Then and Now Part 2

Then and Now Images

The Sex Pistols

John Lydon circa 1977

John Lydon circa 2010

Sid Vicious circa 1977

Sid Vicious circa 1979 dead from heroin

Steve Jones circa 1978

Steve Jones circa 2011

Paul Cook circa 1977

Paul Cook circa 2012

Then and Now

A gallery of then and now punk rockers

The Clash

Joe Strummer circa 1979

Joe Strummer circa 1999 (died 2002)

Mick Jones circa 1977

Mick Jones circa 2012

Topper Headon circa 1977

Topper Headon circa 2013

Paul Simonon circa 1978

Paul Simonon circa 2012

The Eighties Sucked

At the tender age of 14 no one really knows what they like or what they will listen to when they are middle aged. At 14 our bodies are a seething mass of hormones run amuck. Stuffing a thousand other hormonal teens into an institutional learning facility seems like a cruel joke perpetrated by sadists, but that's how it is. When I was 14, my musical world revolved around the British Invasion; The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who. I didn't really listen to any American bands save for the odd Creedence Clearwater Revival tune I picked up on the radio. The other kids were into Judas Priest and Van Halen which was considered a "safe" group to listen to. This was the early eighties and a time of feathered hairstyles, Izod shirts and strict conformity to Ronald Reagan and his fear and loathing of all things Communist. The good kids played football and baseball and the good girls were cheerleaders. Occasionally you would hear about a scandalous party in the woods with stolen, warm beer that would be discovered by the local police, but that's about it. No hard drugs, no knocked up teen girls.....well, except for one my freshman year, but she disappeared shortly after school began.

School was never my favorite thing to endure. I flunked math when I was in the 8th grade and was sent to summer school. In truth I didn't mind as our instructor actually made it so I could understand formulas and basic algebra. To this very day, I still can't fucking do math probably thanks to an undetected learning disability. I see numbers backwards.......it's crazy and irritating and occasionally embarrassing, but I've managed. By the time I started as a freshman, I already had a chip on my shoulder about school. This soon made me an ideal target for the older kids who played football. After all, stuffing a skinny, short kid with glasses into a 10 inch wide locker or throwing him down a flight of stairs is funny, right? Today, this behavior is called "bullying" and it's a huge no-no in our society, but back in the 80's it was called "suck it up and deal because these guys are sports stars and you are not". Also words like "faggot" were used freely to describe anyone who didn't play sports and/or was not part of the popular crowd. I was an angry, frightened kid and I needed an outlet that would help channel that energy in a direction that didn't involve setting fires and building pipe bombs.

I'd heard about this oddly named band from England called "The Sex Pistols" that was supposedly  comprised of the most vile gang of villains since the Nuremberg Trail. At our local record store I found their album and I had to ask my mother for the $6 to buy it. At first she balked, but for some reason she gave me the money. As I played it for the first time on my cheap stereo that came from our local Radio Shack, I was transformed. The music was just as angry as I was and sounded raw and unclean. I wanted to play it loud until my ears bled. Soon, this was followed by my own version of the British Invasion.........The Damned, The Clash, The Anti-Nowhere League and others. After I was done with the UK, I changed direction and started listening to California hardcore a la Dead Kenedys, Circle Jerks, Husker Du, Black Flag, Fear, Suicidal Tendencies and others. If it was played loud and fast, I wanted it....I needed it like a drug. I wanted to crawl into the safe confines of my stereo speakers and never leave.

My teen years were a pretty bleak existence and I was only really friendly with one other punk in my class. I was on my own pretty much from day one. Despite this I somehow got invited to a few Friday night parties at this older dude's flat. He was probably in his early 20's but to me, he may as well have been 40. All the local punks hung out at his house and he encouraged the slow destruction of his living quarters by graffiti and petty vandalism. There were also a lot of drugs and underage drinking that I didn't like, but I was buoyed by the fact there were a large number of disaffected kids even if they weren't from the area. I remember watching this Asian girl who shaved one side of her head repeatedly cut herself with a razor until the blood ran down her arm and dripped on the floor one drop at a time. I was thinking how fucked this was and after that I never went back to that apartment, it was simply too depressing even for someone with few friends and fewer places to hang out.

