I am, of course, referring to The Buzzcocks. With their catchy, melodic form of punk they will go down in history as the most carefree, fun of the new wave bands. They even have The Ramones beat for that category since they sang of more genuinely pop-ish subjects. Of course, they were far from sell-outs. With their raw imperfections and fun spontaneity, they make songs like What Do I Get? and Orgasm Addicts some of the greatest classics of punk ever.

Not as well known as the other quarters of the four major first wave punks, I'll put it this way. There like Green Day if Green Day were really punk.

Did you know there was actually a band in the eighties called The Sex Beatles!? Dunno what they sounded like though!

The Buzzcocks, on the other hand, are absolutely bloody brilliant!!! At the age of 11 I was Beatles to the core... until I heard this band - then The Jam, Squeeze and Blondie came along!!! Good times!

Unfortunately, I was a bit too young to appreciate The Sex Pistols.

Quoted from The_End

Did you know there was actually a band in the eighties called The Sex Beatles!? Dunno what they sounded like though!

Let's see if there's something on the internet.

Quoted from The_End

then The Jam, Squeeze and Blondie came along!!! Good times!

That's when you 'went underground', hehehe. Oh, to recall Squeeze once more: Is That Love, Black Coffee In Bed, Tempted: wonderful, ain't it?

Quoted from The_End

Unfortunately, I was a bit too young to appreciate The Sex Pistols.

Still?

I love how we keep using the word SEX!


SEX!!!!!

Quoted from andersonCouncill

There like Green Day if Green Day were really punk.

What's up with everyone saying that Green Day isn't punk? Nobody said they weren't punk in 1990 and they didn't really chang their style that much since then... Of course they're not DIY (anymore) and they make accessible music, but the same thing goes for the Sex Pistols, Ramones, Buzzcocks, Clash, Members, Stranglers, Toy Dolls, Dickies etc....

I'd say because Green Day has become so mainstream. When Rock the Casbah became such a big hit for the Clash they considered breaking up because the felt they coldn't keep their integrity after being so popular.
Now, American Idiot is a huge success and Green Day is on the cover of Tiger Beat and Bop.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree, but that seems rto be the general line of reason.

Quoted from Bobber

Still?

No, I dig them now - they scared me when I was a kid!

Quoted from Biscuit_Power

What's up with everyone saying that Green Day isn't punk? Nobody said they weren't punk in 1990 and they didn't really chang their style that much since then... Of course they're not DIY (anymore) and they make accessible music, but the same thing goes for the Sex Pistols, Ramones, Buzzcocks, Clash, Members, Stranglers, Toy Dolls, Dickies etc....

Um... Green Day were never punk. They didn't sell-out, they aren't bad. They are a really good band. Even punk-inspired. But they aren't punk. Never really were.

Before their breakthrough in 1994, Green Day had been an underground punk band for 4-5 years. They were on Lookout Records (one of the punkest labels around), loved by Maximum RockNRoll magazine (= the punk police), they played in small punk clubs with other punk bands and released amateurish seven inch records. They were punk.

I've been listening to punk for over 12 years now, I've been to literally hundreds of punk shows, played in 5 punk bands so far, I used to make a punk fanzine and I get payed to write about punk for a professional rock magazine, so I think I know a little bit about punk music.

anderson you is wrong...i agree biscuit....they were punk but kind of like kiddie punk...like operation ivy was after they became the offspring........i still can't really stand them.....either band for that matter...just give me some alice donut...billy joe and da boys WERE punk...now they are just punks...

i never quite liked the pistols.....i was more into metal then....g g allen was another one i didn't get....

I first heard of The Sex Pistols (and punk) on a news item in NZ late '76, early '77. I was a fully paid up hair- to- the- waiste weed- smoking card-carrying hippy and remember being really angry with them. The first time I heard God Save The Queen on radio the DJ took it off after 10 seconds, proclaiming it unlistenable. Sad to say I agreed (I now see it as a classic).
Re the Green Day thing - it seems as though punk is regarded as a life style more than just a musical genre, so it's a tough call. I always associate punk with anger and the winter of discontent. Anything else and it becomes a bit cartoony. But the world has moved on, and BP seems the punk man, so I'll go with him.

Quoted from pc31

anderson you is wrong...i agree biscuit....they were punk but kind of like kiddie punk...like operation ivy was after they became the offspring........i still can't really stand them.....either band for that matter...just give me some alice donut...billy joe and da boys WERE punk...now they are just punks...

Op. Ivy of course became Rancid, not the Offspring.  

Sure Green Day's kiddie punk... But so are The Dickies, The Toy Dolls, maybe even the Misfits and the Ramones considering their lyrics... And nobody ever questions if they're really punk...

Quoted from Bobber

That actually looks like the guys.

Quoted from kevin_b

Re the Green Day thing - it seems as though punk is regarded as a life style more than just a musical genre, so it's a tough call. I always associate punk with anger and the winter of discontent. Anything else and it becomes a bit cartoony. But the world has moved on, and BP seems the punk man, so I'll go with him.

To my opinion, punk was only a lifestyle for a couple of years. I think that faded really quickly. Cause in the early years, punk was mostly "The world sucks so you might as well be an a**hole". But then many of the early US punk bands like Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys were mostly "The world sucks so you'd better try to do something about it". So I think that by the early 80s, there was no such thing anymore as a punk lifestyle. After that it changed really quickly. Everyone from nazis to Krishnas, from Christians to junkies, from straight edgers to emo kids started calling themselves 'punk'. So there is no punk lifestyle. There's only the music.

