From 1979. Punk could be arty too. This is one of my favorite performances. So raw, yet multi-layered. Ian Curtis has these dead eyes which foreshadows his plight. No one has ever matched his dancing at the mic.
From 1979. Punk could be arty too. This is one of my favorite performances. So raw, yet multi-layered. Ian Curtis has these dead eyes which foreshadows his plight. No one has ever matched his dancing at the mic.
From 1977 (I think). Not all punks were snot nosed. The Jam brought some style to the scene, but don't let the clothes fool you, they still brought anger and a driving guitars to their songs. Paul Weller was tough! Reportedly he beat up Sid Vicious cuz he thought the Sex Pistols copied his songs. I'm dropping another song in the comments.
From 1977. Of course I needed to include "the only band that matters." Besides being a cool song with a nice guitar part, I picked this one because of the weird set. It looks like was recorded in 1970's rich person's idea of a cool basement. Pretty sure I'm going to throw I'm so Bored with the USA in the comments.
Recorded in 1980 from the movie Decline of Western Civilization. I've seen X three times (once at the old Guthrie!) and they never disappoint. Even at Riot Fest in 2013, they threw down. Consider this a plug for their September 13 show at First Avenue.
From 1976(!) Not sure why these guys weren't any bigger, but this song absolutely rocks. The Damned were contemporaries of the Sex Pistols and this single came out five weeks before Anarchy in the UK. It's a shame they weren't better known, with their first album soon populating the cutout bins of Mankato record shops.
EDIT Try, this version. It should have sound.
Performance from 1977. This song was also in my early punk consciousness. Still one of my favorites.
In honor of Redd Kross playing at the Amsterdam Bar, I'm going to Punk School this week.
We are starting off with The Pretenders, which is the band that got me to stop listening to Foreigner and start listening to The Sex Pistols. When I first heard this song, it grabbed me by the throat and threw my down on the floor. I haven't gotten up since. Sorry about the b&w video, but the version is worth it.