FEATURE PUNK‘S NOT DEAD
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‘We came from nowhere and we're
' going straight hack there.’ 'l‘hat was
your catchphrase. and it was usually
true. Punk stars— even the greatest «
endured plenty ofpoverty. desperation and drug addiction. hut the scene threw up few visihle fatalities. lt'san irony worth reflecting upon that the optimistic new [den of flower power claimed more of its stars‘ lives — Brian Jones.
Jimi Hendrix.Janis-loplin..lim
DEAD LUCKY
MADE AN EXIT :
I Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungeon 'l‘he Bonnie and (‘lydc of the 70s. this mutually dependent pair of misfits found their only meaning in life in punk. each other and iunk. 'l'hey faded away to wraiths on the joylcss round of methadone clinics. and
when Sid woke tip to find her hody
run through with a hunting knife. he realised he had destroyed his last reason to live. In a sick. strange way. it‘s almost what Sid would have wanted: after saying he wouldn't live ~ past 31 . he hecame a symhol of lost. doomed youth. his memory entwined forever with Nancy 's. In her hook. Am] I om: Want To live This Life. Dehorah Spungeon rememhe rs her disturhcd. hyperactiv e daughter far more sympathetically than any of the punks on the l.ondon scene.
I Johnny Thunders Along with Iggy. Thunders was the proto-punk. and had a huge influence on the development of the British and American scenes. 1 1e formed The New York Dolls with David Johansen in 1971 and died. aged 38. in April this year. in mysterious circumstances. llis autopsy failed to reveal the cause of death and the theft of money and goods from his New Orleans hotel room in the night gave rise to suspicions of foul play.
I Stiv Bators l‘he former singer from The Dead Boys and lords ()f’l‘he New Church was 40 years old when he was hit by a car in Paris in June 1990.11e walked away from the accident and refused medical attention. hut died later that night in his sleep.
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10The List 11— 2-1 October 1991
Morrison. and don't forget Meredith llunter at Altamont — than the ‘No Future' culture.
(‘orrespondingly. few attained real riches. 'l‘he modest success enjoyed hy the e.\'('.’)-punks is pitiful when compared with the previous generations superstars. Yes. Ritchie Blackrnore does make more in royalties than Pete Shelley. but we all know that it‘s Shelley"s tunes that are on the iukehox in the hereafter.
MADEA KILLING
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I John Lydon In 1986. after an eight-year dispute with Malcolm .'\lcl.aren involving accusations of mismanagement and unpaid royalties. the former Johnny Rotten walked out of a court nearly a million pounds richer. By that time. he and his wife Nora. heiress to a publishing fortune. were already living part of the year in Los Angeles. Over the years. Pil. have also had some honu fir/e hits.
I Billy Idol (ieneration X had limited potential. everyone agreed. and few held out much hope for Billy ldol when he decamped to the States. Nevertheless. given his classic rock'n'roll sneer. it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise when he hitched up with a hot metal guitarist and gained heavy rotation on MTV. He is doing immeasurath better than his old partner ’l'ony (pineapple head) James
I Adam Ant Mel .aren persuaded the Ants to fire Adam and set them up. with ft)urteen—year-old singer Annahella l.win. as Bow Wow Wow. to only modest success. Stung hy the way he‘d heen treated. Adam took the sound McLaren and the Ants had developed and hlew them right off the map. When the hits driedup. he moved. like Lydon and 160 L'SA. «.
I Jim Kerr Jim Kerr? Yes; frontman of 101111 NY
Seif-Abu sets. w punk. with an un’, j I, . fondness for 5 1i ght of Sim pleMt/i '. bieedin' packet. ,7
I Julie Burchill Now enjoyinga salary of around £100,000 a year as the hitch of Fleet Street. she and erstwhile partner 'l‘ony Parsons terrorised the hippies of the NM”: and wrote the original punk hook The Boy Looked AIJohmzy when not feeding laxatives to an unsuspecting Iggy Pop.
1. to the. .fjl
extraordinaire, George ‘1 saw the
'
|.IE BAGK&THII
Paul W. llullah turns hack the Clock to the dawn of Scottish Punk — but was there ever such a thing.
Nightshift records. then promoter and music scrihe. agrees. ‘( irangemouth‘s punk band was called The (irim Biscuits. itwas all makeshift up here. l'he bin-linerand hog-chain style w as created by the London tahloids. So was gobbit‘tg at hands. Punk w as a Londonseene: it was hig business and big business made a lot of moncyOtit ofit.‘
.\'o punks in Scotland then (apart
Punk in Scotland. eh'.’ Anarchy in the heather. The ’76 tartan riot. the gigs and the gear. White punx on dope littering (ieorge Square.
()hscure badges and hondage trews. from The Grim BiseuitS)? " Ah. the memories. ‘l‘er. punk Guthrie; ‘Oh, the“: were five l 2% never actually happened in : hands in every mwm ’Antcmbicp i 1',
Scotland.‘ volunteers one who
Duffin: ‘Isu'pposethcrewcre the i should know. Scots promoter
Rezillos. But they were just '50s rock‘n’roiicrs Who speeded their songsup. Speak tothcir singer. Eugene Reynolds. he was Scotland’s l '/ originat “punk” icon.‘ ‘Takcchry‘thingDuffin says with a . huge'hucketiul of sausaams Reynolds. still a musician fifteen years on. "l‘he Rezillos formed in 1975 as 21 covers hand. Btit whereas other bands played "l’reehird". w e playedotis kitsch. I wore winkleopickers and wrap-round shades and everyone fell ahout laughing. 'l'hen punk came out of London and Sudden!) l was cool. Attitude-wise. weidentified with punk hecausc it reactedagainst the status quo and it shunned .y complacency. Webecamepunks 1L)
,éf’Pistotsat the 1%.Cluh' Duffin. this 3%)“ an, who caught€hriss§e 1 1y n dc J one/$71: xcigang’ing hodi'ly thefiztst .1 had a ltiaaééoibadges it. and/plastic trousers.' he égteminisces. ‘hut I bought them in 2London.‘ I t Hunt‘You could count the punks in Scotland on one hand. There were two in Falkirk. and everyhody knew their names. There were none in Glasgow. because if you looked different there. you got murdered.‘ Duffin adds. cheerfully.
Brian ‘1 was a Ramones man myself‘ (iuthrie. now owner of
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