And another thing: my art teacher always said that art is art when the person that created it says it's art. Cause if something's art for someone, who are you to say that he can't call it art?

I think the exact same thing goes for punk.

Come to think of it, that's not totally true. I think electronic music (like The Prodigy for instance) should never be called punk. That's where I draw the line.

Quoted from Biscuit_Power

Come to think of it, that's not totally true. I think electronic music (like The Prodigy for instance) should never be called punk. That's where I draw the line.

OK - so which way are you going with this? Drawing a line unfortunately puts you in the same place as people who say rap isn't music or (insert avante- garde artists name here) isn't art. They drew their lines.
I don't think what your teacher said can be "partly true." It's right or it ain't.
I think it's one of those never-find-an-answer debates. I think it requires some form of consensus. (but by who, or how many, I don't know.)
All this merely in the name of good humoured debate of course.

*ADDED LATER. I was thinking that if you hear punk, then punk it is. But then some old geezer would hear punk in everything after 1956, so there's that gone.

yeah i meant rancid...it's kiddie punk too.....i would kinda put corrision of conformity in punk and not metal....i think there are certainly punk metal bands wouldn't you agree??

and on the green day thing i would say dookie was when they sold out...kerpluk was ok but you could tell they we getting comfortable....

There's an amazing lack of Buzzcocks here. Juses Crihst I was just making an EXAMPLE!

Quoted from pc31

and on the green day thing i would say dookie was when they sold out...kerpluk was ok but you could tell they we getting comfortable....

I think the only difference between Kerplunk and Dookie is that Dookie had a much better production.

Back on topic.............

My favourite Buzzcocks tracks are Promises and What Do I get (as well as the more obvious choice - EFILWSYS've!). Oh my god, almost forgot (but not quite!) Love You More and  Everybody's Happy Nowadays!!!  

Quoted from Bobber

Told ya!

Great find Bobber! Wonder what it sounds like!

Favorite Buzzcocks track: definately "Love You More".

One of my old bands used to play a cover of "Orgasm Addict". Strange thing is that nobody ever seemed to know the song when we played it live (not even in England!). So the strange conclusion I have to draw here is that the Buzzcocks are probably more popular among pop/rock fans than in the current punk/hardcore scene...

Quoted from The_End

Great find Bobber! Wonder what it sounds like!

My guess: loud and noisy.  

Quoted from Biscuit_Power

One of my old bands used to play a cover of "Orgasm Addict". Strange thing is that nobody ever seemed to know the song when we played it live (not even in England!).

Ah - I know it!! I Played it once and found it was alright for kicks!! (BP knows what I mean!)

Quoted from Biscuit_Power

One of my old bands used to play a cover of "Orgasm Addict". Strange thing is that nobody ever seemed to know the song when we played it live (not even in England!). So the strange conclusion I have to draw here is that the Buzzcocks are probably more popular among pop/rock fans than in the current punk/hardcore scene...

Jello Biafra's made clear that "if it wasn't for The Buzzcocks there would be little to no more harmony in punk rock. We'd all sound exactly like The Pistols or The Ramones, not thath thats a bad thing, but without The Buzzcocks, I don't think we could've done stuff like, y'know, Viva Las Vegas, Kinky Sex Makes The World Go Round, Rawhide, or whatever. They were probably a lot more important then the fucking Clash."

As a melodramatic and lonely teenager mine is "What Do I Get?"

Quoted from andersonCouncill

Jello Biafra's made clear that "if it wasn't for The Buzzcocks there would be little to no more harmony in punk rock. We'd all sound exactly like The Pistols or The Ramones,

I don't know how people view The Stranglers (a lot of diehards at the time wouldn't accept them as punk) but they turned out more melodic and well-constructed tunes than your average punk band of the day. I'm thinking "Get a grip" and "Peaches(?)" here.

I love the Stranglers. They weren't really a punk band though, and I don't think they even thought or said they were (?).

They owe more to The Doors than to the Pistols or any other punk band. I can imagine most Stranglers songs with Jim Morrison on vocals.

Quoted from The_End

Ah - I know it!! I Played it once and found it was alright for kicks!! (BP knows what I mean!)

And once its done irs a song that sticks.

Quoted from Biscuit_Power

I love the Stranglers. They weren't really a punk band though, and I don't think they even thought or said they were (?).

They owe more to The Doors than to the Pistols or any other punk band. I can imagine most Stranglers songs with Jim Morrison on vocals.

At the least their record company sold them as such.

Quoted from Biscuit_Power

I love the Stranglers. They weren't really a punk band though, and I don't think they even thought or said they were (?).

They owe more to The Doors than to the Pistols or any other punk band. I can imagine most Stranglers songs with Jim Morrison on vocals.

At the least their record company sold them as such.
I love Aural Sculpture (but then again, I was a goth in those days)

Quoted from kevin_b

At the least their record company sold them as such.
I love Aural Sculpture (but then again, I was a goth in those days)

But Jim Morrison was so important to the development of punk music. I mean, Jello Biafra has made clear his infatuation with him, as as John Lydon. And one must not forget Iggy Pop formed The Stooges after seeing The Doors in concert. And arguably Morrison's only contemporary on music themes was Zappa.

Quoted from andersonCouncill

But Jim Morrison was so important to the development of punk music.

He certainly was.

By they way: did anyone ever notice how much Danzig (especially on the Misfits records) sounds like Jim Morrison?