History of Punk Pt.1, Love Is Lost With My Chemical Romance & More!

    We're not even 4 months into 2013 and the drama wheel keeps turning. In all honesty, I'm starting to think that "drama" is fast becoming an outdated term. It seems like the "smash & grab" concept seems to be coming into vouge, especially out in the entertainment world. The term "Smash & grab" refers to information that is sudden, poorly planned, and deliberate. It only seeks to get the receiver off-guard (smashes) and then attempts to grab as much attention and reaction as possible.

  

 Latest case in point, My Chemical Romance. After 12 years and four studio albums, the band announced they're splitting up in a surprise blog post three days ago. While the band thanked fans for all their support and the whole decade plus experience was wonderful, they added the dreaded phrase, "like all great things, it has time for it to end." Maybe it's just me - it's cool to go out while you're on top, but this just seems... a little cold. Let me know what you think.

     I already did a separate post on this next tidbit, but it's worth repeating. The Library of Congress have selected numerous rock albums for preservation into the National Recording Registry. My God, there's hope for our government yet! One of their selections was the Ramones 1st album from 1976. I'm still speechless as I write this. Maybe we could write letters and have them preserve classics by The Sex Pistols, The Who,. and countless others. Hey - I can dream can't I?

     Another quick note, mainly because this story has gone viral to the nth degree is the band listing for Lollapalooza 2013. Some highlights include Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Mumford and Sons, and the Killers. Also confirmed for the Chicago festival, which runs August 2 - 4, are the Postal Service and the National. The full lineup will be officially announced in April, but early bird tickets are already on sale.

     Finally, as promised, we're starting a mini-series if you will, on the history of punk and alternative music. Guaranteed to raise some eyebrows, tick a few people off, but hopefully share and educate most. 

To truly and effectively tackle the history of punk and alternative music would be akin to trying to solve the mysteries of Easter Island, but I’m going to give it a shot anyways. The biggest dilemma I seem to run into is a starting point. I thought religion and politics was a touchy subject… that’s nothing when you start mentioning influences. Some purists state that punk and thus alternative started in the 70’s with The Sex Pistols and The Ramones. Others pay homage to The Stooges & The Velvet Underground. In my humble opinion, and in my experience, it started in the mid 50’s.

     Now before you compose that flaming email and hit the send button, press the pause button for a moment. I will be the first to admit that there is no exact time or year when the seeds of punk and alternative music were planted. But I’m going to use that key word from the previous paragraph – influences. Some of those influences weren’t even on vinyl. For example, Sam Phillips - the founder of Sun Records. A true visionary and without whom there would be no rock n’ roll… period. Some other milestones were various artists, like Buddy Holly, producing their own music, which was unheard of until 1956. While that may not sound like much today, it gave the individual artist freedom. Big time.

     Then you’ve got this cat from Memphis called Elvis Presley. Say what? Yup, Elvis and a bunch of other rockabilly artists like Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. They were riding the crest of the new teen culture and rebellion. There’s another key word right there… rebellion. When you start mixing in a number of other rockers from James Brown to Little Richard to Chuck Berry, we’ve added another item to the mix - the wild (at least during that time) front-man and guitarist. Sorry folks, there’s no turning back now. These artists weren’t just banging on the door, they were kicking it in.

     These influences would carry us through the remainder of the 50’s until the early 60’s when all hell would start to break loose again. But we’ll save that for next time. 

     Until then, peace out.