The Punk Thread

[Gabriel]

To be fair, What We Do Is Secret is actually a pretty decent film. It follows the story fairly closely and has made The Germs known to many new young fans. Also, Shane West (That's him, right?) did a pretty good job, and his singing was almost spot-on.

[RPS]

On one hand, that seems like a rational and well articulated opinion.

On the other hand, your avatar.

[VerbalPuke]

Just working on the recommendations. Don't think I forgot about them.

Read a feature on Darby Crash the other day. The Germs are probably one of my favorite hardcore bands, and after reading the piece, I'm even more fascinated by Darby Crash. It's hard to tell if he was a genius, mentally ill or just strung out (or a combination of the three). The dude was definitely very fascinating and interesting. Shame they made some crap Hollywood movie about his life starring the dude from A Walk To Remember.

I went in expecting the worst from this movie, and I actually really enjoyed after it was all said and done. As Gabe said, Shane West did a great job as Darby Crash, and they did a nice job of casting some of the other punk bands such as the Screamers, and especially Claude Bessy aka Kickboy Face. I did think Pat Smear's character was a bit off, but eh no biggie.

I think Darby was a combination of the three as you mentioned, probably more genius than anything. The Germs could have been big (by punk standards) had Darby not wanted to kill himself at such a young age. It's sad really, the band started off so terrible, but when they got good, they really were one of the best, if not the best of their era.

I do recommend the Decline of Western Civilization, or rather endorse Cloudy's recommendation, it's a great film. It can be viewed on youtube unless you want to pay 50 bucks for a bootleg VHS copy of it (not that I did that... ).

As for good documentaries, I'd assume you're talking about the Filth and the Fury when referring to the Sex Pistols? I love that one. Rage: 20 Years of Punk West Coast Style is pretty good also, there is also American Hardcore, but I'd honestly recommend the book over the documentary because the book goes into so much more detail. It was a very good read. And if you can stomach it, G.G. Allin's "Hated" is fucking great, but as I am sure you know, it's not for the feint at heart. It's a great look into the mind of rock and roll's greatest madman. Speaking of which, I'd recommend you check out his work with the Jabbers, fantastic power pop before he turned into a real fucking nut.

Since I'm on books let me also suggest Johnny Rotten's Bio, We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Please Kill Me: The Story Of NY Punk (I don't remember if that is the exact title, my buddy borrowed it and never returned it). The book about the LA and NY punk scenes are very good since it starts with the inception of each scene, talking a lot about the early roots and influences for each scene. In the case of LA you'll get the Doors, Sparks, David Bowie, and Zolar-X where as the NY scene will give you Iggy Pop, MC5, Patti Smith, The New York Dolls, The Dictators, and The Velvet Underground for it's early days. Each book spends plenty of time on their respective punk scene, but it's cool reading how some of the punk bands got their inspiration from a lot of the early glam rock and proto-punk groups.

[RPS]

I've got the Bob Mould biography lying around. My uncle gave it to me months ago, I just haven't gotten around to it. Worth the time?

Punk rock is such an interesting music genre. It just seemed to attract these individuals who were all brilliant outsiders who just fell by the wayside. There are so many iconic figures in the punk rock movement - Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Iggy Pop, Joe Strummer, Henry Rollins, Darby Crash, Ian MacKaye, GG Allin. Such weird, fascinating and brilliant individuals who probably never would have made it famous in any other music genre. It's weird to think that a guy like Jello Biafra, who is so over the top, looks normal and dull in comparison to countless other punk rock figures.

The Germs is definitely one of the bands I've been listening to recently who I legitimately missed out on as a youth. They sound so blissful now, but would have sounded a million times better when I was younger.

[VerbalPuke]

Basically what you just said is what hooked me on punk, well a lot of things did. Originally I was a young teenager bored with the same music, then I hear the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and Dead Boys and it blew me away. I couldn't believe how raw, how fast, and just how fucking cool it all sounded. Eventually I'd expand more on it and find so many more bands that I could never imagine as being considered "punk" before I actually knew anything about punk rock.

I find it amazing that a lot of people don't realize that there are punk bands out there with heavy influences of rockabilly, electronic, jazz, funk, heavy metal, country, and just bizarre avante garde type stuff. Punk is honestly responsible for shaping much of my music taste beyond it. I may never have become so heavy into surf, rockabilly, electronic, thrash metal, and even Irish folk type of shit.

