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Should Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees be induced in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Kaci Walter

Excitement can be heard from the crowd as thousands release shouts and cheers in anticipation of what is to come. The rhythmic beat of the drums commences and slow chords from an accordion are to follow. The music is getting more prominent, a guitarist walks out from behind the stage top hat asymmetrically placed atop his head and cigarette barely in his mouth. More cheers erupt from the crowd as a tall womanly figure approaches the mic. She is clad in a dark purple sheer outfit, decorated with a metallic brassiere. Her hair is up in a braided ponytail, embellished with charms of the sun and moon. She grapples the microphone and looks out into the audience smiling widely. The audience unable to contain their energy are erupting with applause and screams of delight. She knows they cannot contain themselves for what is to come. Siouxsie bestows a hush over the crowd, like a strong sudden breeze, and let’s out a chuckle. Her dominance of the stage is uncanny. The instrumentals blend and decrescendo for her opening line as Siouxsie and the Banshees perform “The Last Beat of My Heart” as the first headliners for Lollapalooza, 1991.

You may not have heard of the icon and angelic voice that is Siouxsie Sioux, but you have indulged in, and acknowledged fashion styles, music, and culture that would not have reached the mainstream without the talent of the Banshees. Siouxsie and the Banshees mastered the music style later adopted by Radiohead, The Smiths, Red Hot Chili Peppers, all celebrated by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is dedicated to honoring the most influential musicians and bands that have altered the music industry in a major way. Shockingly, from this honor, Siouxsie and the Banshees are absent.

Born Susan Janet Ballion, Siouxsie Sioux was raised in an environment of isolation. Her father, an alcoholic, Siouxsie notes that her family didn’t participate in their local suburban community. This middle-class culture of contentment inspired Siouxsie’s resentful and radical mannerisms. Siouxsie has explained that experiencing sexual assault by a stranger at the age of nine made her feel more removed from the ideas around her. Dismissal from the police and her own parents planted the deep intense hatred and mistrust of the generation that came before her. Siouxsie notes that this occurrence inspired her image and character. She created her own universe as a means to protect herself from the horrors of the world. In Siouxsie’s words, “the only way I could deal with how to survive was to get some strong armour”.

Aged 17, Siouxsie and dear friend Steven Severin quickly became friends and followers with famed punk band, the Sex Pistols. Fans devoted to the misfit musical group were named the “Bromley Contingent”. The pair had been drawn by rumors of Johnny Rotten’s erratic behavior and performance style. In an early evening program of the Bill Grundy’s show, Siouxsie became the spectacle of obscenity, as Sex Pistol band erupted in profanity spurred by a bigoted comment from Grundy. Thought to be the first time the f-word was said on television, headlines exclaimed “Siouxsie’s a Punk Shocker”.

Following the infamous interview incident, the punk musician distanced herself from the Sex Pistols negative press and unfolding demise. Soon afterwards, Severin and Sioux formed Siouxsie and the Banshees in September 1976. In pure punk “do-it-yourself" spirit, the new band opened the Pistols with an improvised 20-minute-long rendition of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ before getting bored and stopping. Despite lacking the ability to play any songs, the crowd was awed by Siouxsie’s utter confidence.

Siouxsie became the captivating spearhead for female punks and the bands popularity had been growing by the day. Even so, the Banshee’s were faced with offensive record deal offers and rejections from A&R. Fans were outraged by the Banshee’s failure to get a substantial record deal, that they took to the streets and sprayed ‘SIGN THE BANSHEES’ on record company fronts. Soon enough, Polydor Records provided a convincing argument, and the band members signed their first deal.

By 1977 the Banshees began their first tour in England as renowned single ‘Hong Kong Garden’, a commentary on the skinhead's racist attack on a Chislehurst Chinese restaurant, hit No. 7 on the UK charts. Their album debut, The Scream, featuring Sioux’s staccato shouts and cold shrieks, shot to No. 12 on the UK charts.

It had promptly seemed as if the band’s luck had run out after guitarist and drummer John McKay and Kenny Morris abruptly quit the band the night of a performance at the Aberdeen Music Hall. Later that night, Sioux announced the two members betrayal: “Two art-school students fucked off out of it. You have my blessings to beat the shit out of them”.

Out of a complete band, Sioux and Severin recruited Budgie from the slits. Still short guitarists, Severin and Siouxsie held two fingers up to their missing members and held auditions for a new guitarist. They discovered John McGeoch from Magazine, who brought unique and revolutionary melodies to the band and has been described as one of the most influential guitarists of his time.

With a new and refreshed crew, the Banshees were at their prime producing single Happy House which brought them back to the Top 20 in the UK charts. The release of their third album, Kaleidoscope, shot to No. 5. What is known as their best album, Juju, showcased Spellbound with a dynamic melody and alluring tone.

The Banshee’s launched a revolutionary sound into the music industry. Musician's, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, John Frusciante, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Cargan, U2, Radiohead, and many more are noted to have taken direct inspiration from McGeoch’s exclusive sound. Most notably, the single Happy House, was samples in famed pop singer, The Weekend’s song “House of Balloons”.

Siouxsie on her own influenced female musicians Courtney Love, Tracy Thorn, Charli XCX, Florence and the Machine, amongst many others to hit the stage. Shirley Manson encapsulates the significance of Sioux: “She shaped my life. I wouldn’t be singing if it wasn’t for Siouxsie. I got to do what she did because she did it first”.

Siouxsie and the Banshee’s paved the way for punk musicians, Sioux herself is deemed as the inspiration for goth music and fashion. Her voice so impactful and melodic in the most jarring way, attempts to replicate her images were abundant.

(Image from Temple University Special Collections)

The musical group created their own sound that shocked and inspired generations of fans and musicians. Yet, their undying influence has yet to be celebrated by the honor deemed the paramount of musicianship; The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Siouxsie’s gothic look and far-out music style was invented through her rejection of the mainstream. The Banshees were built on the premise of non-conformity. Their goal wasn’t to “sell out” and reach fame, but to verbalize an internal rejection of the culture around them. Siouxsie and the Banshees found success through their punk stylistic attributes by chance. Thus, their DIY ethics, nihilistic views and punk spirit would seemingly clash with an induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The commemoration of this recognition could almost be opposite to the punk shocker that is Siouxsie, going against the foundations that made the group so legendary. Yet, does the punk bedrock of the band’s ideology prohibit them from chasing any sort of honor? Rather, should the Banshees be admired and praised alone by those who dare to go against the grain like them? As Siouxsie said, “What I really resent about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts you off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon.”

References:

The high priestess of punk: The influence of Siouxsie Sioux (faroutmagazine.co.uk)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - 1984 MTV Interview (unedited)

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Jet Black Pop Darlings ("Spellbound") | New British Canon

Siouxsie And The Banshees: their incredible story | Louder (loudersound.com)

MC5: Impact on Art

Angelo Lim

"They were the ones who showed us that rock & roll could be a revolutionary force, could change the world, could make you feel like you were part of something much larger than yourself."

The MC5 is a legendary rock band from the 1960s that many young people today might not know. They have had a profound impact on artistic expression. The MC5, short for the Motor City Five, were formed in Detroit in 1964 by guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, vocalist Rob Tyner, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson. They quickly gained a reputation for their high-energy performances and politically charged lyrics. As Wayne Kramer, the guitarist of the band said, “We were angry young men, and we wanted to make some noise.”

The MC5 was mainly known for their music using jazz, the blues, and of course rock, but people began to know them for their outrageous guitar solos and socially adept lyrics. Their first album called, “Kick Out the Jams” was released in 1969, and is famous for the opening line, "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!", which became a significant symbol for counterculture youth. It has helped establish the new band and build their reputation as one of the most influential groups of all time, and it is now the band’s most famous song and is considered a classic of the punk rock scene.

The band's radical politics and outspoken criticism of the government and police made them targets of law enforcement, and they were frequently harassed and arrested. In 1972, they disbanded due to personal and creative differences, but their influence lived on in the punk and post-punk movements of the 70s and 80s.

We can see that the MC5 was way more than just entertainment; it was a form of social and political activism that called for radical change against the status quo. Like many artists of their time, they resonated deeply with anti-establishment values and were committed to social justice. Their influence on the punk scene can be seen by many artists that followed them.

One of the main pros of the MC5 was their fearlessness and their willingness to speak out against injustice and oppression. They were not afraid to rock the boat and challenge the status quo, and their music resonated with a lot of people who felt disillusioned with the political and cultural climate of the 60s.

The MC5's legacy continues to inspire artists today, and their impact on artistic expression cannot be overstated. Their music and message continue to resonate with audiences around the world, and their influence can be seen in the work of countless artists who seek to use their art as a means of effecting social change.

On the downside, the MC5's radicalism and outspokenness made them a target of authorities, and their confrontational style also turned off some listeners. In addition, the band struggled with internal conflict and substance abuse, which led to their eventual breakup.

Although the MC5 disbanded over 40 years ago, their legacy continues to influence rock music today. Their raw, powerful sound and socio-political perspective have inspired countless artists, and they remain an important symbol of rebellion and nonconformity in American music history. The message their music sends about challenging the status quo and promoting social justice is necessary now more than ever. As Wayne Kramer said, "The revolution is ongoing. We're still fighting the same battles, and we need to stay engaged."

Ramones and Fashion

Hallie Ahrens

Punk centers a lot of its values around authenticity and displayed forms of self-expression, including style. One famous early punk group to have a strong connection to fashion are the Ramones. From the famous Ramones logo T-shirt now found in the mall chain store Hot Topic, to the leather jackets, ripped denim jeans and sneakers featured on the Ramones studio album Rocket to Russia, there is no denying that there is a certain desirable “look” that the Ramones possess.

source: hottopic.com

I, myself, am 21 years old, a member of the newer generation of Ramones fans. In this memo I further examine the importance of personal style to the Ramones and their fans.

Despite the individuality of punk, all four of the Ramones dressed in almost identical outfits. As one of the band members, Tommy, shared with Punk magazine for their January 1976 issue regarding their homogenous, leather jacket look: “It’s fashion - we like to be fashionable anyway - and we feel comfortable in them. Anyway, we’d feel silly in anything else, y’know?”.

This is the perspective of the Ramones and fashion from 1976; how does their reputation uphold today in 2023?

I chose to interview three peers of mine that are previously acquainted with the Ramones to ask them what they envision when they hear the band’s name.

Person A, age 61: “Weird bowl-cuts and leather jackets.”

Person B, age 22: “I think of their logo, which looks like a US presidential seal, and has their names in a circle around a bald eagle.”

Person C, age 21: “Four gangly guys in black leather and jeans.”