Thanks to my love of The Clash, I developed an early interest in politics and social issues. I began to actually read the newspaper and pay attention to what was going on in the world. I couldn't stand the self-indulgence and self-destruction I was witnessing with the other punks. An idea began to form in my mind that if you were unhappy with something, don't take pills, fucking get out there and change it! My anger had changed direction and focus. I was now pissed off by things I would read about in the news; injustice, inequality, corruption to name a few. Occasionally I would still get hazed by the football nazis, but for the most part they left me alone.

Today, I still listen to all that "old" stuff with a whole bunch of new music added. The 1990's and 2000's have been very good decades for music and punk is more popular now than ever before. I still love the pioneering bands I even got my wife to attend a show by X recently. It was a bit surreal when I realized that the musicians on stage were now her parent's age.

Tim
April 2014

Ten Punk Albums From The 1980's That You Need

Top ten punk albums of the 1980's (in no particular order)

10: Zen Arcade by Husker Du. SST Records 1984. Groundbreaking second album for Husker Du and a first being that it was released as a double album and told the story of a young man who runs away to escape an abusive home life. The album has been called "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera....a kind of thrash Quadrophenia"

9: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys. Alternative tentacles 1980. The debut album by the Dead Kennedys and now considered one of the best punk albums every recorded.

8: I Against I by Bad Brains, SST Records 1986. Third studio album by the Bad Brains, I Against I continues to receive critical accolades and remains the best selling album by the Bad Brains even to this day. 

7. Combat Rock by The Clash, CBS Records 1982. The fifth studio album by the Clash, it charted in the UK at the number 2 spot for 23 weeks and is by far the best selling album by The Clash. It has now been certified 2X platinum here in the US.

6. Walk Among Us by The Misfits, Ruby, Slash Records 1982. The first full length release by The Misfits despite being the 8th recording release by them. Walk Among Us is know for it's lack of any political or social message and instead relies on a purely whimsical horror fantasy theme. 

5. The Record by Fear, Slash Records 1982. Fear's debut studio album has been called the "punk equivalent of the movie Animal House--puerile, offensive and often reveling in it's own ignorance but pretty entertaining on a non-think level." Despite such harsh words from early critics, the album is now considered a classic album of the LA hardcore punk scene in the early 80's. 

4. Group Sex by Circle Jerks, Frontier Records 1980. The debut studio album by the Circle Jerks features 14 songs and is a little over 15 minutes long and is now considered a landmark album in hardcore punk.

3. Damaged by Black Flag, SST Records 1981. The debut studio album for Black Flag is considered one of the most influential punk records ever made. Rolling Stone listed Damaged as #340 in The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

2. Mommy's Little Monster, Social Distortion. 13th Floor Records, 1983. Critically acclaimed first album by southern California-based Social Distortion was not a huge commercial success initially. The album today has been reissued several times with different labels and various formats. 

1. Los Angeles, X. Slash Records, 1980. The debut album by X is now a classic and a must have for any record collection. Los Angeles was rated #24 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 best albums of the 80's. 

The Dolls of New York

The New York Dolls has the odd distinction of being one of those bands whose past members outnumber the current lineup three times over. It's almost of a case of who didn't play with the New York Dolls. Despite this, the Dolls were one of the most influential bands of the early 1970's and were plank owners of the developing punk music scene in New York City. Bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Smiths and The Ramones all cited the Dolls as their inspiration. 

The original line-up of the Dolls, circa 1971, included vocalist David Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist and pianist Rick Rivets and Billy Murcia on drums. After only a few months, Rivets would be replaced by Sylvain Sylvain, an Egyptian Jew whose family was forced to flee Egypt due to anti-Semitism in the early 1950's. The band took it's name from the famed New York Doll Hospital on Lexington Avenue in the Upper East Side of Manhattan which specialized in antique doll repair. At the time, Sylvian worked across the street at a men's shop and would see the sign for the doll hospital on a daily basis which then became the inspiration for the band's name. 

On Christmas Eve 1971 the Dolls played their very first gig at the Endicott Hotel in the Upper West Side. The Endicott at the time was noted for being one of the most violent and dangerous welfare hotels in the city and would soon achieve infamy in 1972 when it became the scene of four brutal murders. According to popular legend, on Christmas Eve, the hotel staff was organizing a party for the residents when they heard the Dolls jamming across the street and asked them if they would play in exchange for food. Soon, the band was attracting a cult following in Lower Manhattan due to their hard playing style and flamboyant attire. Despite the band's growing popularity, most record companies at the time refused to sign them due to their blatant vulgarity and cross dressing which was at this time still considered to be too far out for most sensibilities. 

