A Bit Of History in Punk / Alternative Music - Or How Much History Can Be Crammed Into The Same Week In Different Years?

This is sort of a "2nd part" to the blog I posted earlier this week. I was going to include these tidbits in the one I wrote on Friday the 19th, but the more I dug into this particular topic, the more I realized just how L-O-N-G that days entry would've been. OK, let's strap ourselves into the 360 Degrees time machine and turn back the clock...

1973 - The New York Dolls are in Paris. Arriving drunk at Orly Airport, Johnny Thunders pukes in the airport lounge after arriving. The press draw a lot of attention to it & Malcolm McLaren (future manager of the Sex Pistols) is taking notes as he joins the band on the trip. He later duplicates the incident (or stunt in this case) with the Pistols for the benefit of the press.

1975 - Patti Smith's debut album "Horses" has begun to leak out of the Arista offices. Although it's slated for release in early December in the US and in January overseas, already the praise-filled reviews are pouring in. Except for one... the magazine Melody Maker literally hates the record; "...precisely what's wrong with rock and roll right now is that there are too many academics pretending to be cretins and too many cretins pretending to be academics. "Horses" is just bad. Period." Whatever...

1976 - The Sex Pistols are invited as last-minute guests to appear on the Bill Grundy TV show "Today". The rock group Queen was the original guest, but canceled. A number of factors contributed to "the night the air turned blue" (actual newspaper headlines the next day). The Pistols were pretty much greased from way too many complimentary drinks offered before the show. Also, the band did not know the show was going out live. Finally, Grundy planned to expose the Pistols (who were about to become a household name / word) as unschooled ruffians with little to no wits about them.

It's now 6:15pm, and everyone is on stage including future punk icon Siouxsie Sioux (who originally was a SP groupie). The interview lasted less than 2 minutes, but the reverberations would last a long time. Within the first 45 seconds, Steve Jones says "fucking" and Johnny Rotten says "shit"... twice. But the real kicker was towards the end of the interview when Siouxsie mentions to Grundy that she always wanted to me him & Grundy offers to "get together with her" after the show. Jones goes on a rant & tells Grundy, "You dirty fucker. What a fucking rotter."

McLaren is worried and furious. He grabs the band, throws them into the limo and makes a quick escape as the TV stations switchboard is literally melting from irate calls. Grundy would be suspended from television for 2 weeks, while the shows producer and director were both fired.

1977 - The Ramones release their 2nd album "Rocket to Russia".

1978 - The Police release their debut album "Outlandos d'Amour".

1979 - The Clash have barely waited a year since the release of their album, "Give 'Em Enough Rope" but they already have slipped out a few hundred copies of their new double album to select shops called "London Calling". The album would be officially released on December 7th in the UK and a month later in the US. The album cover is a black & white live shot of Paul Simonen smashing his bass onstage with pink & green lettering in a direct parody / tribute to Elvis Presley's debut album. Don't believe me... check it out.

1982 - The Beastie Boys release their debut EP "Pollywog Stew" on the NY Indie Rat Cage Records. The eight songs combined total just eleven minutes in length. The line-up consists of Micheal Diamond (aka Mike D) on vocals, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach on drums. All three of them were part of a failed band called the Young Aborigines. When Adam Yaunch (aka MCA) joined on bass they dubbed themselves the Beastie Boys. At the time the record is made, all members were between 15 and 17 years old. Shortly afterwards, John & Kate would leave the band and ex-Young And The Restless bassist Adam Horowitz joined. This would be the classic lineup of the BB that would last for two decades.


1983 - A quirky group of four individuals in LA form a band that combines traditional funk with the elements of punk & psychedelic rock as well as jazz fusion. They would go on to win six grammys and sell over 50 million albums in the next 25 years. They call themselves The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

1988 - The stars were without a doubt lined up this year. Three, count 'em three, bands either came together or played their 1st gig together as a band this week 22 years ago. They were Live, Smashing Pumpkins and Sublime.

Unfortunately, that's all the time I have for today to hit the blog. Until next time, keep listening!

Peace out,
Dave