Anyone else see any of MTV2's History Of Punk shows this weekend? What could have been a very cool way to educate young viewers turned out to be a total scam, with the shows spending much time trying to convince viewers that the crap pop punk bands so important to MTV's business were, in fact, "punk" and thus somehow historical. There were some interesting short interview pieces with some of punk's founders and older citizens (Buzzcocks & The Damned were thankfully included), but to even compare and include The Strokes & Sum 41 in any discussion of "important" punk is ridiculous. The jerkoff host of the show (at whom my 15 yr old kid rightfully observed 'Check out that dude's freshly pressed Minor Threat shirt...right out of the wardrobe department!') even had the audocity to observe that perhaps Dashboard Confessional might someday be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, like The Clash & Elvis Costello will be this year. I'm still waiting for anyone to show me how Chris Carrabba is the least bit punk. Yeah, his songs are pretty decent, but he's like Dan Fogelberg in black jeans and ironic t-shirts... Ahhh, maybe I'm just turning into an old curmugeon (I'm betting I'm perhaps the only geezer on this board to have actually seen The Undertones, of whom MTV2 showed the excellent "Teenage Kicks" video, but the vidjock who apparently had just heard of the band had to ruin it by calling the singer "FEER-GAIL"), but it sickens me to see a Multi-National rewrite history in order to validate the pap that enables them to sell advertising to Snickers, Clearsil, and the U.S. Army.
You're not the only person to have seen The Undertones and no discussion on punk would be complete without a thorough analysis of the primitive urban exentialist angst of Sum 41. Their music cuts right to the heart of modern America revealing in the caustic simplicity of their poetry a fragile yet bleakly realistic beauty that simply can't be ignored. Just kidding, they're crap ! Caught The Undertones twice including an encore with Feargal Sharkey dressed in nothing but a pair of Y Fronts. I never knew a man could be so white.
who let the sock puppet in? You'd be wrong. I didn't see this one, the best punk documentary I've seen was the TimeWarner "History of Rock 'n' Roll" episode (so good I bought the video).
That's a scary visual. Good to know others here have witnessed first hand how awesome a band The Undertones were. CosmosRIP...where'd you see them?
At the Palladium in 79, they opened for the Clash (Sam & Dave on the bill too), can't say I knew any of their music at the time, I didn't fully appreciate what a great line-up it was till later.
You wouldn't have punk w/o the Ramones. I wonder if I can find my Minor Threat shirt. I used to get some *************** when I worn it back in the day because I had long hair. Ahh, the memories.
Re: Re: MTV2's History Of Punk (Rewritten) MTV and it's sister networks have done plenty of docs that do justice to their subjects in the past, and have a good number of people on staff my age or older that should be up to the task of testifying to the old days. Really.
Re: Re: Re: MTV2's History Of Punk (Rewritten) Oddly enough, I'd trust VH1 to do a better job than MTV for some reason. I don't know why. Just a feeling. Anyway, MTV just wants to hype current teenie bands. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that until it warps something like their History of Punk. But I just don't expect MTV to be able to do a serious, inclusive look at punk that doesn't ignore bands that won't sell records or help hype the current stuff. And how many Amercian 16 year-olds are out buying Undertones, Exploited or Damned CDs these days? To them, that's their parents' music.
Can't help you there, mate. For once our paths did not cross. The history of The Clash was excellent. I'll have to buy that dvd. Did Topper look like a corpse or what?
They mentioned Bad Brains at the very very end when the guy pointed out that they skipped practically the entire decade of the 80's. It when something like, "we can't forget to mention great bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Black Flag, Bad Religion, etc." I was a sucker too. For some crazy reason I thought it'd be good. The Clash docu was excellent though.
I've never seen anything on punk that covers the 1980's American hardcore scene well. The best thing about the hardcore era was that it was so far off the radar as to be practically invisible. The scene had its own fanzines, its own record labels, its own promoters, its own network. As a result , unless you look long and hard and are willing to take the time there isn't a whole lot to go on. The record industry could never figure out hardcore (and more importantly how to sell it) so they ignored it. Which was fine by me. It was better that way. I won't pretend that the hardcore scene was one big happy family, the scene had its problems, it was, after all, just a microcosm of the rest of society.
Aw, man, I'd kill to have seen The Undertones. I only discovered them a couple of years ago and they've been active rotation in my house, car and office ever since.
Re: Re: MTV2's History Of Punk (Rewritten) Yeah, totally ghoulish. Westway To The World is a pretty cool DVD. Having attended one of the Bond shows in NYC documented on the disc, I really thought Don Letts caught the weird mood of the city that year and the sleaziness of Times Square back then. Those were the days .
Re: Re: Re: Re: MTV2's History Of Punk (Rewritten) I agree with that. It was way sleazy, but in a really cool way. Now it's entirely devoid of flavor, just a giant outdoor shopping mall. Old Times Square is to new Times Square as old punk rock is to new "punk" rock.
Truer words were never spoken. (R.I.P. Show World and Peepland! And what Jersey kid didn't play hookey from high school to buy his first fake ID at one of the "Passport Photo" places in Times Square, I ask?) RE: The Undertones, I got into them after they went all poppy. I caught this video of theirs called "It's Going To Happen" as an 11 or 12 year old and filed it away for about 15 years. In the late '90's I saw that they came out with a GH compilation. I picked it up, and much too my shock, I discovered that "It's Going To Happen" was only the tip of that iceberg! The Best Northern Ireland Band Ever! (Sorry, Ash.) Extra points also go to The Undertones for inspiring the name of the footie rag 'When Saturday Comes' (named after one of their songs).
Re: Re: MTV2's History Of Punk (Rewritten) As will I. I have to say, however, that "The Filth and the Fury" about the Pistols was more entertaining, but then again, the Clash was always a much more serious band than the Pistols were.
These documentaries also tend to forget a lot of the second wave british politico stuff like Crass and the Subhumans, who were just as original and influential in their own right. Also ignores the more hard core strains of early 80's British punk like the Exploited and GBH.
Me too also. While punk like I always considered the Undertones more a rough hewn pop band. And that's not a bad thing. In fact it's a very good thing.
Agreed, Undertones, Buzzcocks, and the Tom Robinson Band while not exactly punk were a "rough" form of pop. We could use more pop music like that. Crass were a great band, even if I never agreed with their politics. The "Big A, Little A" record is a classic.
If you haven't read it, you need to track down Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azzarad (check spelling), which is out in paperback now. There's also a good oral history of the LA scene, but I'm spacing on the title. But as far as seeing a decent documentary on TV... nope. Hasn't happened yet.