10 Punk/New Wave Classic Tracks

[HaShev]

7.
No More Heroes The Stranglers.

Got to see them live once in Philly, good show with a Cali hardcore band Circle J*rks

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

7.
No More Heroes The Stranglers.

Got to see them live once in Philly, good show with a Cali hardcore band Circle J*rks

Never heard a Stranglers song I didn't like!

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

8, Rat Trap Boomtown Rats - Bob Geldof before Band Aid.

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

9, The World Turned Dayglo X-Ray Specs. With Poly Styrene.

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

10, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker Ramones.

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

And for good measure and in contrast to US Patriotic Country vomit bollocks, Heres some good old British antipatriotic punk rock-

Sex Pistols God Save The Queen



The single that lay at BBC Record Chart No2 behind Rod Stewarts "First Cut" in the week before the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977. was somehow still at No2 the week of the Jubilee despite record shops across the country reporting it was outselling Stewarts single two to one and was top of every other chart.
A clear bit of skulduggery on the part of the BBC and the establishment and who refused to play the single.

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Of course, nothing after 1979 can be considered 'authentic punk'.

So here's a later new wave classic, from another British band -

Garbage Stupid Girl.

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

By the mid-seventies the Hippy 'peace and love' bollocks had become too hard to swallow particularly when the UK was in recession, bombings going off by the IRA on the mainland. Racial violence and rioting, Industrial strife. Football hooliganism etc. It seemed though that the media & music industry were more and more censoring new bands that wanted to reflect what was really going on in society and across the world. More interested in promoting bands like
'Wings' and dire singles like 'Silly Love Songs' etc. The media and BBC in particular did their utmost to appoint themselves custodians of good taste.
It took time but eventually 'punk rock' broke through with songs on politics, & social comment including mass shootings and this about a double murderer sentenced to death but had his 'death sentence' commuted.
No death sentences had been carried out for 10 years as the US Supreme Court had deemed them "a cruel and unusual sentence'.
Gary Gilmore having twice failed in suicide attempts challenged the Supreme Court, a media campaign supporting his wish to be executed took hold and he was eventually executed.

Adverts - Gary Gilmores Eyes

• Lyrics
  
  I'm lying in a hospital,
  I'm pinned against the bed.
  A stethoscope upon my heart,
  A hand against my head.
  They're peeling off the bandages.
  I'm wincing in the light.
  The nurse is looking anxious,
  And she's quivering in fright
  I'm looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes.
  The doctors are avoiding me.
  My vision is confused.
  I listen to my earphones,
  And I catch the evening news.
  A murderer's been killed,
  And he donates his sight to science.
  I'm locked into a private ward.
  I realise that I must be
  Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes.
  Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes.
  I smash the light in anger.
  Push my bed against the door.
  I close my lids across my eyes,
  And wish to see no more.
  The eye receives the messages,
  And sends them to the brain.
  No guarantee the stimuli must be perceived the same
  When looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes.
  Gary don't need his eyes to see.
  Gary and his eyes have parted company.
  
  Songwriters: William Farley Smith
  For non-commercial use only.
  Data From: Musixmatch
  
  

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Blondie started off as a punk band in the 70's became a more commercial new wave/pop band in the 80's and ended up back as a punk band in the 90's. They are the only artists that had No1 UK hits in the 70's 80's and 90's. Here is their 90's and last No1 hit-

Blondie - Maria

 

[the other mike]

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Elvis Costello And The Attractions - Olivers army

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

A more modern New Wave/Punk offering

Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Tenpole Tudor - Swords Of A Thousand Men

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

 

[the other mike]

Steely Dan was new wave before they called it New Wave

1981
Larry Carlton on guitar, Tom Scott sax and horn arrangement, Michael Brecker sax

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Not many people know that Poly Styrene was a trained Opera singer (seriously). Anyway, she relaxed her style somewhat when performing with X-Ray Spex.

X-Ray Specs - Germ Free Adolescent

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Stranglers - Peaches (Live)

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

The Jam - The Eton Rifles

 

[Oz and the Orchestra]

Continental Europe was pretty quick to join in on the 'Great Rock & Roll Swindle' which is what the British mainstream media reported 'Punk' to be,

Beatles said we could not play
Filthy lowlife yobs
But the only notes that really count
Are the ones that come in wads
The Great Rock & Roll Swindle

Actually, the Beatles never said that about the Sex Pistols but was invented by Malcolm Maclaren in his drive to make it look like the music establishment wanted to crush 'Punk' which had some truth in it, but not that particular comment.

Although with little success as far as the charts were concerned, this one by Plastic Bertrand did become a smash hit and is acknowledged as a 'Punk' classic even though we Brits hadn't a clue what he was singing - you don't always have to like a piece of music cos of the lyrics. It's the speed and excitement of the music that makes 'Punk' unique. Bertrand here demonstrates how to 'pogo' - the dance that accompanied 'punk' that developed naturally from watching punk bands in tiny venues so you were packed in like sardines and thus the only way to express body movement to the music was to jump up and down on the spot although Bertrand brings in a few variations.

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi