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Punk, not New Wave

It was mid - 70s punk rock that changed everything, not New Wave bands like Duran Duran, Flock Of Seagulls, and The B-52s. Punk challenged mainstream rock's increasing emphasis on virtuosity and disconnect from the lives of its fans. By the time the Ramones formed, mainstream rock was rapidly becoming all about worshiping 20 minute guitar solos wrapped in stupid lyrics about starships while sitting on butt - numbing folding chairs in a hockey arena. Punk smashed all that by insisting that anybody could make great music, that feel and sincerity counted as much as skill, and that lyrics had to mean something again. Punk was also an argument for the primacy of songs over albums. Even the biggest bands on the planet like Led Zeppelin suddenly looked irrelevant and more than a little silly compared to the Sex Pistols, whose songs were so provocative that the band members were attacked in the streets and whose concerts were prohibited by town councils all over Britain.

One aspect of punk's legacy can be heard every day in the most mainstream music: punk made music fast. In 1976 I couldn't have imagined that a song that was faster than anything on the first Ramones album would one day be the theme song for a Disney (!) cartoon series called "Phineas and Ferb."


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