Edit, Allmusic!!!

Does this review make any sense? When the Dictators released "Go Girl Crazy" in '75, there really wasn't a punk scene. Heck, there was hardly a metal scene. Zep & Sabbath were around, but I don't think the whole "Bill & Ted"/headbanger/devil horns etc subculture existed yet. And what punk scene is he talking about? The handful of Modern Lovers fans in Boston? The hundred or so regulars at CBGBs? The rest of the world didn't know it existed yet.

Pretty goofy alright, tho I'm no expert on what actually was or wasn't happening in NYC in 1975. You're right though that even heavy metal was a pretty fluid concept in 1975, as I noted in this thread: <[trouserpress.com];

And apologies if that link doesn't work; I think I remember Paganizer saying that the # symbols screw things up. And I never can remember how to do the kind of link you did above....

hey rhett, use the <a> thingie under 'Subject'. Generally it works, tho maybe those # symbols mess it up.

The allmusic article doesn't specify that NYC was the battleground between punks and metalers. Presumably it was a national/international war.



Post Edited (01-12-12 15:40)

Yeah, this is a case of "when the legend becomes reality, print the legend." The writer is just writing from what he's received as third generation hand-me-down conventional wisdom. Punk and metal were in opposing camps that barely acknowledged each other? Is that why Patti Smith was writing songs for Blue Oyster Cult? (Don't know if BOC are considered metal by today's standards, but they were in the 70s. As were Cheap Trick, Joy Division and Killing Joke on various occasions.)

I'm sure he also thinks the CBGB bands all recorded for indie labels and were horrified by the very concept of commercial success or signing with a major label. It's really hard to convince young indie snobs that the whole "you're not cool enough to like us and we'd rather die than sign with a major" attitude came from later generations and that the original wave of punks really wanted their stuff to be popular and get played on commercial radio.

MrFab wrote:

> Does this review
> make any sense?

It's just sloppy writing. Punk was primarily a reaction to the glossy, overproduced stadium rock of the 1970s like Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. Precious few outside of London and New York had even heard of Punk in 1975. It really started to get a following after the first Sex Pistols album in 1977. With the end of the "classic rock" era in the 1980s stadium rock would then start to be dominated by glam/hair metal bands.

Quote

It's just sloppy writing.

pandora radio just told me that A Flock Of Seagulls were a "one-hit wonder" when a cursory glance at their wiki page would have revealed several other top 40 singles, even on the American charts.

Reminds me of seeing Nancy Sinatra giving a q&a:

audience member: why did VH1 call you a "one-hit wonder"?
Nancy: Because they're idiots.