British Punk

2006-05-31T20:23:00.000+10:00

Review

The Filth And The Fury: A Sex Pistols Film

DISCLAIMER: I have no idea how to write a film review. This is just a winged shot at one...so...if you were expecting something professional then go away. I suppose presenting a review of a film by a person that has not done it before and has no idea how to do it fits in with the punk DIY aesthetic.

The topic of this film was the rise and fall Sex Pistols. I would probably classify this film as a documentry, but at the same time it follows a bit of a story.

It was made by Julien Temple who also made The Great Rock And Roll Swindle approximately 20 years prior. I didn't get a change to see The Great Rock And Roll Swindle (because Ezy-Dvd are dodgy and didn't get it to me on time. ARGH!). From what I understand, The Great Rock And Roll Swindle was heavily influenced by Malcom McLaren, and that The Filth And The Fury was hyped as an opportunity for the true story to be told. Actually, i'm quite interested to know who's definition of "true" they're following.

Anyway, the film starts with a general context and background of the individual bands members. I enjoyed this as it's not the kind of thing you usually come across. I especially liked having the band members interviewed throughout the film. I'm unsure why they were kept in Silhouette, it would have been nice to see what they look like in present day. All in all, the documentry humanises the members of the band. It is refreshing to see them as people rather than purely radical misfits.

Another disadvantage of the Silhouette interviews is that I kept losing track of who was saying what. To me all the british accents are the same...and the only one i could tell apart for sure was John Lydon with his spikey and dyed hair.

Edited into the film are bits of old shakepearean films to emphasise points. At first I found this unsettling and odd, but it grew on me. I eventually found myself laughing at it. I'm unsure why it was used - humour? Contrast between traditional theatre and punk?

Considering that much of my first essay focused on the Sex Pistols, it was great to see some film of things I had previously read about. Eg. The very last performance with the infamous quote "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?".

The film also featured other great "never-before-seen" performances and interviews. There is some great stuff of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. I got a good grasp on how screwed up those two were. Nancy gave Sid six puffs of Ventolin to wake him up from a doped up sleep during an interview. Seems a potentially hazardous thing to do...not that it's worse than taking heroin or anything...

All in all I found this a refreshing film, and saw sides of the members of the band that I didn't know could even exist (sensitivity! amazing huh?).

2006-05-21T13:03:00.000+10:00

I've been using Wikipedia as a source of bordem relief today. I thought I'd look up punk as a source of inspiration for a blog entry.

In fact Wikipedia has an entire list of punk subgenres. Amongst them are christian punk, clockwork punk, cow punk, eeriecore, folk punk, garage punk, glam punk, gothcore, hardcore punk, horror punk, pop punk, punkabilly, ska punk, skate punk, and many more.

I suppose that this goes to show that nothing is as simple as it seems. British punk was about being "antigovernment, antisociety, and antifasion" (Charlton). I don't understand how singing about Jesus can be conceived as punk on any level.

Christianity is a religion and christians base their lives on upholding the christian laws and beliefs. Punk is a subculture that has authenticity rules and political beliefs that must be followed for a person to be considered a true punk.

I ended up searching christian punk on google. One site I am across (which is a personal site made by one fan) listed as one of their favourite punk artists somebody named Johnny Respect. To me this is a direct rip off from the Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten. They say that imitation is the ultimate form of flattery, but I'm unsure that Johnny Rotten would approve of such a respectable name.

As you can guess I'm not buying the authenticity of christian punk. One thing that I must say for the credit of the subgenre is that the use of popular music for christian praise is frowned upon by many christian leaders. In my googling I came across an article which quotes a member of the Dial-the-Truth Ministries saying that "Rock music, as used and performed in Christian circles, is of the same satanic seed as that which is called punk, heavy metal, and is performed in devilish rock concerts worldwide." (quote taken from http://www.metroactive.com).

While I don't think that christian punk is a valid subgenre of punk (i didn't even bother looking up the other ones...the christian one stopped me dead in my tracks)...it sure is a step in a better direction compared to the boring old farts you usually find in fundamental churches.

JÜ§t!ne

2006-05-14T18:03:00.000+10:00

I got RHCP Stadium Arcadium today! I'm listening to Jupiter at the moment, extremely funky.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stadium Arcadium - May 9th, 2006

2006-05-11T19:58:00.000+10:00

I've been giving alot of thought to actually talking to a punk lately. I often see them in the city. Well, I assume that I see them in the city. I've seen this guy with an orange mohawk and he was wearing a NOFX t-shirt with ripped jeans. I wonder if he counts. He was also taking half smoked cigs out of the garbage. Slightly icky; perhaps another punk trait?

