Call me nostalgiac, but I was thinking about one of my favourite discs the other day - it might have something to do with the slow crawl towards summer and our daylight savings time changeover this weekend - and how iconic it is. Also, certain albums sound better with the car windows rolled down and the wind whipping around my ears.
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was released in 1977 in the U.K. and soon after in the U.S. It would take 20 years before a copy of this album would end up in my hands. It's an album that I will never let go of and that I return to at least once a year. The words below the image of the Sex Pistols is from their song "Bodies" (just so you don't think I wrote this in the midst of a tangent) Incidentally, this song, though wildly profane, is largely about anti-abortion. The Sex Pistols never strayed from controversy and their exploits are legendary. In describing their short-lived career, they were a firecracker exploding compared with a slow-burning candle.
John Lydon aka 'Johnny Rotten' was easily the most outspoken of the group. He never shied away from speaking his mind and often ended interviews when he felt questions were boring or unintelligent. Bandmate, Sid Vicious, was arguably the most talked about due to his addictions and stage performances. Lydon was quoted as saying, "Everyone agreed he (Sid) had the look, but musical skill was another matter...the first rehearsals with Sid were hellish...Sid really tried and rehearsed a lot."
The infamy that found the Sex Pistols didn't agree with their personalities though. The public began to pay attention and the band became bogged down in their own punk status, releasing only the one full-length album during their career.
The Sex Pistols carved a path for modern bands who have strong messages of their own to deliver. Green Day was born in the late 80's and started out as a local punk band in California. With their major-label debut, Dookie, they achieved international success to go on to sell ten-million copies. The trios release was a fun album and the boys became the darlings of modern punk. As they've matured, so has their music.
Since the release of Warning in 2000, the band seems to have taken a more political bend in their songwriting. With titles like Blood, Sex, and Booze, Jackass, and Fashion Victim, the boys were making statements about the times they lived in and their dissatisfaction at what they were seeing. With American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, the band that has spanned over two decades has found a focus and is hitting their stride. Green Day is living in a faltering America. Their music aims to open this fact to the eyes of their audience and if not a 'call to action', they want their listeners to take notice.
It's not as aggressive a stance as the Sex Pistols made with God Save the Queen, but it needn't be. The Sex Pistols were pissed-off with the establishment for the sake of it, whereas Green Day has a more mature stance in my opinion. They're disappointed with the world and write songs to create awareness, the Pistols just 'screamed bloody f***ing mad,' and didn't aim to elicit change. Had they stuck around long enough and didn't self-destruct, maybe their social importance could have evolved.
They still made some damn fine music though.
No comments:
Post a Comment