Originally Posted by Ron Toolsie:
Punk was a deliberate counterculture, in which people tried to rise artistically to levels that those far greater had. All it took was a gradual shift in political and cultural climate and the next thing you know the perfectly crafted songs of Abba and Elton John became replaced with the works of ordinarly mortals not demi-god geniuses. For years I loved contempory music, and to this day I can probably remember every single top 40 song from circa 1973-1976. But the dual prong assault of disco in the US and punk in the UK thrust crafted music back into the dark ages. It was not until music was reborn in the 90s with the Seattle based bands did I attempt to listen to contempory music again. There were of course a few rare exceptions. Radiohead comes to mind, as maybe do a few other. But without Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains et all, the 90s would have been a musical desert.
I think you're wrong there Ron.
In fact punk was never intended to supplant anything. Virtually all the big acts of 1976 carried on unscathed following the "punk wars" - Zep, Floyd, Genesis, Rod, Abba, etc.
The whole 1976 Year Zero thing was partially an invention of the music press and of characters like Talcy Malcy McLaren and Bernie Rhodes. Many of punk's prime movers liked prog rock (Lydon was famously a VDGG fan, the Damned liked early Floyd) for example, but were encouraged not to shout about it too much. Despite the rhetoric, punk was more about doing stuff for yourselves rather than destroying the old order (although it had to be said that by 1976/77 people like Rod Stewart, ELP and Queen had gotten rather preposterous, and not in an entirely good way either); that's what made the Pistols so important - they inspired scores of people to go off and form bands. Some of them were crap and some of them were fantastic.
But to say that punk heralded a "dark age" in music is patently garbage. The Sex Pistols were a brilliant, fast-burning rock band; the Buzzcocks produced, from 1976 to 1979, perhaps the greatest run of pop singles since the Beatles; in "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" The Clash produced one of the finest records of the 1970s. And what about innovators such as The Banshees, The Slits and the like?
And lest we forget, the greatest group ever to come out of Britain (with the exception of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin) - Joy Division - was forged in the white heat of the punk revolution.
And you can't tell me that Stateside it was all crap - Patti Smith, Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, Blondie... are you seriously saying they were all bloodthirsty ostrogoths looting the gilded palaces of the American contemporary scene? Did they bring nothing to the table?
The vast majority of music fans, including people like me who embraced punk (or as far as any 14 year old living in Tunbridge Wells could embrace punk!) carried on listening to Floyd and Zep as before, as well as the Pistols, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, etc.
Here in the UK at least, and among people of my generation, the real contempt was reserved for the likes of The Eagles, James Taylor, Bread, Fleetwood Mac and other purveyors of enfeebled drug-addled West Coast MOR pap.
And you're wrong, so wrong, about disco too.
Try listening to Moroder and Belotte's brilliant Donna Summer productions, or the work of Chic, Bee Gees, Grace Jones, Trammps, or those great, great records on Philly and Salsoul. etc. Try listening also to the superb "Disco Discharge" series on Harmless (go for the old skool stuff rather than the hi-energy crap) for an overview of just how good this genre could be.
