Punx not dead. At least not yet.

[sweetcell]

Sex Pistols, One Night Only
 
 The Sex Pistols are reuniting for one show in November to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the legendary album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.
 
  The band will play London's Brixton Academy on November 8, according the British media. Tickets for the November concert will go on sale on Friday, September 21.
 
  "Maybe it's because we're all Londoners, but there would be no Sex Pistol without dear old London town," John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, said on NME.com.
 
  "See you all at Brixton with proper feelings and proper people all around. From London Bridge to The Rose And Crown, all of Britain is welcome so come on down," he added.
 
  The four surviving Pistols - frontman Lydon, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock are on board for the gig.
 
  The quintessential British punk band formed in 1975 but split in 1978. They reformed in 1996 for the Filthy Lucre tour and their last concert together was in 2003.
 
  http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=8340

[El Jefe Design]

But will Gravity Kills open?

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

I think punk died the minute the phrase "punk's not dead" was first uttered....

[bnyced0]

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
  I think punk died the minute the phrase "punk's not dead" was first uttered....

Ditto.

[beetsnotbeats]

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
  I think punk died the minute the phrase "punk's not dead" was first uttered....

Speaking of, did anyone see Sum 41?

[bearman🐻]

Personally, I listen to punk all the time, even now. X-Ray Spex, the Germs, the Buzzcocks, the Damned, etc. It's great music. Guess that makes me a relic according to some folks. True that punk took itself too seriously by the early 80's, but the initial run of it was pretty fantastic.

[bnyced0]

Originally posted by bearman:
  Personally, I listen to punk all the time, even now. X-Ray Spex, the Germs, the Buzzcocks, the Damned, etc. It's great music. Guess that makes me a relic according to some folks. True that punk took itself too seriously by the early 80's, but the initial run of it was pretty fantastic.

I guess the delineation would be that punk as a living organism, has perhaps died to a certain extent but the nostalgia for it as a music genre is alive and well and comes to the fore every few years as a new generation of "kids" "discover" it.  
 
 But really if punk died, it was when it was identified as PUNK.  While its most associated with and recognized as a musical genre, it was more an attitude whether as straight up anti-establishment, DIY, or simply contrarian.  
 
 In my youth punk was generic,  as in not mainstream, but the music was further defined as hardcore, thrash, etc. What's now seen as "new wave" was still punk to us.  
 
 There are people that seem to try and assert a punk ethic (Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty, etc.) but it rings hollow and contrived.  
 
 I think Public Enemy were/are punks, I think Ani Difranco is a punk, I think phuckin Bjork is a punk...so is it alive or dead I guess that depends on your age and perspective, but in the end the Sex Pistols were a pimple on the ass of music cultural history they represent what people want to believe a certain era was about rather than what it really was.  
 
 Siouxsie Sioux, Robert Smith, Morrissey, Thurston Moore, KRS-One, etc. are far more emblematic of what Punk is/was/should be than the Sex Pistols ever were.

[Relaxer]

Originally posted by bearman:
  X-Ray Spex

I think Germfree Adolescents is a true lost classic.

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

I still enjoy looking at dinosaurs in the Museum of Natural History, but that doesn't mean they're not dead either.

[thirsty moore]

So you saw that gig too huh.  I saw them at the Patriot Center in 1996 and to be perfectly honest, the Pistols sucked.  I didn't want them to, but they did.  I'm sure the recent 930 gig was loads better.
 
 

Originally posted by El Jefe Design:
  But will Gravity Kills open?

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
 the phrase "punk's not dead"

punk's what is not dead?  and since "not dead" is being used as an adjective, shouldn't it be hyphenated?
 
 "punk's not-dead ethic can be spotted in bjork's latest album" (although i'd go with "still-alive" myself...)
 
 please use correct punktuation  

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

I saw the Buzzcocks at the 930 a few years ago, and it was kind of a disappointment too.  I mean, they were good, but the take-your-breath-away energy was just not there.
 
 I think so much of it comes down to context.  Hearing something fresh for the first time and hearing it rehashed perfectly 20 years later just aren't the same.   We've changed, they've changed, the world has changed.

[bearman🐻]

I think to get a better sense of what punk is, one has to really look no further than Legs McNeil and John Holmstrom doing the original "Punk" magazine. They were sick of the status quo and wanted to create something original and new, so they started covering Iggy, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and the Ramones. What is unfortunate is that "punk" became a term that even the guys at the magazine ultimately distanced themselves from because people thought it meant sticking a safety pin through your cheek, having a green mohawk and getting high like Sid and Nancy. And the sensationalism of Malcolm McLaren manipulating the Sex Pistols didn't help either.
 
 Ultimately punk means different things to different people, it's just that nowadays people really tend to have more negative associations with it because of common stereotypes. I still like the idea of what punk was originally supposed to be before it got bastardized. I think the LA punk scene is also criminally underrated (the Weirdos, Screamers, and Germs especially). X and the Go-Gos did just fine. Belinda and Co. were never really a punk band even though they aligned themselves with the scene. The same can be said for Blondie and Talking Heads in NYC.

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

Sweetcell, before you correct me on punktuation, you should consider that the apostrophe in "punk's" denotes a contraction of "punk is," not a possessive.  This, I believe, is perfectly acceptable.    
 
 by the way, everyone here should join inDCent Refugees, another music board born of the ashes of the City Paper's inDCent Exposure... http://indcentrefugees.dreamhosters.com