You're viewing all posts tagged with punk

My 82 Favourite Punk Rock Singles ‘77-‘79

The complete list (extremely belated, I know)

I’ve been meaning to compile a full list of all my punk single reviews forever, but kept forgetting. Anyway, here it is.

As a bonus, you can find at the bottom a list of honourable mentions/obvious picks that I forgot about.

Honourable mentions/Obvious omissions

  • Subway Sect - ‘Nobody’s Scared’
  • Subway Sect - ‘Ambition’
  • Ruts - ‘In a Rut’
  • 999 – ‘Emergency’
  • Iggy Pop - ‘The Passenger’
  • Iggy Pop - ‘Lust for Life’
  • The Adverts - ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’
  • Ian Dury and the Blockheads – ‘Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll’
  • Chelsea - ‘Right to Work’
  • Television - ‘Prove It’
  • The Slits – ‘Typical Girl’

I’m sure there are also others…

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - ‘Chelsea’

“
I can’t talk about punk sociologically, only subjectively—I just wanted to live. Recently, I popped into a local boozer, and it felt like pre-punk again—a living death, everybody getting tanked up, and then it’s back to work in the morning. There’s got to be more to life than that. I was very against authority, against formularised structures, and I still am. I’m still very adolescent, without being boringly so. Seeing people in their thirties who haven’t matured can be a sad sight. You can’t just be against things, you have to offer something as well.
Jah Wobble
“
Like being gored to death by a sexy bear.
Anthony Easton from the Singles Jukebox on ‘Year of the Ox’ by Fucked Up.

The Slits - ‘Typical Girls’

My 15 favourite songs by The Jam

1. ‘The Eton Rifles’
2. ‘Art School’
3. ‘All Around the World’
4. ‘“A” Bomb in Wardour Street’
5. ‘A Town Called Malice’
6. ‘In the City’
7. ‘When You’re Young’
8. ‘Down in the Tube Station at Midnight’
9. ‘Strange Town’
10. ‘That’s Entertainment’
11. ‘The Modern World’
12. ‘All Mod Cons’
13. ‘Going Underground’
14. ‘Start!’
15. ‘News of the World’

“
Tonight the sky is empty / But that is nothing new / Its dead eyes look upon us / And they tell me / We’re nothing but slaves

Mission of Burma - ‘That’s When I Reach for My Revolver’

These lines were changed in Moby’s (admittedly pretty good) cover on Animal Rights - I wonder why.

My 82 Favourite Punk Rock Singles ‘77-‘79

#1 Buzzcocks - ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’

“I can’t see much of a future / Unless we find out what’s to blame / What a shame / And we won’t be together much longer / Unless we realize that we are the same”

Perhaps I am just being contrarian by putting this at #1, but it is my genuine feeling that no other ’70s punk single has the same combination of emotional resonance, catchy songwriting, and straightforward energy. Buzzcocks are a brilliant band, and this is the pinnacle of their achievements.

My 82 Favourite Punk Rock Singles ‘77-‘79

#2 Richard Hell and the Voidoids - ‘Blank Generation’

“I belong to the blank generation, and I can take it or leave it each time / I belong to the ________ generation, but I can take it or leave it each time”

An odd choice for number two? Perhaps, but I stand by it. This is the archetypical punk song - perhaps the backing, which sounds reminiscent of a sloppier Television (Hell’s former band), doesn’t have the brutality of the bands that followed on its heels, but the attitude, the sneering, the energy, is all there. Often misinterpreted, particularly following ‘Pretty Vacant’ (a blatant rip-off if there was ever one) as a celebration of teenage nihilism, the song is actually very optimistic, celebrating the possibilities of a new generation of young people.