(Punk) Rock chicks

[trixtah]

Patti Smith was finally inaugurated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. While I really don't care about that so much, it represents a level of recognition of her influence that's taken a long time coming.

Here's an early rendition of Gloria, although the Italian subtitles and skipping audio are annoying. Horses, with a really dorky-cute interview intro to start. And fucking hilarious interview for a kids' programme ("I think being the female Mick Jagger is a very good thing to be"), with her version of You Light Up My Life. She makes it almost bearable (despite forgetting half of the words). That song has special meaning for me: it was the first song I parodied from end to end when we were forced to sing it in Standard 4 choir when I was about 10 ("you light up my pot, you give me dope, to smoke alone..." can't remember the rest). Bad me, and thank you Patti.

And, yay YouTube, the fucking awesome Free Money.

She's still got it (and her voice too, although her pitch can be wobbly) - Because the Night (with Sarah McLauchlan on piano). A recent single, Summer Cannibals.

Looking at all that stuff (and the famous photos), I can totally see why Robert Mapplethorpe and many others totally had the hots for her - she's eminently fanciable ... and in a queer kind of way, no matter what orientation the observer might have. Here's to a woman who's had the balls to speak up for everything she's believed in, always.

Also, extra bonus - a series of clips someone's posted on YouTube from a UK doco on the story of punk. The doco does a nice acknowledgement of the influence of very early rock and roll, as well as glam rock (where the oddballs hung out), and proto-punk types like Iggy, Bowie and Lou Reed. A lot of punk was crap by any measure - I still loathe the Sex Pistols and their ilk (and Johnny Lydon is still an arrogant fucker in those docos) - but a lot of it was fucking awesome, and it was such a breath of fresh air from the increasingly hackneyed stadium rock or dribbly ballads (You Light Up My Life, again, anyone? Barry Manilow?) that was "popular" music at the time.. At the other end, punk had a big impact on the more "indie" 80s pop, IMO, and there were interesting cross-fertilisations with electro (think of New Order vs Giorgio Moroder-influenced bands like Human League).

Here're links to the excellent episode on women in punk (parts 1, 2, 3) - yep, this was the first time when the chicks could really grab the guitars and start making their own noise. "They weren't just girl singers, they were part of our revolution". "Punk just opened up this avenue for being a bad girl". "It was about looking how you wanted to look and being interesting". Yes, and thank god. Patti, of course, Siouxie and the Banshees, The Slits (eee! proto-ska!), Blondie, Poly Styrene and the X-ray Spex. No Joan Jett, though (I Love Rock N Roll, and Crimson and Clover, eee!). Or Chrissy Hynde. :-( (UK-focused nature of the beast, alas).

While people still make a fuss about the woman singer/songwriter these days, women in rock owe a lot more to the punk chicks for the ability to get out and strut their stuff than the folkie Joan Baezes and Joni Mitchells that a lot of them seem to namecheck first. Ok, I take some of it back - Suzi Quatro was always in a league of her own. There's also a nice discussion at the end of the episode that while it looked good for a wee while there for some female punk artists, it didn't last that long, even with things like the Riot Grrl scene - women are back to still being judged by their looks first, music second.

Comments

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Suzi is amazing. Saw her live at a real dive in Pyrmont Bridge Road back in 1990 - and she rocked then. But then I thought she was stunning back in 1973 when I used to watch her on Top of the Pops.