The American Spectator

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Punks of All Types

10.4.07 @ 12:01AM

ALBUM COVERS
Re: Greg Gutfeld's A Rotten Affair:

After all these years, I still find it difficult to believe we are seriously supposed to take Never Mind the Bollocks seriously. Johnny Rotten may be fearless in speaking his mind; but slamming "hippies" in 1977 was much like firing a few rounds into the carcass of a dead horse. "Hippies" had largely disappeared from the earth 1973 -- much to the relief of millions.

Yet "hippiedom" did have the salutary effect of demonstrating to one and all what happens when you dispense with societal mores and supports. It went more than having bad body odor. These children of nature began to show up in medical clinics with diseases not seen since the Dark Ages. As they aged, parents and contemporaries became less and less inclined to help them out. And the Age of Aquarius revealed its dark side as many of "peace and love" generation began to delve into the specters of the night.

While I try to be polite and open, I finally can't help but feel sorry for those who were born some years after I did. By the time the Sex Pistols arrived on the scene, rock music had grown stale and lazy. Punk was largely a reaction to what had become Rock's aristocracy. The world didn't need any more "laid back" music or record albums whose chief virtue was supposed to be the lyric sheet.

The problem was Punk (Sex Pistols included) could dish it out but didn't deliver the musical goods. "Peace, Love and Rock and Roll" held more sway "London Calling" could ever muster. Even at his most self-indulgent smarminess, there was not one "Punk" fit to tie Paul McCartney's shoes. Sorry, just a fact.

So, what would I give a young person today? Where do I begin? The Beatles, of course. Any of their albums from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road. The Rolling Stones: everything from Beggar's Banquet to Exile on Main Street. The Doors: their self-titled first album, Morrison Hotel and L.A. Women. All of the Cream: particularly Disraeli Gears. Then we can go into The Allman Brothers Band, Traffic, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and others.

I would point to them all. But at the top of the stack would be two albums: Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominoes. (Do I have to point out that "Derek" was really Eric Clapton?)

If you really want to shake that young man's world, give him those two albums first.
-- Mike Dooley

It is good to see in print what I have known in my heart for 30 years-- that much of punk rock was a deeply conservative force. I wasn't much of a punk in the 1980's (hell, I looked like an explosion in an Orvis catalog), but many of my friends and classmates joined me in listening to groups like The Sex Pistols. We were all History majors and involved with ROTC and the college rifle team and such, but the music was a breath of fresh air that was irresistible. Gone were the self-satisfied songs of the 60's and the awful, mawkish droning of the 70's. Instead, there was "Bodies," the most effective anti-abortion statement I have ever heard.

I'm married to an opera singer now, so my copy of "Never Mind The Bollocks" is no longer in heavy rotation. Still, I pull out the old cassette every so often, when my wife is away and the house is quiet, and I think, "Take that, hippies!"
-- Andrew Batten
Melbourne, Florida

HEARINGS THAT FOREVER ECHO
Re: Jeremy Lott's Thomas-Hill Revisited:

Jeremy Lott, you have brought back in vivid detail all my thoughts and feelings that October Saturday when I watched the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. If I were to trace my conversion to true-blue conservative, it would be that day as I watched those degenerate Senators as they beat up on a black man for his beliefs. From that day, Clarence Thomas has been one of my heroes.

Thank you, Justice Thomas, we all owe you a great debt of gratitude.
-- Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky

THE BOY REGENT
Re: George H. Wittman's Bill Clinton, World Regent:

Bill Clinton justly deserves the appellation Governor of the United States. Contrary to his uncontrollable large appetites and ego, he governed small; with a risk averse tenure that included the underwhelming and fallacious 100,000 cops on the street, and wiring schools to the internet. Such vision surely warrants consideration for Mt. Rushmore. Oh wait, I forgot, he sucked up to the terrorist-in-chief, Yasser Arafat, in hopes of a Nobel Prize, my bad.

Letter to the Editor

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