The first real break for the band happened early in 1972 when Rod Stewart asked them to open for him at a concert in London. Sadly, at this time the Dolls lost their original drummer, Billy Murica, who passed out from a drug overdose and asphyxiated in a bathtub. Murcia was replaced by Jerry Nolan who was a friend of the band and who had narrowly beat out a young drummer by the name of Mark Bell for the position. Mark Bell would soon find fame as Marky Ramone, the drummer for The Ramones. 

Finally, on March 20th, 1973 the New York Dolls signed a two record contract with Mercury Records with famed musician Todd Rundgren producing in the studio. Rundren would regularly shout at the band to "get the glitter out of your asses and play!". The band's first studio album, titled "The New York Dolls" was released on July 27th, 1973 and featured the band on the cover dressed in women's clothing, high heels, exaggerated makeup and garters, all of which was intended to shock the viewer. Despite less than stellar sales, the album was praised by music critics of the time. Famed music critic Nick Kent stated that the record was "The only album so far to fully define just exactly where 1970's rock should be coming from." The second album, "Too Much Too Soon" was released on May 10th, 1974 and proved to be prophetic. The album was a commercial failure despite positive critical reviews. Mercury dropped the Dolls soon after the album failed to even place in the top 100 of Bilboard 200. 

It was about this time that problems within the band began to become apparent. Johnny Thunders was well into heroin and the rest of the band dabbled in their own addictions to pills and alcohol. This came to a head in 1975 when Thunders and Nolan left the band midway through a tour in Floriday. Blackle Lawless replaced Thunders on guitar and Tony Machine replaced drummer Jerry Nolan. This version of the New York Dolls, now with roadie Peter Jordan on bass, continued until 1977 when David Johansen left for a solo career and Sylvian went on to form The Criminals who would become a regular at CBGB'S. 

In the post-Dolls years, David Johansen achieved a fair amount of success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter. Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan went on to form The Heartbreakers with Richard Hell of Television. Sadly, Johnny Thunders died from an overdose of heroin and methadone in his New Orleans hotel room on April 23rd, 1991. It was discovered during his autopsy that he was suffering from leukemia as well, so if the drugs didn't kill him, the cancer most certainly would have. He was 38 years old. Jerry Nolan died on January 14th, 1992 after suffering a stroke brought on by bacterial meningitis. He was 45. 

In 2004, Johansen, Sylvian and Arthur Kane reunited for the Meltdown Festival in London. The reunion was organized by long time fan and head of the UK Dolls fanclub, Morrissey of The Smiths fame. On July 13th, 2004 Arthur Kane checked himself into the emergency room of a Los Angelas hospital thinking he had the flu. Two hours later he died from undiagnosed advanced leukemia. The two surviving members, Johansen and Sylvian still continue to tour as the New York Dolls with a new lineup and are still producing new material to this day. 

From the early proto-punk, glam rock beginnings, the New York Dolls were and are an important park of the New York Cith music scene of the 1970's and that is evident by the huge numbers of fans they have today, many of whom were not even alive yet when the band put our their first record. 

Ten Pioneering Punk Albums Everyone Needs

 10: Dead Boys "Young Loud and Snotty" Sire Records, 1977. The first track, "Sonic Reducer" is a classic and has been covered by numerous other bands today.

9: Buzzcocks "Love Bites" United Artist Records, 1978. Pete Shelly's "Ever Fallen In Love" made it to the #12 spot on the UK Singles Chart.

8. Blondie "Blondie" Private Stock Records, 1976. Debbie Harry's debut album and a must for every fan of the New York music scene.

7. Iggy Pop "Lust For Life" RCA Records, 1977. Iggy's second solo record and one of his most successful both critically and commercially.

6. New York Dolls "New York Dolls" Mercury Records 1973. The Dolls debut album that blurs the line between 70's glam rock and early proto-punk. A must have!

 5. The Damned "Damned Damned Damned" Stiff Records, 1977. The very first full length album released by a UK punk group, "Damned Damned Damned" still receives critical praise today.

 4. The Dictators "Bloodbrothers" Asylum Records 1978. The third record from the NYC based band and probably the most popular. 

3. The Clash "The Clash" CBS Records, 1977. The debut album by the Clash received high critical acclaim upon it's release and is still widely listened to today.

2. Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks" Virgin Records, 1977. The only studio album put out by the Sex Pistols, it has now reached cult status and is considered a modern classic.

