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Pamela Etienne

Video Journal Unit 5

Legs McNeil said that punk started with Brando in The Wild One. They say that punk rock was

the fight against complacency. Every century there are guys and girls that break the mold. This genera

had a lot to do with people getting together who were against the war especially the establishment.

Wayne Cramer says that Punk was in a generation that agreed that the direction the country was going

was wrong. They did not agree on how people of color were treated, about the war and how these

young men were treated, and how they suppressed their ideas.

During this time there were many bands that got lost in the shuffle such as The Question Mark

and the Mysterions, The Standells, and Count Five, and etcetera. A band by the name of The Stooges

were through to the music but not selling records at first until they moved and met other bands. The

Dolls and the bands that came before that were the ones to set the course for Punk Rock. In America

they were booed but The New York Dolls had such an impact on the England punk scene. When they

started to whine down and broke up, there were other bands that were being influenced by them such

has The Dictators.

THe Dictators, they were the first in 1974 and came out with an album called the Dictators Go

Girl Crazy. You heard about these groups through fliers and through word of mouth. These groups were

also making their own singles. Another group called Suicide was a major influence on people. In

C.B.G.B., which was a bar, the bands who wanted to play there were required to play and sing their own

music. This new band called The Ramones played at this club and at first people hated them but kept

coming back to the club to hear them. They played extremely fast and that was one of their signatures.

When punk started in England it was received differently than in America. It started from the

discontent of certain people with the government and how things were being handled. The place to be

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was in Kings Row because that was where everything was happening and that was where Malcolm and

Vivianes store was located which was a very popular place to visit. Later on there was a magazine called

Sniffing Glue that kept on Punk news. The Sex Pistols emerged and they caused much outrage in England

with their conduct and what they sang about.

There was a period of time where there was no guitar or drums just synthesizers. In the 1970s in

Britain there were a group of young people who used these synthesizers which resulted in Britain going

Synth Pop. Around this time people could see the future around the corner. High rises were being built

and films that concentrated on the future were being produced. One famous film called A Clockwork

Orange focused on time travel and was composed by synth pioneer Carlos. This had a profound effect

on synth musicians because this was the first time people were listening to electronic music. Carlos was

such an inspiration to those who just heard these electronic sounds.

In 1975 there was a German band that only played electrical sound they were called Kraftwerk.

When they came to England they amazed people in their music and the way they dressed. After they

performed they were told that they showed people the future of music. The synthesizers, in England

were expensive and were associated with really talented artist. Across England a lot of experimental

bands popped up trying to mix Punk and what Kraftwerks did.

In North England a bunch of computer programmers dreamt about the future with inspiration

coming from J.G. Ballard. These young people only played synthesizes and used the cheaper synthesizers

that just had come out. They called themselves The Human League and they went out of their way to

show England about electronic Pop. In that time they were the only group that was experimenting with

this in England. This music puzzled many people and showed the creativity of those who took this music

up.