Radical Aesthetics

Top 2. May 10, 2001 12:24 PM

» ryanaugust - Re: My Website

In response to message posted by nightseer:

To a degree, all of the early English bands were Ramones-influenced. Basically, they set the stage for a return of primitive rock 'n roll and showed people that it was, indeed, time for its return.

I think Sid's fascination with them was obvious: The leather jackets and nazi imagery was all based on an aesthetic the Ramones created. It has been said that he learned to "play" bass by bashing on his bass guitar while listening to their self titled debut.

As for the other members of the band, I think Matlock and Jones were far more influenced by some of the more mainstream stuff around at the time- The Small Faces for one, as well as, more classic early rock like Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. They definitely had a different vision of the band in the beginning, and I think it all changed when Rotten came into the mix.

I think John Lydon had a spark of artistic genius in him. You can see the Iggy and Bowie influences in him, maybe even a little Alice Cooper. But, he meshed it all into his own thing.

On another note, I think the reason a lot of people think New Wave was influenced by Punk is merely due to the fact that a lot of the early innovators of the sound developed in the Punk scene. Blondie, for one, started out as a Punk band playing gigs and hanging out in the CBGB's scene in New York with bands like The Ramones, Richard Hell, etc.

It's hard to pinpoint the roots of any musical form. You could easily follow lines that trace Punk back to traditional country music. Personally, I'm interested in that sort of thing. I like to see how music has developed over the years and decades. I think everything can be traced back through a series of influence and development. It just depends on how far back you actually want to go.

Thanks for posting and keep in touch.

-- posted by ryanaugust

Top 3. May 10, 2001 10:14 PM

» nightseer - Re: Re: My Website

You have brought up a lot of interesting ideas. I didn't know that "Blondie" developed in such close proximity to the "Ramones." I think Lydon and his PIL material is brilliant, although I have not heard too much of it. I was in a band in the 1980's where I tried to fuse progressive rock with punk styles, it almost worked, but it was rough around the edges. The guys I was playing with were heavy metal purists who hated punk. I hated it at first too, but after awhile I realized that it would endure, whereas the metal would die out. Considering how bad most of the 80's metal bands were, heavy metal did not die out soon enough. The name is a misnomer, as 70's hard rock bands were not heavy metal, in the original menaing of the designation. The original heavy metal bands were 60's bands like the Kinks, The Electric Prunes and the Fugs, maybe early Zep. Sometimes I wonder what Hendrix would have done with punk influences, had he lived. He would have made use of the punk style, and synthesized it into his stuff just like he did with myriad other styles. Hendrix is one of the few artists from the old days, that I can listen to where it doesn't sound like a joke. In terms of musical antecedents, country and western musical forms can be traced back to celtic and bagpipe music, the lead forms are identical, it is just the background styles that are dissimilar. If you took a country player playing a lead solo, and put backpipe background to it, it would mesh more often than not. Thanks for the info.

-- posted by nightseer

Top 4. Jan 15, 2006 5:00 PM

» astro_zombies - in my opinion the sex pistols were influenced sid even learned t

in my opinion the sex pistols were influenced sid even learned taught himself to play the guitar while listening to ramones albums

-- posted by astro_zombies