Clearly, there is a solid aesthetic association with the name of the Ramones to this day, at least within this small sampling of individuals.

It is not only the band that is associated with a particular aesthetic, but the group’s fans as well. Punk magazine writer Mary Harron describes her visual experience within the punk New York City club CBGB’s: “Black leather jackets surface around the bar, but it’s the girls by the bandstand that have the image. The one with the puffed-sleeve angora sweater and white lipstick, and her friend with the red razorcut bouffant hairdo, black leather and shades.”

The author speaks as a member of the audience at a Ramones show, to provide an exclusive firsthand account of the aesthetics of the scene. Through studying these aesthetics, one is able to sense the zeitgeist of a Ramones show at CBGB’s in the late 1970s.

It is not only the visual style and aesthetics of the band that must be taken into consideration, but the band’s musical aesthetics as well. Despite the band’s edgy and dark image, with song titles such as “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “Teenage Lobotomy”, there is a certain youthful lightheartedness to the music that author Bill Ogersby writes about in his article, “Chewing out Rhythm on my Bubblegum”: “Plundering the vaults of American popular culture, bands such as… the Ramones created a playfully ironic pastiche of suburban adolescence. Here, the stereotypes and iconography of ‘teenage’ life 一 one of the greatest mythologies to emerge from the clear-eyed confidence of American consumer culture 一 were both blissfully celebrated and mercilessly parodied.”

Understanding past trends in fashion and music educates us to the origins of current trends as well.

source: rollingstone.com

Resources:

Punk magazine, vol. 1 iss. 1, January 1976.

“Chewing out Rhythm on my Bubblegum” by Bill Ogersby

Interview with three peers

Erin Schneider- Patti Smith Art Memo

Life in the Age of Devolution

Art Memo by Nicole Clements

In a short comic titled “Disposable DEVO” in Punk Magazine, five men fall over each other, writhing on the ground, seemingly unable to get up after being prodded with a broom. The caption explains: “De-evolved creatures of the future have mutated into beings that can only eat, sleep and press buttons. A malfunctioning android cleaning lady discovers this organic litter and begins to make a clean sweep.” These five brainless caricatures of de-evolved humanity are none other than the members of the band DEVO, intent on proving a point about the future of humanity.

As the band’s name might suggest, DEVO’s formation was highly connected with its members ideas of de-evolution. Their belief in the concept started before the band, when DEVO’s founding members were studying at Kent State University. Multiple members of the band were present at the 1970 Kent State Massacre, where four unarmed student protestors were killed by police. Vocalist Jerry Casale would go on to say that that was the day he “stopped being a hippie and developed the idea of devolution.” The band’s core members all share a belief that the world will slowly become worse, forever.

Since the band’s founding, they maintained a focus on this message that society is getting stupider and stupider. Their catchy synth tunes and often seemingly shallow lyrics, seen in well-known songs such as Whip It, are deliberately hollow as a statement about the meaninglessness and stupidity of modern life. Others of their songs have more directly revealing lyrics, for example Puppet Boy, a song about mindlessness and lack of freedom in the modern era. The lyrics “Get up puppet boy, you’ve got a job to do. Even so you’re free to go, where your master tells you to” demonstrate DEVO’s idea of devolution. They cast the modern human in the role of a puppet, unable to go anywhere they are not told to.

Over 50 years after the formation of DEVO, it seems that their core thesis has been proven correct. Inequality skyrockets while social media increasingly takes over our lives and feeds us mindless advertising. But what are the members of DEVO doing? Jerry Casale spent awhile doing commercials for Miller Lite and writing songs for South Park. Mark Mothersbaugh, the other founding member, wrote video game soundtracks before starting work on Regular Show, an animated show on Cartoon Network. The band got together in 2005 to make a commercial for Swiffer. For as critical of pop culture consumerism as they were, these musicians seem to be doing just fine working on vapid advertising and cartoons.

In a 2005 interview, when asked about his predictions, Jerry Casale said: “Devolution happened. We don’t have to talk about it anymore. It was an artsy joke and it turned out to be true. We live in a devolved world. Things we were talking about came and passed. We are in it now. We are fish in the water.” Perhaps DEVO was right and the world is getting worse – so what? Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh have shown us that all you can do is recognize that fact and keep on going with what makes you happy.

Sources:

Oh Yes, It’s Devo: An Interview with Jerry Casale (archive.org)

Devo...Where Are They Now? - XS ROCK

Living Legends: Devo Subverted The Herd Mentality Beginning In The '70s, But Their Art Punk Aesthetic Is More Relevant Than Ever (grammy.com)

Disposable DEVO – Punk Magazine issue #12

The Kinks: How the Slice of an Amp Birthed a New Genre

by Corinna Boeck

When The Kinks– whose lineup at the time included brothers Ray and Dave Davies, Mick Avory, and Peter Quaife– recorded “You Really Got Me” in 1964, no one knew they would be releasing a record that would forever change the trajectory of rock music.

In a time of Beatlemania in the UK, record companies were keen on emulating their sound with new acts. One such act was The Kinks. The band’s chief songwriter, Ray Davies, originally wanted to create R&B music, but this would change within the band’s first three singles. The development of The Kinks’ sound was something of a microcosm of the development of rock music in general, as the genre originated as a contemporary extension of R&B.

