKaye's vehement vocals. The songs on their two EPs, Minor Threat (apr 1981 - jun 1981) and In My Eyes (apr 1981 - dec 1981), sounded like exploding granite, and, incidentally, defined "straight-edge" hardcore (hardcore that rebelled against the stereotypes of alcohol/drugs/vandalism). Their only album, Out Of Step (jan 1983 - apr 1983), was a poignant document of teenage pessimism. No Trend (1) were the ultimate in punk devastation, much closer to the chaotic self- indulgence of the "no wave" than to the Ramones, particularly on their third and last album, Tritonian Nash-Vegas Polyester Complex (aug 1986 - ? 1986). In the mid-1980s Washington pioneered two of the most important evolutions of hardcore: "pop-core", with Government Issue, Dag Nasty and Jeff Dahl's numerous bands; and especially "emo-core" ("emotional" hardcore), which would become the most abused style of the following decade. Its inventors, the Rites of Spring (1), lasted only a few months, but the melancholy, romantic odes of Rites Of Spring (feb 1985 - jun 1985), delivered by Guy Picciotto in an agonizing register, were for hardcore the equivalent of Jesus' stigmata. An important school of brainy, unorthodox rock was initiated in Virginia by Honor Role. San Francisco 1977-84 TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. San Francisco's punk scene was characterized by extreme frenzy and strong sociopolitical overtones. Fast, loud, short anthems were the staple of the two bands that launched the phenomenon in 1977: the Avengers, with We Are The One (1977) and The American In Me (1978), and the Nuns, with Decadent Jew (1977) and Suicide Child (1978), both written by Alejandro Escovedo. Neither lasted long enough to complete an album, nor did Ricky Williams' Sleepers, whose EP Seventh World (march 1978 - ? 1978) was equally influential, nor did the Crime, whose Hot Wire My Heart (1976) and many unreleased tracks predated many of the coming fads. The Dead Kennedys (11), the agit-prop vehicle for truculent, articulate vocalist and political agitator Jello Biafra (Eric Boucher), lasted long enough to deliver the supersonic punch of Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (may/jun 1980 - sep 1980), a volcanic eruption of soaring riffs and anthemic refrains. The band's demented frenzy, paradoxical lyrics and music-hall parodies updated the satirical art of the Fugs with the tools of Edited and updated in 2010 by Rocco Stilo hardcore, and produced at least two all-time masterpieces: California Ueber Alles and Holiday In Cambodia. Despite the didactic excesses, Plastic Surgery Disasters (jun 1982 - nov 1982) was another social fresco by one of punk's maddest preachers. D.R.I. (1), the fastest and loudest (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), were even more influential, because their Dirty Rotten (nov 1982 - dec 1982) virtually invented "thrash metal" before Metallica. Their followers included D.O.A., and M.D.C. (Millions of Dead Cops), bands that ejected some of the most extreme and provocative hardcore in the nation; as did, from Portland, the Poison Idea, at least on Kings Of Punk (? 1986 - ? 1986). Flipper (11), who evolved from legendary noise-makers Negative Trend, were the undisputed masters of San Francisco's experimental hardcore, forefathers to one of the most fertile scenes of the 1980s.