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Tag: Ramones

  • Women of Punk 02

    Women of Punk 02

    Growing up in Scotland in 1975, I had no idea what was going on the other side of the Atlantic. Little did I know that American “women of punk” were in the process of breaking ground so that people like me could find a voice and be accepted despite our inherent weirdness!

    The first woman who I remember having the ideals and attitude that define the category of “punk” was the wonderful and truly original, Patti Smith. I’m sure Patti hates labels as much as I do. In fact the majority of folks labeled “punk” would kick and scream against having it safety-pinned to them. Sadly it’s human nature to feel the need to classify so, Patti, sorry for calling you a punk but please see it as the badge of honor it’s intended to be!

    Patti was 29 in 1975, a veteran in punk terms, when she released Horses, her debut ground-breaking mix of rock and poetry. Lenny Kaye, the bands guitarist was also a writer. Lenny has been accused of instigating the use of “Punk Rock” to describe the raw, basic, gut-formed music that was desperately in need of a genre-defining moniker.

    Horses is one of my top albums of all time. It fits into my elite category of “albums I never get tired of hearing” (of which there are only about 20). She continues to record and perform today and her recent albums are just as compelling as they ever were. She’s one of those rare individuals who, as well as writing her own fabulous originals (like title-track Horses) can take other artists songs and make them completely her own, take for example her cover of Them‘s Gloria or, more recently, Nirvana’s, Smells Like Teen Spirit.

    Patti also had a big influence on the “Punk look”, and on design. She was the first woman I remember seeing wearing a biker jacket, jeans and cowboy boots, just like the guys, and she looked great with her straggly hair and gaunt beauty. She lived with photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe who produced countless iconic images of Patti, including the album covers.

    Patti was part of the legendary CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City scene in New York in the the early seventies. The scene was frequented by other great luminaries of the punk scene like Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, The Ramones, Wayne (Jayne) County and of course Debbie Harry who started out as a waitress at the clubs and went on to form 80’s supergroup, Blondie. Debbie Harry brought sex to the Punk Rock movement, most female punks were considered unattractive by regular guys but Debbie Harry toyed with their affections by pouting at the camera, then following this with mocking, teasing gestures. Sadly, partly due to her cuteness, I think she never got the recognition she deserved as a top song-writer and performer. She and Blondie wrote some of the greatest punk love songs of all time including “Picture This“, “Denis“, “Hangin on the Telephone” and “In the Flesh“. After all, punks fall in love too y’know!

    Nico became noticed as part of the Velvet Underground/ Andy Warhol scene at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. Her gorgeously, deep, flat vocals can be heard on Femme Fatale, I’ll be Your Mirror and All tomorrow’s Parties as well as others considered to be some of the best Velvet Underground tracks. Although the Velvets can’t really be considered punks their influence on the punk movement can’t be underestimated. People like Siouxsie Sioux had ground broken for them by the likes of Nico with her fusing of 60’s Berlin beatnik, Marlene Deitrich style deep vocals and a passion for the art of singing that can also be seen in the likes of Beth Gibbons from Portishead.

    There were countless other acts that influenced me and others, and still continue to do so. Joan Jett was a rock chic of the highest order, as was the Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde. You just have to look at the amazing Alison Mossheart of The Kills, Discount, and more recently, Dead Weather to see their influence carried down the generations.

    Without these ground-breaking women we wouldn’t have had PJ Harvey, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Bjork who are mainstream pop icons of today. And we definitely wouldn’t have any of the women that formed the UK punk scene who we’re going to take a look at in the next installment. I hope you enjoy my little nostalgic trip down memory lane. Please listen to the music and please feel free to chime in if you think I’ve missed anyone!

    Proper Punks
  • The Influence of Punk 03

    The Influence of Punk 03

    In this final blog-episode about the influence of Punk on Design I intend to highlight some of our own designers who are clearly influenced by Punk. I’ll start by mentioning one or two that emerged directly from the movement that followed the first few seeds sprinkled by the like of Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid, who I spoke about in the last episode.

    The influence of fanzines like Sniffing Glue cannot be overlooked. Mark Perry, who was also the singer in Punk Band, Alternative TV started his fanzine in the summer of 1976, when the Punk Rock scene was at its most vibrant stage. At that time there was no media positively covering the emerging scene (although the mainstream British press were doing a good job of filling their front pages with outrage and condemnation). The amateurish and scrappy layouts took the whole ethos of Punk and applied it to magazine layout. Anyone could do this, all you needed was some paper, a marker pen, a creative mind, passion and a photocopier. In terms of layout and design there were no limits, to restrictions, no rules. It was a complete disregard for established “rules” of design” that allowed designers to wipe the slate clean and start again with a fresh new look.