Ray Davies originally wrote “You Really Got Me” on the piano as an R&B track. Initially, the record company they were signed to, Pye Records, refused to let them record the song, because their producers didn’t see it becoming a hit. After a number of successful performances of the song in the months that followed, the label finally let them record it. According to “The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night" by Doug Hinman, Ray recalled, “They said, ‘You’re going to go in the studio and they’re going to let you do ‘You Really Got Me’. You’re happy now, are you?’” (Hinman 2004) The original recording from their session at Pye was much slower and bluesier. Ray was unimpressed with the results, and opposed its release. After much dispute, Pye agreed to let them re-record the song, as long as they paid for the session time. It was during this session that Dave Davies made the seemingly destructive but effectively revolutionary decision to slice part of the speaker of his amp with a razor, creating a distorted sound. This decision, however, came from anger rather than an attempt to reshape rock music. Davies told The Guardian in 2013, “I was full of rage… I was very depressed and fooling around with a razor blade. I could easily have slashed my wrists, but I had a little green amplifier, an Elpico, that was sounding crap. I thought, "I'll teach it" – and slashed the speaker cone.” The result, when hooked up to another louder amp, was a raw, gritty, compelling sound that became the final released recording of “You Really Got Me” in July 1964. The song’s quick, punchy guitar had an undeniable energy that kept people wanting more. The sound was revolutionary for the time, and led to their immediate rise and landed them a number one spot on the NME charts later that month.

The lyrics consist mainly of a few lines repeated several times over throughout the song, including “Girl, you really got me goin'/You got me so I don't know what I'm doin'” and “Girl, you really got me now/You got me so I can't sleep at night”, and, of course, just “You really got me/You really got me/You really got me” This simplicity conveys the point of the song, which Ray Davies says was about being “so overwhelmed by the presence of another person and you can’t put two words together.”

From the beginning, The Kinks went against attempts to perfectly groom them for commercial success, from attempts to keep their sound consistent with what was popular or fixing their physical appearances, such as trying to hide the gap in Ray’s front teeth. The band kept their instinct of self-expression, leading to their experimental sound that captivated listeners– after conventional production failed to produce them a hit. Some call The Kinks the first punk band, but there really isn’t a way to pin down just one. The Kinks weren’t intentionally “punk”, though their name certainly makes them sound like a punk group– punk rock had yet to really exist, and even when the genre and the culture surrounding it took off, it would still be years before the biggest acts in the scene would embrace the word or even take kindly to it. Nonetheless, the origins of The Kinks’ success has an undeniable punk ethos in that they just fought to do things their own way, and it was with “You Really Got Me” that their insistence on getting the sound right over creating something designed for commercial popularity proved not only successful, but crucial. But sound wasn’t the only way “You Really Got Me” embodied the spirit of what would be punk. Dave Davies said “When we started recording we couldn’t argue with the record company. But this time we insisted on doing what we wanted. Well, what could we lose?… the song came out of a working-class environment, people fighting for something.” Particularly in the UK, the Punk movement, which grew in the 70s, was at its core a working-class movement, born of young people dissatisfied with the economy and with suburban culture.

But the true results of “You Really Got Me”’s influence would continue to unfold over the next two decades. Numerous metal and rock bands, from The Ramones to The Clash to Oasis have named The Kinks as an influence, and this sound started with that song. Pete Townshend of The Who called Ray Davies’ lyrics “"a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced [him] from the very, very, very beginning.”

That gritty sound that they used, not just on “You Really Got Me” but on various other tracks, from other songs on their debut album including “All Day and All of the Night” and “Revenge” to later hits like “Lola”, set their sound apart from other groups. The combination of Ray’s striking, poetic lyrics with Dave’s pioneer guitar riffs (the group has been called “predecessors of the whole three-chord genre”) made them one of the most influential bands of the British invasion, and the genesis of heavy metal and punk rock.

Nina Hagen: The Godmother of Punk Never Sacrificed Her Authenticity

Nina Hagen: The Godmother of Punk. Given her title for her influence on the German underground music scene, not many outside of the punk world know who she is. With her mesmerizing voice, bold and often outrageous fashion, and her fierce activism, Nina Hagen was an inspiration. In the 1980s her music spread internationally, having a huge breakthrough in the United States, and to this day Hagen is still making music. In 2022 she released the album Unity at 67. Nina’s art is largely influenced by growing up in East Berlin and how she learned to rebel against a government trying to silence her. Never toning down her art, Hagen has maintained her success without ever sacrificing the authenticity and proactivity of her music.

Born 1955, Hagen was born and raised in East Berlin. Hagen grew up in a fractured time; the East Berlin government had sealed its people in with the Berlin Wall and speaking out against the government was dangerous. Both of Hagen’s parents were in the public’s eyes, as her father, Hans Oliva-Hagen, was a successful scriptwriter and her mother, Eva-Maria Hagen, was a well-known singer and actress. Her father’s side of the family were victims of the holocaust. Both her grandfather and grandmother were murdered at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and her father survived imprisonment in Moabit between 1941 to 1945. Her parents divorced when she was two and, further adding to her fractured beginnings as she saw her father infrequently in her childhood. She began studying dance and music at a young age, and by the time she was nine she was considered an Opera prodigy. When listening to her music you can hear this training, as it allows her to produce an incredible sound in her music.

