The ninth installment ("Punk") of the ten hour musical journey, "The History of Rock & Roll" has all of the earmarks of Punk 101, which is important for the series format. It follows the rise of punk, as it comes from the likes of Iggy Pop and the Stooges, and eventually from The Sex Pistols in the British scene. It delves into the more socially conscious music of Joe Strummer's The Clash, as well as the (as mentioned) Beach Boys-esquire leather-clad Ramones. Unfortunately the format of combining archival footage with artist interviews is the only real connection devise this entry has to the series as a whole. Given someone unfamiliar with rock's history were to stumble upon this series, the "Punk" episode sticks out like a sore thumb and winds up feeling out of place in a series about rock. Add to that an undereducated instant connection between 70's punk and Nirvana, while skipping most of the 80's scene. Sure it's a bit under-developed and dirty, like a punk song, but this is nonetheless a disappointing exploration of the genre.
4 Reviews
"We thought the rest of the world would catch up to this and they'll realize what we're doing. They never did." - Legs McNeil
classicsoncall24 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
By the mid 1970's I had graduated college and was working full time, and with the absence of Top 40 Radio, a lot of what was going on musically pretty much blew right by me. I was aware of groups like The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and Iggy Pop's Stooges of course, but what I describe as an 'angry' sound never really appealed to me. So the ninth chapter in "The History of Rock 'n' Roll" provides at least some historical background on how this new genre came into being as a raucous challenge against big business corporate rock and the 'beautiful' music of The Sixties.
It was a bit of an eye opener though, to hear the Sex Pistols own manager, Malcolm McLaren, saying that he didn't think they were any good. In his own words, to be more specific - "They were so bad". Not too much equivocation there. For all of it's notoriety back in the day, I never knew that CBGB's was a dumpy bar, the place where groups like The Heartbreakers, Talking Heads and Patti Smith got their early start. The term 'punk' itself became a way to look, dress and sound, and once established here in America, the movement found it's way to England in sort of a reverse British Invasion scenario. Funny, but I never heard the Brits refer to it as the American Invasion.
As the music evolved, it eventually gave way to the New Wave sound of the Eighties, with bands like U2, The Police, and Blondie, followed somewhat later by groups like Nirvana. By no means can this one hour segment be considered definitive on the history of Punk Rock, but I found it to be generally informative. It's not the kind of stuff I personally listen to though, as the cacophonous sound just sends me up a wall. As if to prove the point, Iggy Pop mention how "I also played vacuum cleaner. People found it interesting". Good for them.
It was a bit of an eye opener though, to hear the Sex Pistols own manager, Malcolm McLaren, saying that he didn't think they were any good. In his own words, to be more specific - "They were so bad". Not too much equivocation there. For all of it's notoriety back in the day, I never knew that CBGB's was a dumpy bar, the place where groups like The Heartbreakers, Talking Heads and Patti Smith got their early start. The term 'punk' itself became a way to look, dress and sound, and once established here in America, the movement found it's way to England in sort of a reverse British Invasion scenario. Funny, but I never heard the Brits refer to it as the American Invasion.
As the music evolved, it eventually gave way to the New Wave sound of the Eighties, with bands like U2, The Police, and Blondie, followed somewhat later by groups like Nirvana. By no means can this one hour segment be considered definitive on the history of Punk Rock, but I found it to be generally informative. It's not the kind of stuff I personally listen to though, as the cacophonous sound just sends me up a wall. As if to prove the point, Iggy Pop mention how "I also played vacuum cleaner. People found it interesting". Good for them.
Did you ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
pooch-823 June 1999
A solid entry in the multi-volume History of Rock 'n' Roll documentary series, Punk deftly combines historical footage of both the American and British scenes of the mid to late 1970s with contemporary interviews (many of them with the artists who generated the music collectively referred to in the title). At ground zero is Detroit's Iggy Pop, who makes a terrific interview as a survivor of some of the hardest living the notorious, excessive movement witnessed. Sixty minutes is hardly an adequate length of time to cover any aspect of rock music, so many of the influential, fascinating, and colorful personalities (including Patti Smith, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, The Clash, and many others) come and go far too quickly. From CBGB to Malcolm McLaren's boutique Sex, the episode attempts to place an even-handed geographical spin on punk's simultaneous emergence on both sides of the pond. Seeing the pulse-quickening footage of an early Talking Heads performance of "Psycho Killer" or Elvis Costello's first ever TV appearance (the image a degraded, blurry mess; the song a heartbreaking, desperate "Alison") leads me to believe that punk deserves a multi-volume documentary series all its own.
Episode 9: Punk
ebiros224 October 2005
While disco and theatrical rock was raging in America, a different stream of music was emerging from the streets of England called punk. The centerpiece of this music was no doubt the Sex Pistols with Johnny Rotten in lead vocals and Sid Vicious on bass. They casually admit that they couldn't sing or play the instruments so they just played loud and raunchy which became the template for punk music. Learn three chords and start a band was their motto. Other musicians were also grouped into this category such as Elvis Costello, but really didn't have any commonality to the likes of Sex Pistols musically.
10 years after England discovered punk, America finds its own brand of music from the streets called the Grunge. The music lacked the virtuosity, but punk was very rock in that it was a way for youth to express their thoughts and feelings.
10 years after England discovered punk, America finds its own brand of music from the streets called the Grunge. The music lacked the virtuosity, but punk was very rock in that it was a way for youth to express their thoughts and feelings.
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