    It’s American counterpart, Punk ran for slightly longer, till 1979. This had a slightly more considered, “designed” look, using cartoonist, John Holstrom’s fabulous Crumb-esque characatures of the likes of Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Debbie Harry and Lou Reed  to adorn it’s pages. It was slammed for being light-weight in comparison to it’s British counterparts. It was quite weak and was run as a business so lacked the passion and energy that Sniffing Glue was oozing with. But that shouldn’t detract from some excellent imagery produced by the artist-in-residence.

    It wasn’t long before trained Graphic Designers started to adopt the styles and freedom that Punk provided. The first example that really stood out for me was the cover of a single by Manchester band, The Buzzcocks. The image on the cover was a collage created from body parts from porn magazines, torn and composited, collage-style; the head of the woman was replaced with an iron. The image was designed by Linder Sterling, an artist and collaborator on the fanzine, Secret Public. Sleeve designer, Malcolm Garret who had just left art college was responsible for the Bauhaus-inspired typography, composition and color choices.  He went on to design all the subsequent covers for the Buzzcocks, then Duran Duran, Peter Gabriel and others. Malcolm really got the punk style established and has had continued success as one of our most well respected typographers and designers.

    Other designers followed in the same vein. Neville Brody left college in 1980, where he designed posters for bands including the Human League. He went on to design artwork for post-punk bands like Depeche Mode and was catapulted to huge success after his work on the Face magazine. He is now an established graphic designer and typographer designing style for huge brands like the Guardian newspaper, and having work exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

    Peter Saville was another contemporary who designed sleeves for Joy Division, New Order, Ultravox and developed the influential style of Factory records. His minimal style still looks current when placed next to contemporary designs.

    So, these are a few examples of designers who have carried the influence of Punk through to today. I’m sure I’ve missed a few gems so please feel free to submit comments, inspirations and ideas. You can look everywhere to see design influenced by Punk and I’d love to see some of your own examples and comments.

    Angie’s Shuffle track of the day – Blondie, Rip Her To Shreds – listen free on Last FM

    Women of punk
  • The influence of Punk

    The influence of Punk

    I was asked on Twitter to write a blog about the early days of Punk in the UK and the influence of Punk on the world of motion graphic design. I am influenced heavily by the punk movement that started in the seventies in New York and London. I was 12 when it all started to kick off in the UK with the Sex Pistols and their entourage, the Bromley Contingent causing joyful havoc in the UK media.

    Before the punk scene things had become very sterile and safe. Politically, the UK was in a mess with regular strikes and power cuts disrupting everyday life. The music scene was drowning in boring “prog rock” and endless, indulgent guitar solos. Something had to give!

    Then along came the idea that you didn’t have to put up with what you were being spoon-fed. The disillusioned youth of Great Britain realized they could make their own music, art, magazines and fashion. Using the influence of the New York underground music scene (Patti Smith, The New York Dolls, Richard Hell, Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground, The Ramones) the kids of the UK took it upon themselves to create a whole new genre and to revolutionize a complete culture in a way that had never been done before (or has ever been done since).

    As you can imagine, this was a really exciting time for a teenager to grow up. It wasn’t really till 1977 that I got hooked into the Punk scene. I loved it! Before then I was an awkward, funny-looking, scruffy, Tom-boyish kid with glasses who didn’t really fit in. I survived at school by being the class clown, and that way avoided any physical abuse from my fellow classmates, but I was regularly ridiculed for being “the outsider”. Suddenly with the Punk scene I could belong! It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the movement that purported to be all about being different, and not caring what other folks thought, became a lifeline of acceptance to kids who didn’t fit in anywhere else. It wasn’t that we wanted to be different, and didn’t care, it’s that we cared and desperately wanted to belong to anyone who’d have us. It’s human nature to want to feel like part of a gang, or a movement.

    Anyway, inevitably, the vultures descended, and what started as a revolutionary, do-it-yourself, creative movement turned into just yet another fashion. Mainstream media quickly gobbled it up and spat it out as a kind of bastardized version of what it one was, and things have never been quite the same again.

    However, the marks and influences of the punk movement are still alive and kicking today. Next week I’ll look at some of the deigns of today that were influenced by this movement.

    Angie’s Punk shuffle Track of the day – Anarchy in the UK – The Sex Pistols, listen free on Last FM

    Part 02