When Hagen was 11, her mother started her relationship with Wolf Biermann who she later married. She was heavily influenced by her mother’s theatrical background and her stepfathers anti-establishment political beliefs and songs. By the age of twelve she was active in political protests against the socialist East German government and was dishonorably discharged from the “Free German Youth” group. Her start in politics and activism in East Berlin would carry on into her art. At sixteen she formed a cover band after dropping out of school, and the group traveled across Poland playing songs by Tina Turner and Janis Joplin. From there she formed a new band called Automobil and became very well known in East Berlin. Their most popular song, “You forgot the colour film,” was a commentary on the Communist state. Through her music she was able to speak out against the censorship in East Berlin, and how it washed out the culture like film without color. However, at this stage of her career the East German government began recognizing her stepfathers activism as a threat to the state, leading to his expulsion from East Berlin. Hagen and her mother now had to try to escape East Berlin to join him, which was nearly impossible at this time. In 1976, Hagen claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter to the authorities and threatened to become "the next" Wolf Biermann if she was not allowed to rejoin him. They took her threats seriously and she and her mother were able to escape.

Fresh from East Berlin, Nina Hagen began exploring the London reggae and punk scenes. Newly inspired, she formed the Nina Hagen Band, and the group would go on to get a recording contract with CBS and produce two albums. They covered some songs with German lyrics and wrote original songs featuring Hagen’s unique voice. They were a hit in Germany, with German news magazine, Spiegel, calling the group, "one of the hottest European bands since the Sex Pistols." However, Hagen dissolved the band as she felt that their music was too focused on guitar solos and released one last album with them in 1980 called Unbehagen. During her rise in popularity, Hagen gained a reputation in the European media for being outrageous and scandalous. Her style was ever changing, but often included large teased colorful hair, thick black eyeliner, bright and vibrant lipstick, and her outfits were often adorned with studs, leather, and fur. Growing up under a repressive government, Hagen was never scared to speak her mind. She was most infamous for her appearance on the Austrian talk show Club 2, where she demonstrated to viewers various masturbation positions for women and got in a heated debate with the other panelist. The host was so shocked he did nothing to stop her, and the outrage that followed caused him to step down from the show. The media became far more focused on the scandal around Hagen then the anti-establishment music she was creating.

Entering the 1980s, Hagen moved to the US to start her first English album, and in 1982 released Nunsexmonkrock under Columbia records. The album became her first breakout international success, and the album featured a unique blend of funk and rock sounds. Like much of her work, it was very controversially received, but she still had a successful tour in England, Canada, and the United States. She went on to produce two more successful albums, Fearless and Nina Hagen in Ekstasy, in the United States. In a 1985 Billboard article Kathy Gillis wrote that Hagen’s music contained "a lot of spiritual, social and political talk woven around the songs, all delivered in a dizzying range of voices" while also writing "One never knows what to expect from Nina Hagen, except an interesting show." After a successful few years internationally, her popularity died down, and her later albums sold better in Germany. From 1989 to 2022, Hagen produced eleven albums, bringing her total number of albums to sixteen.

Political activism has always been central to her music, and she continued to speak out on issues throughout her career. She spoke out against the apartheid in South Africa, wrote "Don't Kill The Animals" in 1986 to speak up for animal rights, and wrote the song "Gorbachev Rap" in 1989 to express her approval of the political reforms the Soviet Union. She went on to perform at a women’s festival in Moscow in 1990, and 1998 Hagen participated in an AIDS benefit in New York City where she performed new and old music. In addition to her political music and charity work, Hagen is a human rights activist and has fought against forced psychiatric treatment and been involved in hospice work. This is all to say that Nina Hagen doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk, and has for decades now.

Nina Hagen is an inspiration because she has never changed her self-expression despite the many forces that tried to silence her. She remained true to her beliefs in East Berlin and the controversy in her career never phased her. Her beliefs and artistic integrity always held up throughout the entirety of her career. Like all female musicians, she delt with sexism in the media and often wasn’t taken seriously by men. In a 1985 interview with David Letterman, he spent most of the interview commenting on her hair and asking her to explain how hair extensions work. Even in her controversial talk show appearance where she talks about masturbation positions for women, she speaks very informatively saying “I’m talking about women’s sexuality.” Any woman speaking so directly about what is sexually satisfying for women was hugely controversial, but Hagen wasn’t afraid to stir the pot. In a 2012 interview about her album Volksbeat, interviewer Deutsche Welle asked why Hagen had written an autobiography. She said, “there are so many idiots that have nothing better to write about Nina Hagen other than that I am a shrill publicity junkie. What kind of a job description is that? If I'd been born a man, then I would have been given a little more respect.” Hagen has never let how the world perceives her affect how she presents herself, and in her career she has used the media attention around her to raise awareness about the causes she cares about.

Maintaining artistic integrity is hard, especially in a world that demands you fit into a neat box to be commodified. Nina Hagen is a great example of allowing your individuality to speak for itself. In 2022, Hagen released the single United Women of the World, with a colorful music video showing women supporting each other and standing up for their rights. At 68, Hagen still stands up for what she believes in and is unapologetically her wild and vibrant self. During a time in the United States where women’s and LGBTQ+ rights are being threatened every day, it’s time we take a page from Nina Hagen’s book and be loud, stand up and fight for our rights, and unapologetically express ourselves. To quote Hagen, “the main thing is that you remain true to yourself, true to your love, and don't allow anything to be taken away, especially not the freedom to make music.”

#punk #nina hagen

#80s punk #reggae #artwork

Sham 69

Josh Sabio

“We’re just working-class lads singing about our lives. It’s not politics; it’s about what we see around us.”

