Oh. I'm giving that a listen today and through the weekend. On my last post the final line "We love our Queen" was written thinking of Rotten singing it that certain way in 'God Save the Queen'. On of the reasons punk was so important to me was that it gave me a framework at 17 (well, the Pistols did in this instance) to recognise I wasn't the only one who thought it was all bollocks. The establishment monolith and the weight of history. More than three decades later and somewhat mellowed I still ponder the odd relationship the British have with their history. I am grateful we have it, the more so when I see the US in meltdown and no prior narrative other than religion and chest beating to sustain them...and I am also resentful for having to have grown up with so much of it placing demands on my and others expected behaviour. Just one fucking thing after another. That ambivalence was at the heart of punk. It was very British. The US version, apart from the Ramones, was all wanky would be poets or skag heads. It had to come from a small country that had once 'ruled the world'. Reading Burroughs at 13 had started my queer politicisation, showing me it wasn't all Larry Grayson. The Pistols and the Bromley contingent crawling out from the city and the suburbs felt like an inevitable and welcome extension. My politicisation would then continue through punk with '77 as the moment the magnifying glass focussed the light and started the fire.
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On my last post the final line "We love our Queen" was written thinking of Rotten singing it that certain way in 'God Save the Queen'.
On of the reasons punk was so important to me was that it gave me a framework at 17 (well, the Pistols did in this instance) to recognise I wasn't the only one who thought it was all bollocks. The establishment monolith and the weight of history. More than three decades later and somewhat mellowed I still ponder the odd relationship the British have with their history. I am grateful we have it, the more so when I see the US in meltdown and no prior narrative other than religion and chest beating to sustain them...and I am also resentful for having to have grown up with so much of it placing demands on my and others expected behaviour.
Just one fucking thing after another.
That ambivalence was at the heart of punk. It was very British. The US version, apart from the Ramones, was all wanky would be poets or skag heads. It had to come from a small country that had once 'ruled the world'. Reading Burroughs at 13 had started my queer politicisation, showing me it wasn't all Larry Grayson. The Pistols and the Bromley contingent crawling out from the city and the suburbs felt like an inevitable and welcome extension. My politicisation would then continue through punk with '77 as the moment the magnifying glass focussed the light and started the fire.