Punk history was made this day when The Who recorded ‘My Generation’ in 1965. Lester Bangs once said ‘Rock & Roll is an attitude, and if you’ve got the attitude you can do it, no matter what anybody says… whatever anybody ever called it, Punk Rock has been around from the beginning – it’s just Rock honed down to its rawest elements, simple playing with a lot of power… PASSION IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT’. What boasts that spirit attitude better than ‘My Generation’? This song sums up why we have Rock & Roll, why it is so necessary. This day in 1965 The Who made Punk history.
A couple of days ago in 1976 an unsigned Wreckless Eric gave a tape of his material to Stiff Records. Well, this day 76 he’s called back to the label and offered a contract. Eric will become a big name for the label and New Wave music in the UK.
It was also one day ago in 1978 that Nancy Spungen was killed. Today Sid Vicious appears in court, charged with second degree murder. The New York press infest the story, claiming he’s been proven guilty before the trail has even begun. Bail has been set at $50,000 and Vicious is now looking to Malcolm McLaren for help.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, Penetration release their first album, the glow-in-the-dark Moving Targets. Here’s the lead track ‘Future Daze’:
This day 1990, Iggy Pop is in the charts with a duet withB52’s Kate Pierson entitled ‘Candy’. A decade earlier, Jim Carroll, the drug addict-cum-poet-cum-punk release his first album. Jim Carroll is probably most famous for The Basketball Diaries, an autobiographical account of his teenage years of heroin addiction (made into a film with Leonardo DiCaprio). He became a succesful poet in 70s New York and was an early supporter of Patti Smith. She in turn encouraged him to start a band, which he did. It was this day in 1980 that The Jim Carroll Band released their debut album featuring the classic song ‘People Who Died’. Here’s the late Carroll:
Rebellious Jukebox 