When we think of influential Punk bands of the 1970s we think of The Ramones, Sex Pistols, etc., but we often overlook the band know as Sham 69. Known for their insanely raw energy, rebellious lyrics, and gritty working-class attitude, Sham 69 was formed in Hersham, Surrey in 1975. They found their name through a graffiti slogan they spotted on a wall in their hometown Hersham and are led by the front man James “Jimmy” Pursey.

Unlike more art-influenced bands such as Siouxsie and The Banshees and The Velvet Underground, Sham 69 is known for their music through their aggressive guitar riffs, pounding drums and most importantly their working-class, street-level lyrics. The lyrics are reflections of the social and political climate during the 1970s in Britain, touching on themes of unemployment, poverty, social injustice, and the experiences of youth culture in working-class neighborhoods as Jimmy Pursey says, “The working class is the backbone of society without them, we would have nothing.”

The band's breakthrough album, “Tell us The Truth” was released in 1978 and truly reflected the band’s punk ideologies of questioning those who were in authority and their establishment. Many popular songs that came out of that album were “Borstal Breakout,” “Hey Little Rich Boy,” and “Ulster” which were very powerful in spreading their message as they were provocative and attention-grabbing. One of their most iconic songs known as “If The Kids Are United” was released a year later which advocated for a better world, free from the constraints of authority as they said “We don’t need no army / We don’t need no police / All we need is a little peace.”

Not only was their music tied to the punk rock movement, but so was their aesthetics. Sham 69 embodied the DIY ethos, creating music and art based on their own terms. Jimmy Pursey once said, “Punk rock was all about taking control of your life and doing something with it,” proclaiming their association with punk at the time when it was looked down upon. Sham 69 used punk aesthetics and music to inspire and unite people as in the “Tell Us the Truth” documentary from 1979, Jimmy Pursey said, “Punk rock is a vehicle for change. It’s a tool to bring people together.” They utilized their own voice to represent many as they wanted to show their ties with their working-class roots as their Guitarist, Dave Parsons said, “We are all working-class, and we just wanted to say something. We wanted to have a voice.”

If their music already being great wasn’t enough, seeing them perform live was even better as they were renowned for their high-energy and raucous atmosphere, with fans known for their intense moshing and stage diving. These performances were legendary as music critic Jon Savage described; “Sham 69’s shows were like riots in progress. The band would whip up the audience into a frenzy, with Pursey often diving headfirst into the crowd.”

Sham 69 was a pioneering punk rock band whose music and message continue to resonate with artists and audiences today. Sham 69 being a part of the skinhead movement with their raw and aggressive music and their wild performances with moshing and stage diving, eventually lead to Jimmy Pursey denouncing racism and fascism as far-right groups began to spread the wrong message about skinheads. Despite this, Sham 69 remained popular with skinheads and beyond as the band’s influence is still felt today. They truly embodied the DIY approach with their style and socially conscious lyrics. These lyrics helped inspire and voice many apart of the youth culture at the time as Jon Savage said, “Sham 69 gave a voice to a generation of young people who felt excluded from mainstream society. They were angry, they were passionate, and they spoke directly to their audience.” With their enduring legacy they leave behind, Sham 69 continues to remain an important cultural touchstone for both music and art.

The Modern Lovers: A Punk Paradox

The scene is set in Cambridge 1971, where a young Jonathan Richman seeks out film student Jerry Harrison to join The Modern Lovers. A city rich in tradition, wealth, and higher education is not exactly where you would think to find these so-called “punk pioneers.” However, Massachusetts suburbia is exactly what inspired Richman’s songwriting.

While the band was said to be born out of Boston, Richman grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb just outside of the city. Amidst the post-war affluence provided by government funds to American veterans, suburbs began expanding their populations in the 1950s. This socioeconomic shift translated to the increasing cultural desire among families like Richman’s to seek a sense of safety that domestic life seemed to promise. Meanwhile the shipping and manufacturing industries that also upheld Boston’s economy for decades began to collapse in the 1970s, and as families left, young creatives moved in. Richman often alludes to his suburban upbringing in his music, simultaneously idealizing and mocking the nationalist attitudes surrounding suburbia’s mundane nature.

“That shines down on Bolyston Street And I love the USA … We'll share a modern love Under suburban rain. And me in love with the USA now. And me in love with the modern world now … Well, out on route nine Well, it's bleak and nearly dying … With me in love with the USA now”

Richman looked to escape to the city as often as he could with nothing but the local radio and a $10 guitar at home tying him to an emerging punk subculture. Richman was later drawn to clubs like The Boston Tea Party at the age of 16, where he first witnessed Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. Obsessed with their sound, Richman eventually moved to Manhattan for 10 months to follow Warhol the band until he found his way back to Boston to start his own. Noted as his greatest inspiration for The Modern Lovers, Richman even admits to copying The Velvet Underground along with other proto-punk and classic rock bands such as The Stooges, The Rolling Stones, and The Who.

In 1971, Richman had formed The Modern Lovers with Jerry Harrison on keys, Ernie Brooks on bass and David Robinson on drums. Inspired by the work of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, Richman was said to have a produced a new philosophy of music for his bandmates, dependent on being confrontational with the audience and creating a sound based on the feeling they put into their music, rather than technique: “I knew I couldn't sing or play like the other guys but I didn't want to. I figured I had feeling and that was enough. I knew I was honest” (Maloney 2017).

