My Seventies Music

Category: Seventies Punk Rock

  • The Sex Pistols – “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” And “Holidays In The Sun”

    Cover of The Sex Pistols album "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols"

    The late Seventies were the years of punk rock, and although not the first punk rock band, The Sex Pistols were the epitome of the movement, with songs like “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays In The Sun”.

    I didn’t actually get a (taped) copy of their only album, “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols” (1977), until a few years later, when I lived in Germany.

    Or maybe I did get it before leaving New Zealand, I just remember playing it in the car of a band I wrote some stuff with in Germany, shortly after I met them in December 1980. The bass player and singer of the ZZ Top/Lynrd Skynyrd type band didn’t like The Beatles, so I played him The Sex Pistols…

    This is the studio version of “Anarchy In The UK”:

    “God Save The Queen”, also the studio version:

    Sex Pistols classic “Pretty Vacant”:

    “Holidays In The Sun”:

    Having experienced the Berlin Wall on numerous occasions while living in Germany – from both sides – the lines in this song about it took on particular significance for me at least in the 1980s.

    Now the Wall is gone and so are The Sex Pistols, though the Berlin Wall actually lasted longer…

    Nevertheless, the “cultural” legacy of The Sex Pistols lingered on well after the actual demise of the band.

    Whatever one may think of their music, they were a catalyst for many great acts that followed.

    Paul

  • The Scavengers – “Mysterex” And “True Love”

    New Zealand punk band The Scavengers

    The Scavengers were one of the first New Zealand punk bands in the late Seventies (along with The Suburban Reptiles), most well known locally for their songs “Mysterex” and “True Love”.

    The band was actually formed pre-punk in the mid Seventies by graphic design students at the Auckland Technical Institute and renamed The Scavengers in 1977 when the punk movement started.

    They contributed the two tracks mentioned to a compilation album called “AK79”.
    At first the only video of “True Love” played by The Scavengers I could find was from an “AK79 Show” in 2008 where the sound quality was so bad I didn’t want to inflict it on you. Meanwhile I just found another, shorter one that is bearable (just!) and gives an idea of the original energy.

    In 1979 The Scavengers moved to Melbourne, Australia and again renamed themselves The Marching Girls in 1980.

    I was thinking The Scavengers were the punk trio I engaged for a free rock festival at the Massey University Student Orientation in Palmerston North in March 1980, but unless they came back to New Zealand before renaming themselves, I guess it wasn’t them. Have to do some digging to find the answer to that one.

    Anyway, here is “Mysterex” from 1978:

    In this clip band member at the time Brendan Perry (who now does VERY different things) describes the background to “Mysterex”:

    As mentioned, here is “True Love” at “AK79 Revisited” in 2008 (the other video of the same performance says The Scavengers…):

    Actually, I will give you the option of watching the other video if you like, which includes two girls jumping on the stage and has better video quality (but don’t say I didn’t warn you about the sound!):

    And here is The Scavengers song “True Love” played by the band’s reincarnation Marching Girls some years later, when it was used in the soundtrack of a film called “Dogs In Space”:

    Tamed down a bit by this time… think I prefer the Scavengers version.

    Paul

  • The Clash – “Complete Control”, “I Fought The Law”, “London Calling”, “Train In Vain”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”

    The Clash album "London Calling" (1979)

    The raw energy of the punk movement of the late Seventies was personified by UK band The Clash, whose most well known tracks include “Complete Control”, “I Fought The Law”, the iconic “London Calling”, “Train In Vain”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”.

    1977 track “Complete Control” was actually a criticism of their record label CBS for releasing a track as a single against their wishes:

    From their debut album “The Clash”, “I Fought The Law” only appeared as a single in 1979:

    It was followed by the single “London Calling” from the definitive album of the same name:

    “Train In Vain”, from the same album, was only added at the last minute and not featured in the credits, yet became their first entry to the US Top 30:

    Another piece full of vibrant energy – “The Magnificent Seven”:

    Like many songs by The Clash, “Rock The Casbah” had a political background:

    And finally, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”, which in more recent times was used in a parody of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. When it was re-released early in 1991 it gave The Clash their first and only Number 1 single in the UK, five years after they broke up:

    Some of the members continued to work together now and then, but years later The Clash frontman Joe Strummer (actually John Graham Mellor) died suddenly in December 2002, just weeks before the band was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ending any possibility of a reunion.

    The legend lives on.

    Paul

  • Magazine – “Rhythm Of Cruelty”, “Believe That I Understand”, “I Wanted Your Heart”, “Talk To The Body”, “Permafrost”, “The Thin Air”, “Feed The Enemy” and “Back To Nature”

    Magazine album "Secondhand Daylight" (1979)

    Magazine is another of those UK New Wave bands whose music I first heard played by the house band (Snatch) at the Majestic Hotel in Palmerston North, New Zealand, prompting me to buy their album “Second Daylight” with songs like “Rhythm Of Cruelty”, “Believe That I Understand”, “I Wanted Your Heart”, “Talk To The Body”, “Permafrost”, “The Thin Air”, “Feed The Enemy” and “Back To Nature”.

    Listening to some of the tracks now I’m not so sure why I bought it, but I think it might have been “Rhythm Of Cruelty” I heard at the Majestic (though I don’t recall the women at the pub being dressed like this…):

    “Believe That I Understand” might have been another one I heard in Palmerston North:


    Not sure about “I Wanted Your Heart”:


    Here are some more tracks from “Secondhand Daylight”, some of them seem a bit obscure for a “post punk” band, but you might like them, so I’ll let you make up your own mind…

    “Talk To The Body”:

    “Permafrost”:

    “The Thin Air”:

    “Feed The Enemy”:

    “Back To Nature”:



    That last one wasn’t quite what I was expecting, think I confused it with “Slow Motion” by Ultravox…

    Paul

  • The Undertones – “Teenage Kicks”, “Jimmy Jimmy”, “You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It)”, “Here Comes The Summer” and “My Perfect Cousin”

    Northern Irish band The Undertones, formed in 1975 in Derry, soon turned to punk when the style began to dominate, and began their rise to national prominence with “Teenage Kicks” in 1978.

    They had sent a demo tape to legendary BBC DJ John Peel.

    Peel paid for them to do a proper recording in a Belfast studio and played the song to success.

    In fact he always said it was his favourite song and wanted the opening lines on his gravestone. He got his wish.

    Although their sound in the late Seventies was three chord punk, when you watch the following videos you may agree with me that The Undertones don’t exactly “look” like a punk band.

    Here’s “Teenage Kicks” in 1978:

    “Jimmy Jimmy” in 1979:

    “You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It)”, also in 1979:

    Nice and short, “Here Comes The Summer”, another track from 1979:

    “My Perfect Cousin” came out in 1980:

    Short and to the point.

    Paul

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