1. The Ramones "Ramones" Sire Records 1976. The debut album by the New York based quartet is considered an iconic and historic album in music history.

Scissorfight live at the Elvis Room 1994 (Timothy Donovan photo)

Actually, we're not into music, we're into chaos

The Sex Pistols circa 1977

“The popularity of punk rock was, in effect, due to the fact that it made ugliness beautiful”

Malcolm McLaren

London was a very dreary place to be in the early 1970’s. High unemployment coupled with a growing landscape of derelict buildings and factories plus rising social tensions created an atmosphere of fear, anger and hopelessness in the local population.  The British Invasion of the 1960’s was over and the world waited for the next big thing.

In 1972, a trio of London working class teenagers formed a band called “The Strand” with Steve Jones on vocals, Paul Cook on drums and Wally Nightingale on guitar. According to legend, both Jones and Cook played on instruments they had stolen from live performances. Once the show had ended, they simply walked up on stage and carried off as much equipment as they could manage. Somehow, everyone assumed they were part of the crew and never gave a second thought to the brazen robbery of their musical kit.

 When not rehearsing at Wally Nightingale’s parents’ house, the band members hung out in several trendy clothing shops on King’s Road in the Chelsea section of London. One shop in particular, called “Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die” was owned by local entrepreneur Malcom McLaren. In 1974, McLaren renamed his shop “SEX” and focused on selling fetish-wear and hired a young assistant by the name of Glen Matlock. It was around this time that Steve Jones persuaded McLaren to assist The Strand with booking gigs, which effectively made him the manager of the struggling group. McLaren then left for New York for several months where he informally managed and promoted the band, “New York Dolls” and took notice of a rising new music scene, in particular a young musician who called himself Richard Hell who sported never before seen spikey hair and ripped clothing held together with safety pins. McLaren fell in love with this new look and decided to create a line of clothing based on this look that he would feature in his shop.

McLaren returned to London in May of 1975 filled with inspiration and new ideas from his exposure to the proto-punk scene in New York City. He suddenly had a vision for this young band of his.  Always the entrepreneur, McLaren had plans to not only promote this new band, but also the new line of “punk” clothing that he started to sell. One of the first things he did was to insist that Wally Nightingale be replaced by his assistant, Glen Matlock. With this, the name of the band was changed from “The Strand” to “QT Jones and the Sex Pistols”. One thing the band needed at this time was a vocalist. Steve Jones had been doing double duty as guitarist and vocalist, but a lead vocalist was a must.  McLaren tried desperately to convince Richard Hell to take the job, but was turned down every time.

In August 1975 a friend of McLaren’s, Bernard Rhodes, spotted a thin 19 year old kid on Kings Road wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words “I Hate” scribbled right above the band’s name.  Rhodes convinced this young man, named John Lydon, to come to a nearby pub that evening to meet with McLaren, Jones and Cook. Upon seeing Lydon for the first time, Jones was to say “He came in with green hair. I thought he had a really interesting face. I liked his look. He had his “I Hate Pink Floyd” t-shirt on and it was held together with safety pins. John had something special, but when he started talking he was a real arsehole, but smart.”

Later that evening when the pub closed, the group relocated back to “SEX” where Lydon was convinced to sing along to Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen”, which reduced everyone in the room to laughter.  As the new band began to rehearse together, Lydon was renamed “Johnny Rotten” by Jones most likely due to his poor dental hygiene. The name of the band was also changed from “QT Jones and the Sex Pistols” to the shortened “Sex Pistols”.

The newly named group played its first gig on November 6^th, 1975 at Saint Martins College where Matlock was a student. The quartet played in support of a pub rock group called “Bazooka Joe” who allowed the Pistols to use their amps and drum kit. The Sex Pistols played a number of cover songs, The Who’s “Substitute”, The Monkees “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” and others, but before they could perform any original material, Bazooka Joe pulled the plug on the set due to the fact their equipment was getting trashed rather quickly. A fistfight soon erupted on stage between both bands and the night came to a screeching halt. This less-than-stellar beginning was soon to be repeated, minus the fisticuffs, at a number of other colleges and art schools across London for the next year. It was during this time that the Sex Pistols were building a following of dedicated fans. This core group included Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin and Billy Idol who would soon form their own bands that would make up the early foundations of the English punk scene.