It then occured to me that when people look at me, then don't generally think I'm a very intimidating person. This guy however, looked VERY intimidating. If I smiled and wished him a nice day I'd be worried he'd punch me in the face. It occured to me though, that in high school I was friends with a punk.

When I was in years 11 and 12 there was a guy in my classes that everybody called "punk-rocker." He always hated the name, which i found odd because while he said he didn't like being labelled, he drew graffiti on all his stuff with his favourite band names. NOFX and the Dead Kennedys were two of his favourite. Ultimately when it comes down to it, I think that I would call him a punk. I'll list a few reasons why (in disjointed order):

He had spikey hair that reminded me of Sid Vicious which was dyed various colours of the rainbow.
He had a strong dislike for any authority. This was most obvious in the fact that he was always in trouble at school and just swore at the teachers when they tried to discipline him.
His taste in music, as previously stated including NOFX and the Dead Kennedys.
I remember spending one modern history class colouring his fingers nails in for him with black permanant marker.
When his mate got in trouble (for stealing 4L cans of paint of all things) he represented him in court.

Incase you don't think I've made a valid argument, all I can say is this: Katherine Charlton describes punk as "antigovernment, antisociety and antifashion." and my friend was definately all of those things. He will probably never read this, and so I think I can safely say behind his back this: Matt, you're a PUNK!

In contrast, I can safely say that I have never been a punk. Today at work I was doodling on some paper some possible writing styles if I were to have a punk zine. My manager looked at my paper and told me it looked pretty. PRETTY! Of all things he could have said, he had to insult my punk paper by calling it pretty! Oh well. I experimented with writing left handed, or writing in a rushed manner. Anyway, in future I may post the front cover of a punk zine. Well, of an imaginary zine which is actually made by myself who is not a punk. But for assessment sake, it'll be a punk zine cover. The point of this paragraph is that it's hard for me to create a punk zine cover, because I'm not a punk.

And now for something a bit more light hearted -> I decided to get off my chair and read the names of the bands on those CDs that I didn't do last post. They are Nickelback, The Cat Empire and Something for Kate.

JÜ§t!ne

2006-05-03T18:33:00.000+10:00

Welcome to my wonderful blog. As my first post, don't expect to read anything in particular here. This is not the first blog that I've started, but it's the first that I've had to actually continue beyond three days of posts so I consider this to be a new experience for me. Come to think of it, I've never really liked the word "blog" in the first place...it sounds like something you'll find up a child's nose.

For the sake of assessment, this blog will have several posts about British Punk from approximately 1975-80. I would have finished my timeframe at 1979 at the death of Sid Vicious, but decided to give it an extra year so I can rant on about the Clash if need be.

I like reading about things that interest me. Music interests me, so I read a fair bit about music. I read street press when I get around to it, and I read Rolling Stone. The only catch is, that if I've never heard of a musician or band before and I come across an article about them, I'm unlikely to read it. If I decide to put effort in, I might download an Mp3 file of a random song by the band, and then read the article. Number of times I've actually done that...zero.

I don't really listen to the radio much anymore. I work in retail, and during my shifts is the only time I listen to radio. Nova106.9FM is the station of choice. The music isn't bad, until they start to replay songs 3 hours after I had previously heard them. I watch rage every Saturday morning until I leave for work, and that's the main place that I discover up and coming bands. I usually watch from about 6am until 7am and in that time I catch some of the new singles and the tail end of the top 50 countdown.

Most of my music consumption is from Mp3s. I have a small CD collection. I want to expand it. I've decided to be less of a tight...person...with my money and actually buy CDs on the odd occasion. Most in my collection I purchased when I was a teenager, but they still keep me entertained and happy (or sad if I prefer). I'll list some of the artists in my collection, just because I have nothing better to do:

Gorillaz
Pearl Jam
Limp Bizkit
Placebo
Grinspoon
John Farnham
U2
Triple J Hottest 100 compilations
silverchair
Rage Against The Machine
Apollo440
Jamiroquai
The Bloodhound Gang
Foo Fighters
Nirvana
Glenn Miller
Green Day
Blink 182
Eskimo Joe
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
The Whitlams
System of a Down

That's most of them. I left out a few that are too far away from me to read without getting up. Who wants to get up when they can stay seated in a very comfy chair? Yes that's right, nobody!

I've also got quite a few records, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival amongst others.

I've done MUSC1700 and MUSC2700 because I was interested in learning about the history of pop music. I've always been interested in punk, however during those courses I discovered I have a bit of a music trend that favours British music. Britpop also interests me greatly.

Anyway I think that's enough for tonight. I'm in a bit of a void this evening so I have no idea if what I wrote makes sense or not. I'll choose to go with the former because I'm too tired to read it.

JÜ§t!ne