Richman had a revolving door of members join him in The Modern Lovers as his sound and performance style evolved. Former keyboard player Jerry Harrison notes that despite his initial obsession with The Velvet Underground, Richman had a distaste for the dark energy that a lot of proto-punk bands radiated. Richman sympathized with the anti-war movement and the Cambridge Mayor’s war on hippies and began drifting from the original proto-punk sound of harsh guitars and punchy drums to softer rock.

By 1974, The Modern Lovers as known with Richman, Jerry Harrison, Ernie Brooks, and David Robinson had broken up. John Cale would later release their original demo collection in 1976 as a debut album after Richman already revived the band with all new members. The “Roadrunner” demo became revered within the punk scene, covered by icons like Joan Jett and the Sex Pistols.

The hit contained the combined inspiration of proto-punk sound and simple joys found in his monotonous suburban upbringing. The two-chord, upbeat, minimalist piece acts as an ode to driving through Massachusetts as both an appreciation and an escape. Richman’s balance between his two worlds of proto-punk influences with promotions of peaceful lightness creates a paradox – despite The Modern Lovers’ renowned influence on the punk subculture, their front man never fully encapsulates the rebellious or often ugly nature of the scene that musicians such as Iggy Pop or Darby Crash embodied. Their keyboard and bass players graduated from Harvard. Richman wrote a song about being anti-drug in the peak age of psychedelics (“I’m Straight”). Their lyrics while liberating were never crude. It seems the only essence of “live fast, die young” resides in the band’s revolving door of members, most only lasting a few years.

The Modern Lovers’ punk image was cultivated out of an almost evolving pureness from Jonathan Richman. He follows the punk ethos of protest lyricism, unique sound stemming from a lack of instrumental technique, punk inspirations and a desire to escape conservative suburbia. Yet as he becomes older, he begins to deny the darkness he associated with acts like The Velvet Underground. This paradox is what sets them apart from their punk counterparts. While the original band was short-lived, this contrast set The Modern Lovers up for a long-lasting legacy.

#70s #punk #band names #modernlovers

Was Nico a Nazi?

Lena Kelsall

Many of us know harrowing sounds of the Velvet Underground’s lead accompanying female vocalist on their debut studio album “The Velvet Underground and Nico” produced in part by Andy Warhol, but who among us has investigated the sinister origins and worldview of this beautiful and lonely proto-punk Feme Fatale?

The longevity of her career as well as the allure with contemporaneous male artists make Nico a misunderstood but enticing proto-punk figure. She sold out a show in San Fransisco at the club Fab Mab as a solo artist almost 10 years after the album with The Velvet Underground debuted, but she played none of her folksier tunes made in collaboration with the Underground nor her solo album “Chelsea Girl” made with help from artists like Bob Dylan a decade earlier. Rather, she performs the eerily ambient and gothic sounds made with her harmonium and afflicted voice, produced with the help of John Cale from her albums “Dessert Shore”. What is troubling however, is her choice of finale at this performance at Fab Mab’s; a rendition of “Deutschland,’ the German national anthem including the parts which are routinely omitted for the national socialist connotations. A rendition entitled “Das Lied Der Deutschen” is the closing track on her 1974 Album “the End...” and a performance of it in Berlin is said to have incited a riot among students. Can we acknowledge Nico’s “Nazi-esque” leanings and still listen to her music?

Nico was born Christina Päffgen in Cologne in 1938, she came into the war-torn continent with a Nazi-informed world view as her Spanish and Yugoslavian parents were coerced towards Hitler’s cause to their fatal end. Despite enduring trauma growing up in the midst of WWII, she was educated in France, Italy and Germany and pursued a model-actress-singer career across Europe from the age of 15. Although Nico’s biographer uncovered her diaries from her childhood in Cologne where she wrote sentiments of resistance towards the anti-sematic human degradation she witnessed, this is not a qualification for racist behaviors and statements from her recorded in the 70’s where she had a public platform on the continent which claims freedom and human liberty. As people debate ‘canceling’ and deplatforming problematic figures, and considering the use of swastikas in the punk scenes in London (in a critical method of Detournement, or in a white nationalist way by skinheads), we have reason to seriously consider the ideological implications of an artist's identity and perhaps separate it from their art.

Bibliography

Greg Turner, “Nico on th’west coast and other UFO sightings” New York Rocker Vol 1 No 11 February-March 1977 accessed via Special Collections at Charles Library

“She'll Be Your Mirror: Who Was the Real Nico?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 4 July 2021, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/nico-biography-velvet-underground-b1875484.html.

Fyles, Fred S. “Problematic Faves: Nico.” Felix, https://old.felixonline.co.uk/articles/2016-12-9-problematic-faves-nico/.

London Calling: Anti-Capitalist Anthem

By Erin Wilson

When I got my license at 17 years old, I certainly did not have my own car to drive. No matter whose car I took—my mom’s, sister’s, or brother’s—music was always what I cared about most on my drive, even the five minute ones to and from school. Usually anxious about going wherever I was, my mood was changed by the music. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours made me feel energized; Lorde’s Pure Heroine, sad and angsty; Bahamas Is Afie to feel calm.

Driving my mom’s car, equipped with the modern luxury of bluetooth and Spotify, meant I could listen to anything I desired. My brother’s and sister’s cars were older, which meant I could listen to the radio or CDs. My brother had a strongly different taste in music, so none of his CDs compelled me and I often opted for the radio instead (104.5, Philly’s alternative rock, was my favorite). My sister had a small collection of CDs, which included Fleet Foxes’ self-titled album, mixtapes from boyfriends of present and past, and The Clash’s London Calling.