On February 12, 1976 the Sex Pistols played with Eddie and the Hot Rods, a well-known leading pub band at the Marquee club. During the Pistol’s set, Johnny Rotten did his best to really blur the barriers of performance vs thuggery by throwing chairs, smashing equipment (not their own) and walking off stage at random times. It was during this gig that the band got their first review and a brief interview in which Steve Jones was quoted as saying “Actually, we’re not into music, we’re into chaos!”

Soon after this, the Pistols began to play other clubs in the London area, including one gig at the Nashville in support of a band known as The 101ers. The band’s leading front man, Joe Strummer of later Clash fame, recognized that this new style of music, punk rock, was the future.  One gig at the same club on April 23^rd, 1976 was the scene of a fight between Johnny Rotten and an audience member which resulted in the band being banned from both the Nashville and the Marquee club. Despite this, the Pistols continued to tour small cities and towns in the north of England and record material while in London.  Then on June 4^th, the Pistols played their first gig in Manchester at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. What made this particular show significant was not the actual performance itself, but who was in the audience. Much has been written on that first historic punk concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. Those in attendance were mesmerized by the four spotty youths in torn clothing, playing raw, loud rock with snarling lyrics. This was something completely new and those in Manchester who saw the Pistols that night were forever changed by the experience. Those in the audience that night would go on to form Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, The Fall, Simply Red and Buzzcocks along with the founder of Factory Records, Mr. Tony Wilson who also owned The Hacienda nightclub that would serve as the birth canal for the rave movement and electronic music. An incredible music lineage began that night all thanks to a quartet of surly young men from London.

In early July, two newly formed London punk bands, The Damned and The Clash made their debut by opening for the Sex Pistols in local clubs.  On July 20^th, the Pistols performed their new song which would soon become a hit. “Anarchy in the U.K.” became a nihilistic anthem that captured the spirit of the quickly growing punk scene in England. The Pistols were soon getting the attention of the British press which served as free publicity for the band. On October 8^th, 1976 the band signed on with record label EMI for a two year contract and set about working on a studio record to include the hit, “Anarchy in the UK”.

On December 1^st, 1976 the band and their followers created a shitstorm of controversy during a live broadcast of Thames Television’s Today program when host Bill Grundy was called “a dirty fucker” and “a dirty bastard” on air by Steve Jones. In addition, Johnny Rotten was heard to use the word “shit”. Although the program was broadcast only in the London area, the resulting firestorm kept the British tabloids busy for almost a week. For is part in the controversy, Bill Grundy was suspended although was later reinstated.

This entire episode skyrocket the Pistols to instant fame throughout the UK and brought punk rock into everyday awareness. However there was also a fair amount of backlash against the Pistols which became apparent during their Anarchy in the UK tour with The Clash and The Heartbreakers (on loan from the New York punk scene). Out of twenty scheduled gigs only seven ever took place. London chairman of the Arts committee and conservative member of the Greater London Council, Bernard Brook-Partridge had this to say about the Sex Pistols and the new punk movement “Most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death. The worst of the punk rock groups I suppose are the Sex Pistols. They are unbelievably nauseating. They are the antithesis of humankind. I would like to see somebody dig a very, very large, exceedingly deep hole and drop the whole bloody lot down it.”

On January 4^th, 1977 the band, hung over from the night before, boarded a plane at Heathrow Airport for three concerts to be held in Holland. Several hours later, the Evening News was reporting that the group had “vomited and spat their way” on to the plane. Citing this incident and mounting political pressure, EMI released the Pistols from their two year contract.

Later in February 1977, Glen Matlock left the band, allegedly because the other members threw him out over his affections for the Beatles, but Matlock insists it was a “mutual agreement”.  Matlock was replaced by Rotten’s friend John Beverley, also known as “Sid Vicious”, who had played drums with Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Flowers of Romance. Known for his violent outbursts including an ugly incident in which a thrown glass resulted in a girl being blinded in one eye at a Damned gig, Vicious brought a new level of menace and unpredictability to the group. Added to this was his emotionally disturbed drug addicted girlfriend, Nancy Spungen whom he had met in New York.

On March 10^th, 1977, the Sex Pistols signed on with A&M records in a press ceremony outside Buckingham Palace as a way to promote their new single “God Save The Queen”. Exactly six days later they were hastily released from this contract after one of Johnny Rotten’s friends threatened to kill a good friend of A&M’s director. In May that year, the band signed with Virgin Records and the new single “God Save The Queen” was finally released. The inflammatory lyrics coupled with the image of Queen Elizabeth with her features obscured by the song and band name caused the single to be banned by not only the BBC, but also every independent radio station in the UK. In short, according to Rotten, “God Save The Queen” became the most heavily censored album in British history.  Ironically, the single went on to sell more than 150,000 copies, a stunning success and a first for a punk band.

