Punk Turns 30

Lance Loud, 1977 On June 12, 1977 my sister turned 16, and in a move both selfish and mentoring, I took her to see Bryan Ferry on his first solo tour. He played at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Fellow Roxy Music band mate Phil Manzanera was in his band and so was one of my other guitar heroes, Chris Spedding. Ferry was on tour in support of his solo record, In Your Mind, which in my estimation was a superb album of polished pop music as good as the Roxy Music records, and full of mostly original compositions (Ferry's previous solo albums contained mostly covers). June 1977 also marked the month that I moved into the Famous Lobotomy Apartment at 7231 Franklin Avenue with my friend from the UCLA dormitory Hedrick Hall. She too had a younger sister who came to spend summers in the midst of the rock n roll explosion called punk. In fact, the Bryan Ferry show was a girl's night out - the two UCLA student/music fans/early fans of punk and their little sisters. Naturall...

Not that anyone would make me choose between them, but if there were a gun to my head, I could not name either of these Mumps singles over the other as my favorite. The whole Mumps experience is such an essential part of my life - but that aside, these songs contribute so much to the punk rock oeuvre. Mumps brought camp to art rock and punk to art. While Mumps dazzled Los Angeles on their performance premier, they never lost their appeal, even though they spent several months and made several visits to the Left Coast between 1977 and 1978, making records, touring and trying to get that brass ring...the major label record deal that some punk, indie and new wave bands were beginning to get. Mumps had "Crocodile Tears" b/w "I Like To Be Clean" out pretty early in the game. Lance had his own Crocodile dance that he would bust into during the break between verses. One of the best things that punk rock gave to pop culture was its graphic sensibility and one thing tha...

Playing in a band with Iggy Pop requires more than just chops. You’ve got to be able to go with the flow, improvise and vamp as he launches into any one of his famous antics, from crowd surfing (he may have been the first one to do that) to stripping to inviting the whole audience up on stage. Oh, and he scales the amps as if they were the Alps and hurls stuff around too ( Darby Crash copped the peanut butter thing from Iggy). Darby Crash got a lot of his stage schtick from Iggy Over the years, Iggy has had some capable, some seminal and some stellar guitar players in his bands. Ron Asheton who was with him in the Stooges is back now that the Stooges are playing and recording again. When Ron Asheton moved over to play bass, James Williamson joined on guitar, contributing a certain musical signature all his own, too. Then the band was dropped from their label. Iggy disappeared from the music scene for a while, then Bowie showed up and helped Iggy get it together again, making t...

The Mumps own bio on their website refers to Rob Duprey as a guitar god, so this photo is a natural in this week's Mump A Day feature. So without further ado, some Guitar God photos.... It takes a lot of guts, gusto and persona to be in a band with larger-than-life Lance Loud, and when he puts the mic in your face, you better shout it out! Rob did actually take a turn at vocals in the Mumps live set. He sang the Standells "Sometimes Good Guys Wear White," and possibly (though I can't remember) contribute something to the Mumps cover of Alice Cooper's "Under My Wheels." I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times... Mumps were the most photogenic band ever! More than that, their willingness to be photographed was remarkable, matched only by their friends The Cramps. Pleasant and I managed to wrangle a couple Mumps at a time for Lobotomy photo spreads. We usually paired Kevin and Rob - I guess for the blond/brunette contr...

Anyone who ever saw Mumps perform live risked getting sweat on by Lance Loud whose athletic performance caused him, in his own words to "sweat like a pig." Right up against the foot of the Starwood stage, I not only took this risk, but captured Lance's sculpted "Muscle Boy" torso in action. Kristian Hoffman, the musical arranger/songwriting genius of the group was less athletic but by no means tame as a performer. Although best known as a keyboard player (seen here with his campy peace sign shirt), Kristian knew his way around a guitar too. Bass player Kevin Kiely was Pleasant's favorite Mump, and the girls did all seem to swoon over his big blue eyes and rag doll innocence. Drummer Paul Rutner once told me that I was rather indulgent in taking oh-so-many photos of the Mumps live, but I'm glad I did. Paul bunked on the couch of the Famous Lobotomy Apartment in 1978 when Mumps spent an extended period of time in Los Angeles recording "Muscle...

Kevin Kiely of Mumps was certainly one of the punk rock boys that set our hearts a flutter. He was Pleasant's favorite Mump... Don't they all look pretty great? That's Kevin, Pleasant and Mump Rob Duprey posing punk a la The Bromley Contingent. Future A&R guru, Anna Statman may have been one of Jeffrey Lee Pierce's muses. Here, the teenage David Quinton (right) and 20-something George Cabaniss from Stiv Bators' Disconnected band had their fair share of female attention, even though Stiv attracted the creme de la creme of groupie attention. Billy Idol was another of Pleasant's favorite punk rock boys, and his allure is still strong today (judging from how many hits this site gets whenever I publish a photo of his handsome face). Pleasant herself was one of punk rock's "It Girls," as were her best pals Belinda Carlisle and Wyline. Alley Cat Diane Chai is pictured here in her full Ronnie Spector appeal. Diane played a fierce bass a...