Punk
14 March, 2000
One of the best $10 I ever spent was buying a double CD called “The best punk album in the world … ever!” in the bargain bins of a record shop in Palmerston North. Sure you could quibble about things missed out — no Clash, no Fall, no Ramones. And you could definitely argue about the merits of songs by the Tubes, the Adverts, the Rezillos and Generation X belonging on this album. But punk was hit or miss anyway.
Fully 2/3 of the album is as powerful a music as you'll get. “Anarchy in the UK” is still a song that sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. “Another girl, another planet” is beautiful, “Roadrunner” is simply one of the best songs … ever!
Of course I never was a punk. To my eternal shame, in 1978, someone at my school asked me what my favourite group was. I told them the Eagles. I didn't know any better. I can remember reading about the Sex Pistols in the paper, but, you know, it was just something you laughed about.
Even when I did start listening to music, at the end of that same year, I really only ventured to the outskirts of punk. Partly it was that I was exploring music in many directions, educating myself, finding what moved me, so I didn't need punk. Partly it was that I didn't know enough to know what punk was about. Partly, though, it was that I was kinda scared. The music was loud. The people were, well, different. I couldn't comprehend a way into it.
But the more I found out, the more I was attracted. I started finding surreptitious ways into the music. Through the Velvet Underground and the Modern Lovers, through Patti Smith and the Ramones and Talking Heads. Through a simply stunning concert by the Fall at Victoria University in 1981. And perhaps most profoundly through the New Zealand bands that sprang up in the early '80s.
It was a part of me that few knew about. A few friends. Like I said, I never was a punk.
But as I've got older, the power of the music hasn't lessened. It's grown. No doubt I'm mythologising the era, and looking back through blurry eyes, but the best music from that era enters through the headphones into my soul in a way that very little other music does.
I'm listening as I write this. I'm not really sure where I wanted to go with this entry.
I was talking with my mother the other night about schools, and about whether we might send Matthew to private schools when he gets older. She said, “But part of the problem was that Onslow College and Victoria University were left of left.” And I told her, “but don't you see, that was always a plus to me.”
I think if you grow up how your mother wants you to grow up, you'll never be a punk. I guess I've followed a middle ground. Maybe it's worked for me.
To my credit, though, I've pretty much loathed the Eagles since that day in 1978!