During the summer of 1977, Rotten, Jones and Cook were busy at work in the studio for the band’s debut album. Vicious was intentionally left out of these sessions due to the fact that he simply couldn't play bass guitar very well, if at all. Legend has it that former bass guitar player Glen Matlock was hired on to record with the band, but this has been discounted by recent music historians. This new album, entitled “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols was released on October 28^th, 1977. It became an instant hit and even Rolling Stone praised the album as “just about the most exciting rock & roll record of the Seventies”. In December 1977, the Pistols set out on their UK tour to support the new album. Out of eight scheduled dates, four had to be cancelled due to illness and political pressure. On Christmas day, 1977 the band played a special benefit matinee concert for the children of striking firemen, single-parent families and laid-off workers. These four concerts would be the last time the band played in the UK.  

In January 1978, the Pistols embarked on a US tour, mainly in the Deep South. Right from the beginning there were numerous problems including trouble with entry visas due to the various criminal records of the band members which caused the cancellation of several dates in the North. Vicious was heavily addicted to heroin at this point and his onstage behavior deteriorated rapidly to the point where he would verbally and physically assault audience members. Johnny Rotten, meanwhile, was suffering from the flu and felt increasingly isolated from the rest of the band. McClaren had stopped speaking to him and blamed Rotten directly for the tension in the band. Vicious was virtually uncontrollable and out of his head with heroin much of time, so the end was not far off. The final performance happened at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on January 14^th, 1978. During the band’s single encore, Rotten spoke to the audience directly “Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night” with that, he dropped the mic on the stage and walked off. On January 17^th, the band officially split up and made their ways separately to Los Angeles.  Jones, Cook and McClaren took off to Rio for a working vacation, Vicious, who was deteriorating quickly, was brought to New York by a friend and was immediately hospitalized. Rotten was forced to call Richard Branson, head of Virgin Records who agreed to pay for his plane ticket back to London. The Sex Pistols, as they were in 1978, never performed together again. 

Later in 1978, Johnny Rotten changed his name back to Lydon and formed Public Image Limited, which scored a UK Top Ten hit with their single “Public Image”. Lydon still performs with P.I.L. today. Sid Vicious relocated to New York and started performing as a solo artist with Nancy Spungen as his manager. On October 12^th, 1978, Spungen was found stabbed to death in their room at the Hotel Chelsea, where she was staying with Sid. Vicious was arrested and charged with her murder. While free on bail, Vicious attacked Todd Smith, (Patti Smith’s brother) and was sent to Rikers Island for 55 days where he underwent forced detox.  On February 1, 1979 he attended a small party to celebrate his release where overdosed on heroin and died. He was twenty one years old. Steve Jones and Paul Cook continued to have success music careers and would work together on a number of projects.  In 1996, the four original members of the Sex Pistols, Jones, Cook, Lydon and Matlock reunited for a six month world-wide tour. Today, the band still performs together on occasion, but the shows are more in line for a group in their mid-fifties than their former selves. However, the influence the Sex Pistols had on the music world and pop culture in general is still being felt today. Hundreds of bands that have formed since 1977 cite the Pistols as their inspiration.

The Trouser Press Record Guide had this to say about the legacy of the Sex Pistols: "The Pistols and manager/provocateur Malcolm McLaren challenged every aspect and precept of modern music-making, thereby inspiring countless groups to follow in their cue onto stages around the world. A confrontational, nihilistic public image and rabidly nihilistic sociopolitical lyrics set the tone that continues to guide punk bands."

I remember the first time I heard the Sex Pistols; I was 14 and had somehow convinced my mother to buy me their LP, "Never Mind The Bollocks", at our local record store, Dyno Records, in my hometown. I think the vinyl album was something like $6 as this was 1982. Taking it home, I flicked on my cheap stereo turntable, carefully placed the needle on the first track of Side A and waited. Amid the hiss and crackle came the unmistakable sound of marching feet followed by a matching drum beat and then the buzz-saw roar of the guitar intro to "Holidays In The Sun". This was something totally new. It was a far cry from the "safe" Rolling Stones and Beatles albums that I had in my meager collection at that point. This new music was both terrifying and intoxicating and I couldn't get enough of it. The sound sunk it's talons into my youthful chest at that moment and it has never let go. Now, 32 years later, those talons are still there and I still love it. 

