Today we are going to look at post-punk. It’s a genre of music that has been in vogue for a couple of years now, and is only now beginning to lose cache among the music intelligentsia. A survey through the latest Spin or CMJ will find any number of bands that have heavy post-punk influences, from Franz Ferdinand,, Bloc Party,, The Futureheads, The Rapture, and especially Radio 4,.
But what is it?
A review of any band that is heavily referenced with post-punk will see one or more of these words: angular, dischordant, sharp, and jagged. Like any other adjective used to describe music, they are at the same time vague and perfectly precise. Even a passing listen to post-punk and a listener would come away with an understanding that the music is very specific while at the same open to many possibilities. This is post-punk’s charm. It’s renewed relevancy after years of shelter is a refreshing change of pace and energized a stagnant indie scene at the turn of the century.
The term post-punk was applied to the wave of bands that came after the initial punk explosion of the late ’70s in England. While punk was born out of a re-imagining , a return of sorts, of late ’50s/early ’60s rock n’ roll and soul records, post punk built upon that energy and directed it into other avenues. Taking traditional rock sounds such as distorted guitars and infusing them with synthesizers and odd time and song structures, post-punk was much more open to innovation than the ironically rigid punk format.
Taking their cues from The Ramones and The New York Dolls, punk bands like the Sex Pistols and The Jam embraced the sloppy, loose playing where noise and feedback would spill over from one song into another. Post-punk bands, such as Wire and The Mekons where much tighter, technically speaking. Quick bursts of guitar sound would cut in and out of songs over a solid beat. Drums and guitar would exchange start/stop rhythms.
While UK punk was intimately intertwined with politics (which heavily influenced the birth of the West Coast punk scene), post-punk embraced a slightly more personal aesthetic. Songs like “Damaged Goods,” “She’s lost Control”, and “Where were You” had more to do with personal politics, relationships between one another and the rules that are abided by, than any thematic criticism against that government. That is not to say that post-punk wasn’t politically active, but that is wasn’t the only topic of discussion.
Arguably the first post-punk band was The Fall. Though they made their name during the punk movement, their approach (rethinking the role of vocals and guitar sounds, song structures) became the course that subsequent bands would take. Mark E. Smith very early on at punks outset saw the potential the music had, so at the very least, if they weren’t the first, they were the bridge between the two genres.
One band stands out, however, as the definitive post-punk band. Born in Leeds in 1977, Gang of Four embraced punk and its political ethos fully but felt it was too limiting in its scope. They rebelled against the structure of rock, incorporating talk/scream vocal style and guitars that focused more on encapsulating their vitriol in sharp (see, what did I tell you) precision than in playing a melody or rhythm. Their album, Entertainment!, is a classic that created the blueprint that many bands shamelessly lifted. It displays the mark of an influential album; it sounds just as fresh and relevant now as it did 25 years ago. In the U.S., they are one of the most underrated bands ever. Label red tape prevented the album from being released in the states for years, but there sound can be heard in countless bands.
Some of the other bands to come out of that movement are some of the biggest and most influential of the last 25 years. Though they would go on to stadium success and help commercialize Goth culture in the ’80s, The Cure were just another post-punk act looking to get noticed in the late ’70s. Early Cure records, namely Three Imaginary Boys and Boys Don’t Cry exhibit all the hallmarks of post punk. Another post-punk that would have surely gotten big during the me decade was Joy Division, whose lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide days before their first U.S. tour. The remaining members went on to form New Order, who brought electronic music (along with Depeche Mode and Duran Duran) to unprecedented heights, proof that success for some people are inevitable.
By the early ’80s, the musical waters in the UK had shifted to New Wave and corresponding New Romantic movement (typified by The Human League and Soft Cell)and the emergence of synth-pop (brought about by the aforementioned New Order and Depeche Mode). Bands like ,Echo and the Bunnymen and Gang of Four continued to expand their horizons, eventually releasing efforts far removed from their early material, with mixed results. The good examples are the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon,” while the worst is Gang of Four’s “Desire” on (I kid you not) The Karate Kid soundtrack. The Mekons and the Fall are still releasing albums (with radically different lineups), notably last years Punk Rock and Grotesque:After the Gramme
Gang of Four have announced (yet another) reunion, but this time with all four original members. Not to be outdone by their successful students, in lieu of releasing a new album they have decided to release an interesting double album concept; one disc of rerecordings of their classic tracks and another disc of covers from those they’ve influenced. It’s hard to fault them since so many people have made millions off their sound while they always lurked in the shadows.
Post-punk as named cross-reference is beginning to die down, but no doubt will return in the years to come. Any style of music that openly embraces the marriage between chaotic energy and experimentation is sure to inspire artists in the future.
What’s Going Around.
David Bazan–
Pedro the Lion for me was one of those bands that I have always read about but never checked out, which is unacceptable in this day and age. I received a copy of his side project Headphones for a review (coming shortly) and I fell in love with it. I finally checked out the Lion and have smacking myself silly for listening earlier. If I would pick any one album, I would recommend Achilles Heel, their last album.
Eisley –
Something tells me I shouldn’t like them, but I don’t care. Their music, an amalgam of every early nineties alt rock bands like Belly and The Cranberries to Christian rockers Sixpence None the Richer, is total WB teen drama fodder but it is great. Maybe it is nostalgia but I am totally buying what they are selling. They should go on tour with Auf Der Maur and pretend 1994 never ended. The nineties nostalgia train is slowly pulling up to the station.
Some Kind of Monster DVD–
Man, what a good documentary. On one hand, you think to yourself, “what a bunch of self-absorbed assholes” (at least James and Lars, Kirk comes off really f*cking cool), then on the other you realize that these are three close friends who are slowly drifting apart from one another. You don’t have to like Metallica at all to appreciate it. And if Dave Mustaine thought people were giving him shit before, I imagine it has only gotten worse since the release of this DVD.
Next column, we will be looking at that great time in Hip-Hop (93-95) when the East Coast brought great rap back to forefront. We will be focusing on that best and most consistent label during that time, Loud Records
