Punk: Attitude Page #9

it hardcore.

They were surfers, they were

skateboarders and, in some cases...

they were very violent surfers

and skateboarders...

so out came the song,

"Nazi Punks F*** Off".

Nazi punks, Nazi punks

Nazi F*** Off

The Dead Kennedys also got tagged

with that hardcore punk thing.

Most people'd concur that it was kick

started by the appearance of The Damned.

They came here very early

in April 1977...

caused a sensation.

The Bags came up.

The Bags, The Germs,

The Weirdos...

The Screamers, you know.

Another great band that

actually never recorded...

but was just one

of these biggest...

disappeared,

undocumented legends of all time.

They got me

out of the pain

The Screamers were one of the most

important influences on Dead Kennedys.

As I said, there was both...

was British

stuff influencing us...

but also there so many things right in

our back yard that are largely unknown.

The Screamers show, I think...

was probably my first punk

rock show that I went to...

official punk rock band,

punk rock show.

Mary Quant is

not what I want

How can I feel for

Miss Emma Peel?

Every scene needs centre...

every scene needs a set

of characters, a club house.

I think, without The Masque...

it wouldn't have grown,

it wouldn't have flourished.

There was,

you know, a bit of...

the glam rock fleet from West LA

that coerced around The Germs...

the art school crowd that

coerced around The Weirdos.

East coast, dirty cities, small,

a lot of people, you know...

people living high,

stacked on top of each other.

A lot of street crime,

polluted skies...

the ocean comes up to your ankle

and there's a dead guy floating in it.

To California, sun, fun, beautiful

girls, surfing and punk rock.

How can you have sun, hot chicks,

surf boards, oranges and punk rock?

A lot of people mistakenly think that,

because it's happening in California...

sunny California...

where kids are at the beach,

that they have great lives...

but, you know, you can have

a messed up life anywhere.

From the East Coast

To the West Coast

Gotta, gotta, gotta go

On the East Coast...

often it's a little faster

beat per minute...

just cos East Coast people,

like what like I am...

we talk faster,

we talk more...

we're more in your face.

"F*** you" means

"f*** you"...

not, "Hey let's do

lunch next week".

It's on and the

music reflects it.

Agnostic Front could've never

have come out of LA.

Can't keep touch

with you or me

Gotta, gotta, gotta go

It kind of went from punk,

to the new wave, to the arty stuff...

and we were really

nothing about that.

You know,

we just wanted pure aggression.

You know, we started doing the circle

pits and stuff and slam dancing.

Crucified

Straight that arm

Crucified for your sins

Crucified

Straight that arm

Crucified for your sins

Guys touching each other,

sweating, flesh...

pectoral muscles.

Very homo erotic.

You say, fellas, stop fighting,

get a room. Get it over with.

But lyrically now

there was changes.

It was bands like Minor Threat,

coming up with saying...

like there was

a straight element...

which they considered no drink, no

smoke, no f***, whatever that was about.

The Straighter scene was coined,

say in Washington DC...

with the Teen Idols

or Minor Threat.

We don't drink,

we don't smoke, we don't f***.

You know, it was,

it was a way of self-control.

It was a counter-culture

to the counter-culture.

Fugazi.

It's one of, it's one of

Ian MacKaye many bands.

Lan had the Teen Idols.

Lan had Minor Threat, which was a huge,

hugely influential band in this country.

Fugazi has a few things...

they did and did not

do which were huge.

First off, Fugazi will not do an

interview in any publication...

that has ads that have

liquor or tobacco in them.

So Rolling Stone's like, pretty please,

can we do an interview?

Sorry. Can you do an issue with

no liquor or tobacco?

No.

Then we can't talk to you.

Time time time

Forever time

Black Flag was hanging around. They

were like the 2nd generation of bands.

They were...

This was even pre-Henry...

cos Henry was

in Washington DC.

This was...

the first generation

of the band. Keith Morris.

We always had this like,

go for it attitude, like...

you can't wait around or somebody

to do something for you.

You have to do

it for yourself...

and I think a lot of that came

out in the Black Flag music.

At first

Relax

Get set

Get your message from time

Time, time

When Black Flag

started in 79...

I think Henry Rollins joined,

I think it was 1982...

so Henry's comes into it.

He's more an

East Coast figure...

you know...

I think his punk credentials came

more from the Washington DC side of it.

There's songs about cops...

there's songs about killing yourself,

there's songs about depression...

the women who leave,

the car has no brakes...

and we're flooring it and

we're gonna hit something.

So what?

It's Black Flag.

I walk by your house

To see if you

were at home

They were the band that

was smart enough to tour.

Actually they got their

sh*t together after tour.

So that really

helped them a lot.

And helped us all a lot.

Black Flag's going through;

The Dead Kennedys are going through...

the independent labels are

all swapping records.

Many, you know, independent

distribution is coming along.

America kind of ignites between

Summer of 79 and Summer of 81 and bam.

One night a band from

Washington came up here...

and they were a black band

and they were playing.

Well, they said they were

a hard rock band, a punk band...

and this was

the Bad Brains.

You see, I had people telling

me I played hardcore.

I never knew the f***

what hardcore was.

I never even said

hardcore in my life.

I always thought hardcore was porno,

like triple x, or whatever.

The Bad Brains sound is a sound

of punk rock from the Dead Boys...

a combination of Ramones,

Sex Pistols and Dead Boys.

What you got in hardcore is the Bad

Brains starting out playing punk rock...

and getting faster.

For some reason,

if the drummer's bored, Earl...

he want to go talk

to a girl...

he might play

the songs all fast.

I might be on stage

looking at him, like...

Dude, you're pissing me off.

Man, come on.

The next thing you know, it became

and created like a genre, you know.

The speed.

The music is fast we want to try

and play a little faster...

but if the music gets

smooth right here...

we've got to make

it nice and smooth.

If the music is gonna get buck wow right

here, then its got to get buck wow.

Here you had Puerto

Rican skinheads...

you had Jewish skinheads,

you had Black skinheads.

Nobody is gonna get up on stage

and be against anybody here...

otherwise they would be torn

off the stage and thrown out.

I never really once heard

anybody go "N*gger!"

Actually it happened

to me in England.

A kid, we're playing England...

and he said,

"F***ing Yankee n*gger, go home".

Spit, spit on me and sh*t.

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