The Sex Pistols perform in Paradiso, Amsterdam, January 6th, 1977 (Photo by Koen Suyk)

Mosh Pit at Elvis Room, Portsmouth, NH (Timothy Donovan Photo)

To Hell and back

Richard Hell performing with Robert Quine (left)

Growing up in Lexington, Kentucky as the son of a secular Jew seemed to be an unlikely start for a punk rock icon, but for Richard Lester Meyers, normalcy and conformity were not in his genetic makeup.  After Richard’s father died suddenly, he was raised by his mother and was sent to private school in Delaware. While at the Sanford School, he met and became friends with Tom Miller, who later would change his name to Tom Verlaine. During their stint together at school, the two ran away but were soon picked up in Alabama where they were arrested for arson and vandalism. Richard never finished high school, but instead he moved to New York City to pursue his goal of becoming a poet.  While in New York, he met David Gainnini, a fellow poet, and the two relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a short spell to publish books and magazines. Richard was starting to make his name as a poet at this time, even having pieces published nationally in Rolling Stone. Music was not his first love, it was the written word. Soon however that would change as Meyers would form a band with his old friend Tom Verlaine in 1969.

 Along with this new band, The Neon Boys, Richard Meyers changed his name to Richard Hell.  In 1974, the band added a second guitar player, Richard Loyd and the name of the band changed once again to Television.  It was around this time that Hell created his own look for himself which included spiky hair and ripped clothes held together with safety pins. This look was something totally new. “It was about putting your insides on the outside” Hell would say much later in an interview.  Famed Sex Pistols manager, Malcolm McLaren cites Hell as the inspiration behind the safety-pin style clothing that he sold in his London shop, “Sex” that would later become the stereotypical English punk look.  Although Hell insists that Television was not a punk band due to the fact that punk did not exist yet, the raw angry sound quickly became the proto-punk signature that would influence just about every punk group waiting to be born.

Television soon became a regular act at Hilly Kristal’s club, “CBGB’s” in the Bowery section of New York City. The band also physically built the club’s first stage, much to the delight of Kristal. Hell’s twitchy bass guitar playing style along with his ripped safety-pinned clothes served as a role model for future punk musicians who would emulate this look over and over again. However, Hell’s position in the band was becoming strained due to a dispute over creative control between himself and Tom Verlaine. Originally, they two decided to divide songwriting evening between them, but after a fashion Verlaine refused to play any of Hell’s compositions. This ultimately resulted in Hell leaving Television in the spring of 1975. At the same time as Hell was making his exit, Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders quit the New York Dolls and the three of them formed their own band in May of 1975, The Heartbreakers, which added Walter Lure as the second guitarist.

The Heartbreakers would last about a year before Hell left to start his own band called “Richard Hell and the Voidoids with Robert Quine, Ivan Julian and Marc Bell. It was during this time in 1976 that the band recorded their best known songs, “Blank Generation”, “Love Comes in Spurts”, “The Kid With the Replaceable Head” and “Time”.  The band recorded two albums, 1977’s “Blank Generation” and “Destiny Street” in 1982. It was during this time that Hell’s heroin addiction was taking a toll on the band and on his personal life as well. Luckily, before he went the way of so many who chased the dragon before him, he entered Narcotics Anonymous and was able to beat his addiction. “I’ve been disturbed and fascinated by having outlived my youth” Hell said recently.

Richard Hell in 2008 (photo by David Shankbone)

In 1992, Hell came out of retirement for exactly one month in order to form a band called Dim Stars. The band featured Thurston Moore on guitar, Steve Shelly on drums, Don Fleming on guitar, Robert Quine and Hell on bass. Dim Stars only made one live appearance and recorded one album, the self-titled “Dim Stars”. During the early 90’s Hell became a regularly published author and to date has published eleven books, several of which have received widespread critical praise. Hell married his second wife, Sheelagh Bevan in 2002 and still lives today in the same East Village apartment that he has occupied for over 40 years.  

Ground Zero

CBGB's circa 1985

Every movement has a beginning, a pinpoint in time where all the collective energy comes to a head and something changes forever. Sometimes, it’s a particular location that is at the epicenter of the growing storm. In 1974, no one had ever heard of punk rock before. The closest thing to it were the numerous garage bands of the 1960’s with their raw, unrefined sound, but garage was still a cautious echo of what was to come.

