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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | GaryPig@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: what you wish for |
| Date | Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:48:55 EDT |
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<< Major labels were strictly verboten in old-school punk. >>
Au contraire,
mon ami!
From the very git go,
Danny Fields, to name just one, was begging the majors to check out the
Brothers Ramone and the whole vintage CBGB scene as early as '75,
and even a cursory reading of D. Harry and C. Stein's (excellent, btw)
"Making Tracks" book show Blondie initially spent as much time working the
phone as they did the rehearsal hall, courting publicists, negotiating for
classier uptown gigs and, you bet, arranging for great big A&R folk to come
on down.
And let us not forget as well the Pistols' various tangos with EMI, A&M,
Virgin et al
(plus, up in O Canada, no less than The Diodes fought for and landed a deal
with none other than CBS of Canada -- and debuted circa Xmastime 77 with a
Paul Simon cover to boot!)
(over to you now, Jaimie and especially Ralph, to contribute any further
points and details I may be overlooking).
<< Plus, punk in its classic form was opposed to the masses. A lot of the
punk ethos has to do with alienation -- and how are you going to be
alienated if everyone else is alienated, too? >>
Again, someone's been subscribing too heartily to the VH1 School of Rock
History here, methinks ;-)
Ask anyone who gamely joined the stage-front pogo people a quarter century
ago as Joey lead the hearty in "Hey Ho, Let's Go": True, the movement may
very well have started out as a congregation of misfits, but FAR from an
elitist one!
No, we in the proto-pits-o-mosh of yore were in our various ways never EVER
averse to hustling our faves towards the MOR (ie: by writing columns for the
mainstream press, calling in requests to local radio, lobbying clubs and
booking agents for opening act slots). Nor were the bands themselves -- at
least the more focused, committed ones -- ever ashamed to soil their hands or
ears by ingratiating themselves at the feet of the powers that were (good
case in point: The Go-Go's between 1979 and 1981, f'rinstance) in order to
travel ever onward and upward.
Perhaps our own P. Pop family today could take a cue or three from these
so-called DIY'ers, and not be so hasty to judge or even poo-pooh the
accomplishments of those artists who DO break through to the other side,
commercially speaking? Because maybe their only true crime was setting out
equipped with a sound, vision and, yes, mindset past playing strictly to the
already converted, as it were.
Just a thought,
Gary "that said, I'll immediately take the Flat Duo Jets over those W.
Stripes ANY day" Pig
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