Punk Turns 30

40 years ago, two American men walked on the Moon. One small step for a man... opened the floodgates for pop culture references ad infinitum. The New York Times has an overview of these flights of fancy that you can read here. What else was happening on July 20? 1944 - before we thought of walking on the Moon - Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt (known as the July 20 plot) led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 1976 – The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. How's that for an outer space follow up? It must have been good vibes from Mars in 1976 – Hank Aaron hits his 755th home run, the final home run of his career. 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments, vindicating conspiracy theorists the world over and likely inspiring that Julia Roberts/Mel Gibson movie entitled Conspiracy Theory 1969, Future Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook celebrates his...

On Paul Cook 's 13th birthday (20 July 1969), the American spacecraft Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Less than a decade later, Cook's most high profile band, The Sex Pistols would have formed, toured their native England, made outrageous media headlines, finally arrive in the United States for a brief tour, and then break up pretty much immediately afterwards. What a year 1969 was... It was the year that Richard Nixon took office; 10 days later, The Beatles gave their last public performance - the famous one on the roof of Apple Records that's in the movie Let It Be. Not to worry though, for music would be forever changed again by a record released a couple weeks earlier - the eponymous Led Zeppelin debut album. Hard rock meets the blues = the birth of what would eventually become heavy metal. The Beatles would continue to influence people however... for in August (on the 9th - a day that would play a role in Nixon's future), the Manson family committed the grisl...

This is generally what it looked like backstage at the Whisky A Go Go on any given night. If it looks a little dingy - well, it was a rock n roll club that saw a lot of action and a lot of traffic. I also tried not to use a flash ever - so, this is a low-light photo that I've messed around with so as to pull up the images on the film. This was backstage at a Flesheaters show in 1978. While the Flesheaters were local superstars, bonafide bold-face names let themselves be photographed backstage at the Whisky. That's Sex Pistol Paul Cook at a Slits show and Slits guitarist Viv Albertine is on the right. In between them is Rory Johnston, the Sex Pistols US management guy. But the one person I've photographed backstage ANYWHERE, from the Whisky A Go Go to the Masque to the Starwood and elsewhere more than anyone else is Belinda Carlisle. When I look back at all the photos of Belinda, its easy to trace her transformation from punk rocker to international pop star. Maybe...