Punk Turns 30

This picture was taken in Hollywood and addresses the self-reflexive Hollywood thing...All the pictures on Rodney's wall have him in them! People came to Los Angeles to "make it" and one sign of "making it" was getting on the Kingmaker's radar. Rodney was the Kingmaker of glam and punk in LA in the 70s and his wall is chock full of souvenirs from the journeys made by people ranging from David Bowie to my good old friend, Stiv Bators . In this picture with Rodney are Stiv Bators, from Cleveland, Ohio via the more working class, more industrial waste-landed Youngstown, and Cynthia Ross from the hip, urban and urbane although smaller version of NYC, Toronto, Canada. Cleveland and Northern Ohio was a minefield of musical talent and always has been. The punk rock era gave us the Dead Boys, Pere Ubu, Pagans, Hammer Damage, Rocket From the Tombs, and oh so many more. Makes you ask "Is there something in the water?" Well, in Cleveland, their ...

Blondie hit the Number One position on the Billboard charts with "Heart of Glass" and kept the position for a week. You could say that some fans were outraged. On the other hand... Debbie Harry told Billboard, "I don't think being commercial is totally derogatory. I think that this was the most intriguing or interesting cut (on Parallel Lines) being that it was a crossover, and it... helped introduce new wave music in a more commercial way." Chris Stein told Creem magazine, "We didn't expect the song to be that big. We did it as a novelty item to put more diversity into the album. It's not selling out, it's only one song." At the time, Jimmy Destri told Pleasant and me, for the record - as our conversation was part of a Lobotomy cover story on Blondie, that "Heart of Glass" used to be called "The Disco Song," even though it was a kind of pop-funk thing. "Heart of Glass," which topped the cha...

Our hero, Joey Ramone as well as the Ramones lit a fire of furious pop music back when they started in the 70s. Thirty years later, their influence is felt all over the place. While I'm off on my short road trip to the birthplace of rock n roll ( Memphis, in case you were not aware), let me leave you with this hot tip: THE BLACK & WHITES from Oxford, Mississippi...totally rock the way you like it. Check them out: here. love it? I knew you would!

Pre-dating the more famous White Stripes with that primitive guitar/drums/screaming like a banshee duo thing was Bantam Rooster led by Tom Potter and various drummers over the Rooster's lifespan. Pure genius, if you ask me - all bad ass attitude (after all, they've got an album called "Fuck All Y'All") and good dirty noise and a fiery, comic live performance. I pity the soul who never caught live Bantam Rooster. Tom Potter was also in my favorite line-up of the Dirtbombs, playing fuzz baritone guitar instead of the bass, offering zany stage banter and comic relief to Mick Collins's ultra-coolness...he was the perfect foil. The producer genius who made the live Rooster sound just as good on vinyl and CD is none other than Jim Diamond of Ghetto Recorders, pictured here at his throne. Just last month, it was my distinct pleasure to be graced by the company of Messrs Potter and Diamond at the same time in good old Detroit Rock City. They'd jus...