What does one do when the musical world
is full of music that doesn't speak for you, as in the the modern
world now....the answer is in the title of this here Blog......'Do It
Yourself'!
DIY didn't start in the immediate
Punk/Punk punk era. Often, prog folk outsiders did it in the
seventies, smellie hippies did it in the sixties,incredibly
strange freaks did it in the fifties, and Hillbilly rednecks did it in the twenties and thirties.
This didn't always entail making and
producing your own recordings. It often manifested itself in playing
the music you wanted to hear live yourself, because no fucker else
was gonna do it.
No scene manifested this as much as the
'Pub Rock' era in the UK.
Between 1971 and 1976, the only way one
could escape the more unattractive end of Progressive Rock was to play
'proper Rock'n'Roll yourself; a kind of Regressive Rock, or Regg
Rock.Based on Johnny Kidd and the Pirates rather than Mozart and
Brahms. Exploring the eternal pleasures of the Chuck Berry Riff
rather than double keyboard arpeggios.
Myself, being a pre-teen into Gary
Glitter and T-Rex, this lack of rock'roll never bothered me, because,
as far as I can see, Glitter and Bolan played a more progressive form
of original Rock'n'Roll ; the Pub Rockers were very stuck in 1961,
which I didn't understand until after the Pistols combined the two
for the kids. Bowie plays Johnny Kidd I did understand, especially
when combined with anger and energy.
Dr. Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods
became more comprehensible to the 13 year old, and I adore those two
groups. The other lot took a longer time to appreciate.
One of these crossover groups who
looked Punk but sounded weedily retro in a Pub Rock stylee, were the
contrarily named 'Stukas'. Expecting some hard driving punk, and
seeing their advert in Sounds, I bought their single 'I Like Sport'
and hated it! It sounded nothing like a screaming Nazi dive bomber,
but more like a spluttering microlight dropping liberal party
leaflets over Surbiton* (*leafy suburb of London famed as the setting
for anemic BBC sit-com 'The Good Life').
Over the years, one has come to
appreciate most of the rocky side of the Pub Scene.....although That
Brinsley Schwartz, country and Western stuff still leaves me
nauseous.
I suppose it was all definitely Punk
before Punk,and I especially admire their reluctance to go to the
metal end of rock, unlike the Punks. Then the punks who didn't go
'Metal' went Post-Punk of course; which was nothing more than
Nu-Prog.
As the Pub Rockers knew nothing about
Prog, again unlike the Punks, who were mostly all Proggers; they
stuck to playing the music they loved, which is unpretentious,
unfiltered, post Elvis pre-beatles rock'n'roll …..and why not?
Die or DIY? Presents for you , the
complete vinyl discography of the feebly un-macho pub-punk pop of the
Stuka's …...I like 'I like Sport' now.
(PS, anyone got the Peel Session?)
Track Listing:
"Klean Livin Kids" (Chiswick 1977)
1- Klean Livin Kids
2- Oh Little Girl
"I Like Sport" (Sonet 1977)
1- I Like Sport
2- I'll Send You A Postcard"
3- Dead Lazy
"Washing Machine Boogie" (Sonet 1978)
1- Washing Machine Boogie
2- Motorbike
2 comments:
Rather marvellous: thank you
Glad to see someone appreciates this....at last.
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