In May of 1976, The Ramones' first album was released. Peers for voted Chicago’s “Old Days” (gaack!) as the class song, “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Beat On The Brat,” and “Judy Is A Punk” seemed to be more appealing.
Popular consensus has it that due to the musical climate of the mid-1970’s, with prog dinosaurs like Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, and Genesis ruling the charts and selling out soccer stadiums and hockey barns worldwide, and old scruffs like the Rolling Stones getting all respectable on us and bumping elbows with the likes of Margaret Trudeau, Andy Warhol, and Truman Capote, punk rock had to happen.
There was still a lot of great music out there – you just had to look harder to find it. Lou Reed’s “Rock And Roll Animal” and Slade’s “Stomp Your Hands Clap Your Feet” (both 1974), The Kinks’ “Schoolboys In Disgrace” and The Dictators’ “Go Girl Crazy” (both 1975), and Graham Parker’s “Heat Treatment” and “Howlin’ Wind” (both 1976), as well as Murder City meat ‘n’ potatoes staples from the likes of Aerosmith, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Mott The Hoople, and The Who were all released during that time.
The Kinks played at Pine Knob (an outdoor amphitheater just north of Detroit) in support of “Misfits,” A memorable time was at Korvettes, a local department store which had an unbelievably happening record section, including imports. They had a monthly all-label sale and and one time a friend who worshipped at the altar of Pete Townshend got a good deal on an album by The Who
Manning the cash register back there was a Moms Mabley lookalike who used to snap her dentures while ringing you up. Pete actually used to bring albums back after taping them, explaining that he “didn’t like the production,” and they were exchanged for something else, no questions asked. Maybe this is why the chain went out of business.
In the Fall of 1976, punk was beginning to rear its ugly head and ultimately found a kindred spirit in Detroit. While it’s since become almost cliché, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to argue that this is where the genre was birthed (see MC5, Stooges, and Alice Cooper). It wasn’t too long after that that kids from the city and the suburbs began picking up guitars and doing it for themselves, playing at dives like Bookie’s Club 870, Nunzio’s, The Red Carpet, The Silverbird, and Ann Arbor’s Second Chance.