I honestly haven't read the Bob Mould bio, but I'd say it would be worth a read. Husker Du were fucking fantastic, on par with the Minutemen albeit a much different style, but Zen Arcade came out the same year as Double Nickels on the Dime and both are regarded as two of the most important albums released in that year (1984 I think it was?).

[LittleDaniel]

Punk isn't dead, so neither is this thread. I can't stop listening to Joyce Manor's first album lately.

And if you're looking for something harder, lately I've been digging Sacred Love. I can't find much of their stuff on Youtube, but it is on Spotify for some reason.

[Lint]

Have you seen the film The Decline of Western Civilization? It has some pretty interesting bits with Darby Crash.

Just found this thread again. If anyone has Netflix, available on streaming (atleast in the US) is What We Do Is Secret. It was a movie about The Germs, done with alot of input from the surviving members. It was done in this kinda biographical/documentary style, showing event happening in the bands career, but cutting to the actors playing the band members talking about it. Its really a great movie and should definitively be watched by punk/Germs fans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_We_Do_Is_Secret_%28film%29

[tristy]

Has anyone mentioned Richard Hell? I'm almost sure VerbalPuke probably did. Besides the Dead Kennedys, Richard Hell & the Voidoids might be my favorite punk band from that era.

[VerbalPuke]

Have you seen the film The Decline of Western Civilization? It has some pretty interesting bits with Darby Crash.

Just found this thread again. If anyone has Netflix, available on streaming (atleast in the US) is What We Do Is Secret. It was a movie about The Germs, done with alot of input from the surviving members. It was done in this kinda biographical/documentary style, showing event happening in the bands career, but cutting to the actors playing the band members talking about it. Its really a great movie and should definitively be watched by punk/Germs fans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_We_Do_Is_Secret_%28film%29

We did cover this film a bit earlier in the thread, but I'm glad you brought it up again. I'd like to see it again as I was surprisingly happy with how good it was on my first viewing.

Yeah Tristy, I also did mention Richard Hell. He's always a name I bring up when making suggestions because Blank Generation is an album every fan of punk (or music in general) should hear. It's a classic, there's a reason why it's often cited as one of the top punk albums of all-time. Also have to agree with Dead Kennedys, they're among my absolute favorite bands.

Another band I forgot to mention (a year ago) are the Kids. Since RPS mentioned liking "straight up punk", I think these dudes would be right up his alley. They're a band from Belgium do that 77 style sound, probably would have fit in great in NY alongside the Ramones.

[Lint]

Basically what you just said is what hooked me on punk, well a lot of things did. Originally I was a young teenager bored with the same music, then I hear the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and Dead Boys and it blew me away. I couldn't believe how raw, how fast, and just how fucking cool it all sounded. Eventually I'd expand more on it and find so many more bands that I could never imagine as being considered "punk" before I actually knew anything about punk rock.

I find it amazing that a lot of people don't realize that there are punk bands out there with heavy influences of rockabilly, electronic, jazz, funk, heavy metal, country, and just bizarre avante garde type stuff. Punk is honestly responsible for shaping much of my music taste beyond it. I may never have become so heavy into surf, rockabilly, electronic, thrash metal, and even Irish folk type of shit.

I honestly haven't read the Bob Mould bio, but I'd say it would be worth a read. Husker Du were fucking fantastic, on par with the Minutemen albeit a much different style, but Zen Arcade came out the same year as Double Nickels on the Dime and both are regarded as two of the most important albums released in that year (1984 I think it was?).

What VP said about punk. My first exposure to punk was the following bands (all heard around the same time, so no order)

Operation Ivy

Fugazi

Dead Kennedys

Weston

Operation Ivy, of course, was huge in ska-punk being what it is. I loved this band from the moment I heard them. Their guitarist was Tim Armstrong, later of Rancid fame..went by the name Lint at the time, and I still use it to show my love of the band

Fugazi is largely experimental...no album sounds the same as the last. First heard their 13 Songs album and was attracted to them ever since. While no album sounds the same, their all fantastic

Dead Kennedys...don't think anyone who listens to punk needs an explanation. While Operation Ivy had some socially aware songs, Dead Kennedys had much more socially and politically aware songs. While I heard them many years after they broke up, and thus the political message was outdated for the most part, some are still very relevant to this day. I remember after the invasion of Iraq happened after 9/11, I played the track Kinky Sexy Makes The World Go Round for some co-workers, and they thought it was a recent recording

Weston is probably the less well known. They were based out of the next town over from me, Bethlehem PA. They were huge in the area and my first exposure to local punk bands. They later signed to Go-Kart records, recorded what I think beats Dude Ranch by Blink-182 album as THE definitive pop-punk album in Got Beat Up, then a slower, more indie-rock influenced but awesome album in Matinee. This is one of their best songs, off Got Beat Up...No Kinda Superstar. This album came out when I was around 15/16 years old, so you can imagine what a song like this would mean to a dorky, overweight kid

[Eric]

I really love punk, so much. All eras and genres. If anyone wants any recommendations (based on bands you already like) I'd be happy to oblige.

Here's some good jams:

Bad Religion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Ezkx3N_pM

And some Crass, including Steve Ignorant's great Queen Elizabeth imitation voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ScQbIluZqI

Edited November 5, 2013 by Eric

[RPS]

Ska recommendations?

[Lint]

Bosstones of course. The Uptones are pretty good. Five Iron Frenzy if you don't mind a slight religious twist, but their not too preachy and write some good songs. Mephiskapheles is a good way to counter it though...The Toasters...

[VerbalPuke]

Mephiskapheles for sure, great stuff.

Depends on what kind of Ska you're looking for though, do you want the first wave stuff you'd find on the Trojan Records Boxsets? If that's the case go with Lord Tanamo, Baba Brooks Band, and Symarip.

Second wave would be stuff like the Specials, Selecter, Bad Manners, and Madness.

Then of course the third is the 90s and until now or so. Mephiskapheles, Dance Hall Crashers, and Skoidats.

I don't know a shit ton of ska, most of what I listed is my favorites from that genre. If I think of anything else I'll come back and edit them in.

[Ruki]

Reel Big Fish.

[Eric]

Ska recommendations?

For first-wave I don't know much, but Desmond Dekker and Prince Buster are always good.

Second-wave, like above, definitely The Specials, Madness, The Selecter. The Specials in particular are fantastic, always have been a favorite of mine.

Third-wave, definitely the Skoidats. Other than that I'm pretty ignorant about newer ska. I'm not a big fan of the pop punk/ska of the '90s/early 2000s so I can't really recommend anything like that.

And this:

Trojan Records Boxsets

[VerbalPuke]

I've been listening to Chelsea a lot lately, really good band. They actually got their start in 76, so they were pretty early on in the scene in the UK. This song in particular is incredibly catchy, probably my favorite from these guys.

I've also been listening to the Stiff Little Fingers "Inflammable Material" lately, that's a really superb album. I think one of my biggest regrets as a punk fan is waiting so long to actually give these guys a listen. Did you know the name is taken from the Vibrators song of the same name? That's my fun fact for the day.

[Hornswoggle4PM]

I'm going to register my interests here, love most punk but I don't know heaps of it, mainly recent-ish Aussie pop-punk and stuff like that. I read Dave Grohl's bio 'This Is A Call' last year and really want to get into more of the earlier stuff.

As far as what I know already, I'm a big fan of stuff like The Living End, Frenzal Rhomb, Dropkick Murphys, Wavves, NOFX, Green Day (aside from their slower, preachy sort of stuff) and all sorts of skate/surf punk, pop-punk (if it's good), celtic punk and a bit of post-hardcore too.

[Eric]

I'm going to register my interests here, love most punk but I don't know heaps of it, mainly recent-ish Aussie pop-punk and stuff like that. I read Dave Grohl's bio 'This Is A Call' last year and really want to get into more of the earlier stuff.

As far as what I know already, I'm a big fan of stuff like The Living End, Frenzal Rhomb, Dropkick Murphys, Wavves, NOFX, Green Day (aside from their slower, preachy sort of stuff) and all sorts of skate/surf punk, pop-punk (if it's good), celtic punk and a bit of post-hardcore too.

If you like that, you might like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53WG_7hqMQE

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVJ8nDpM3LY

and JFA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCYyoLmuUfI

who was on the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater soundtrack (along with a lot of fantastic old skate punk songs)

If you PM me, I'll send you an obscenely long list of all types of punk bands

[Lint]

The Riverdales are a pretty good pop-punk band, fronted by Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel, though a sound a bit closer to the Ramones then Screeching Weasel

Strung Out is pretty good skate punk, some of the songs have a bit more metalish feel to them though