I grew to love this album, knowing nothing else of The Clash. As I paid more attention to their lyrics, I noticed that the revolutionary tones of the 1979 album still rang true in my senior year of high school, 40 years after its release.

In fact, due to their commercial success, The Clash is a notable band of those in punk subcultures that concerned themselves with politics. Though they were criticized for signing with CBS as contrary to punk (Anderson and Heibutzki), there is an inherent impossibility in trying to widely spread a message while also remaining mostly underground and unknown. And although they critique capitalism while reaping its benefits (once success is achieved), how else is one expected to operate under the conditions in which they exist? Rather than becoming anti-punk, the deal allowed the band to move leftist, revolutionary ideas into the mainstream.

Punk evolved out of the social and economic crises in Great Britain in the summer of 1976: high unemployment, a dire heat wave, and the conservative policies and beliefs of the National Front on the rise (Denyer). A movement hopeless with the current situation, yet holding on to a tinge of hope for change in the future, led to the formation of The Clash. Originally a five-man band, they eventually consisted of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones both on vocals and guitar, Paul Simonon on bass, and Nicky “Topper” Headon on drums (Bindas). They got their start opening on tour for the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK in ‘76, and took off from there (Wilder).

Their revolutionary sentiments existed from the start with their singles “White Riot” and “1977”. Two years later, in 1979, just six months after conservative Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, The Clash released their third album, London Calling (Bindas). They were informed not only by the social conditions around them, but their personal experiences too. Paul Simenon worked in a factory to save money and gain admission to an art college, which he eventually abandoned for rock and roll. Art college was “bollocks” (Jolly). In a 1979 interview with Punk Magazine, Joe Strummer made his opinions clear:

"First of all let me tell you my personal politics are and always have been and always will be to the left…I’m not into fucking people working away in factories doing useless boring jobs just for some cunt to take the rake off. But I don’t want to say that I’m a socialist or that I’m a communist ‘cause I fuckin’ hate parties and party doctrine…When anybody has a great idea they go and make it a manifesto, a party. Like, I don’t want anyone tellin’ me what I gotta do, right?" (Jolly)

The views of The Clash are evident in their eclectic musical style and evocative lyrics. The title track, “London Calling,” sums up the decaying mania felt by the punks:

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin

A nuclear era, but I have no fear

'Cause London is drowning

I, I live by the river

Climate change, drought, hunger, nuclear power and threat: the problems of capitalism in 1979 still rang true when I first heard it in 2019, and still today in 2023. In “The Guns of Brixton,” they address police violence in the London neighborhood of Brixton, which had a large Afro-Caribbean and working class population. Simonon himself grew up in this area.

When they kick at your front door

How you gonna come?

With your hands on your head

Or on the trigger of your gun

You can crush us, you can bruise us

And even shoot us

But oh-oh, the guns of Brixton

And finally, in “Death or Glory,” they make their plans of resistance clear:

We're gonna fight you, brother

We're gonna fight 'til you lose

We're gonna raise trouble

We're gonna raise hell

We're gonna fight you, brother

Raise hell

Death or glory

Becomes just another story

Unlike other punk bands, The Clash advocated for means of resistance that did not involve violence, which was often present at punk rock gigs. According to Elin Wilder for Punk, “in fact they abhorred [violence], and were one of the few bands to continually speak out against it; their ideal was to convince kids to focus their anger toward fighting for a common cause instead of fighting each other.” (p. 52)

Gen Z, my own generation, is highly active in advocating for common causes in today’s society, in which the same capitalist-caused issues addressed by The Clash, plus hundreds more, run rampant, if not worse. Now is a better time than ever to look back to The Clash, London Calling as well as their other albums, and the plenty of other frustrated, politically-motivated punk groups of the 1970s and ‘80s. What can we learn from their groundbreaking subculture? What worked and what didn’t? How should we address the ills of capitalism today?

Now that I have my own car, my grandmother’s 1997 Saturn, I have some freedom to choose the music that changes my mood. However, with a broken cassette player, radio is my only listening option, which means there are limitations to the discography I hear on my drives. Although I don’t frequently hear The Clash on the radio, I’m learning to appreciate local radio again, and listening to songs by chance; music that I would typically not seek out on my own accord. It is also a delightful surprise to turn on a station and hear some of my favorite songs and artists, like Feist on WXPN, as well as music I once loved and haven’t heard in ages. There is so much that we can learn by looking back on the art and music of the social movements that contributed to the groundwork of our culture today.

Left to right: Jones, Strummer, Simonon, Headon. 1978. (Sheila Rock/Rex).

Works Cited

Anderson, Mark, and Ralph Heibutzki. We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of A Band That Mattered. E-book, Akashic Books, 2018.

Bindas, Kenneth J. “‘The Future is Unwritten’: The Clash, Punk and America, 1977-1982.” American Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, Spring 1993, pp. 69-89.

Boy George’s 1970s: Save Me from Suburbia. Directed by Ian Denyer, IWC Media, 2016.

Jolly. “The Clash: Don’t Give ‘Em Enough Rope!” Punk Magazine, vol. 1, no. 17, May-June 1979.

Wilder, Elin. “The Clash.” Punk Magazine, The D.O.A. Filmbook Special Edition, 10 Apr. 1981, p. 52.

#the clash #punk #70s

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