Tight Sainthood

Punk Was.

What was punk?

Punk was an excuse. Punk was a self-negating movement. Punk was an enthusiasm. Punk was a flair. Punk was a cargo cult. Punk was, to steal a title used by some possible precursors, the passage of a few people through a rather brief moment in time. Punk was the stepping stone for a life very different from anything I might have imagined when I was (say) 15. Punk just was.

Punk, post-punk, and the various successors have inhabited me one way or another since 1977:

No True Punk — Los Angeles Is Burning. But what's that got to do with punk?!
Rockism — I didn't know it had a name…
Sadly — retrospective authenticity (urgh…).
Nostalgia — a few hints of a past…
The State Oppres(s)es — a memento of something that probably never happened…
In But Not Of — Stumbling into a scene… (Sydney post-punk)
Room For Rent — such a wondrous town, London…
Compare and Contrast — not everybody loves Dylan…
Maaaaaate? — is that an accent or an affectation?
Born To Drive — The Boss, on the Street and out of context.
A History Of The Sky — Tactics at the Royal, the start of something different…
Brush With Fame — a trip to LA.
Nihilistic Narcissism — what happens when real punks turn up…
Six Years After The Fair... — notes from when the future seemed bright…
DIY — my heroes had feet of gold…
Making My Houdini — a Triumph Of The Will, sort of…
Glebe — not My Houdini MKII…
Crossing Cleveland Street — the great cultural divide…
Second Language — a second life for a bit of capital-A Art…
Excelsior — a gig I missed…
The Sound Of The Sound — My Houdini and Glebe, re-released…
Three Genres — I've never been at the cutting edge…

Footnote: this thread originally focused only on my experience of Sydney Punk and post-Punk, but it's inevitably also evolving into a broader set of notes on my relationship to music in general, spanning Sydney, London, and California.

Posted by Jimmy Little @ 13:03; permalink