In New York City, the epicenter of the growing storm was located at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in Manhattan.  Club CBGB opened in December, 1973 by owner Hilly Kristal who officially called the new club “Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers” (CBGB OMFUG), but in short order, the club would simply be referred to as “CB’s”. Originally, the venue was so named due to the type of music that Hilly intended to bring in, but soon he was booking original rock acts with the stipulation that the bands had to play all original material, no covers allowed and they had to move all their own equipment. In reality, the no-covers rule was less about inspiring creativity and more about Hilly wanting to avoid paying any ASCAP royalties for compositions that were performed.

One of the first proto-punk bands to play at CBGB’s was a New York based group called “Television” with Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell (Richard Lester Meyers) as front men and song writers. it was during Television's third gig at CB's on April 17th, 1974 that Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye just happened to be in the audience and were inspired by what they saw.  The Patti Smith Group made their own debut at CB’s on February 14^th, 1975. Soon, other original bands were lining up to play at the new venue.  One band that supported Television was a group called The Stillettos featuring Chris Stein, Elda Gentile, Amanda Jones and a former Playboy Bunny by the name of Deborah Harry. Soon, Stein and Harry formed a new band briefly called “Angel and the Snake”, before changing their name to “Blondie”, which as legend has it, was in reference to the various rude comments including “Hey Blondie!” made by construction workers and truck drivers towards Debbie Harry.

Joe Ramone in the men's room of CBGB's

On August 16^th, 1974, a quartet of leather jacket clad young men took the stage at CB’s. Calling themselves “The Ramones”, their songs were short, (most under two minutes) fast and very loud. Punk Magazine co-founder Legs McNeil was at that show and said this of The Ramones “They were all wearing these black leather jackets, and they counted off this song……..and it was just this wall of noise. They looked so striking, these guys were not hippies. This was something completely new.” Soon, The Ramones became regular performers at CB’s playing a total of 74 times by the end of the year.

Word started to get around about this new music scene that was quickly growing out of CBGB’s and soon bands like The Heartbreakers, The Fleshtones, Talking Heads, The Shirts and a trio from England called “The Police” were lining uo to play there. It was during this time that the club started to get its reputation as New York’s dirtiest nightclub as the interior of the place, all 3,300 square feet of it, was soon covered in graffiti, memorabilia, posters and playbills all mashed together. 

The bathrooms were so foul it’s a small miracle the board of health didn’t try and close the place down.

As the original punk scene started to wane in the late 1970’s a new form of punk began with the introduction of hardcore. Hardcore was the angry white kids music of the early 1980’s and it was hardcore that would keep CBGB’s alive during the 1980’s. CBGB’s began to hold Sunday afternoon “matinee” shows featuring  such groups as “Bad Brains”, “Beastie Boys”, “Agnostic Front”, “The Misfits”,  “Cro-Mags” and “Sheer Terror”. With the introduction of new hardcore punk acts, there came another, darker side to CB’s; violence both inside the club and outside as well. Mosh pits generally don’t foster a sense of brotherly love and mutual understanding, so fights became commonplace during these hardcore matinee shows. By 1990, Hilly simply refused to book any more hardcore bands due to this ongoing violence.  However, he soon relented and hardcore punk shows were brought back in diminished numbers.

By the early 2000’s, CBGB’s was firmly established as not only a New York landmark but also as a cultural icon as well. Despite this, the $19,000 a month rent still had to be paid. By 2005 a dispute arose between the club and the Bowery Residents Committee who claimed that Kristal owed them over $91,000 in back rent due to an increase that he claims he was not informed about.  Kristal, who at this time was sick with lung cancer, attempted to get historic landmark status for the club, but was unsuccessful.  The club simply had to close. The final concert at CBGB’s was held on October 15^th, 2006 and featured Patti Smith with Richard Lloyd of Television as a guest vocalist. Earlier, Bad Brains, The Dictators and Blondie all performed that week leading up to the final show. This was a more or less a “wake” for the club with all the performers who got their start at CB’s were now returning to say goodbye to it. Hilly Kristal died on August 28^th, 2007. He was 75 years old.

CBGB's location today

Today, the location of CBGB’s is now a high end men’s fashion store run by John Varvatos who actually preserved much of the graffiti covering the bathroom stalls along with a number of playbills that were found behind a wall.  The famed awning from CBGB’s is now housed in the lobby of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.