The 2nd Greatest American Punk Band

[bpdp3]

This is a tough one. My original inclination was to go with the Dead Boys, but Black Flag really did launch a movement which probably responsible for the way punk still sounds today.

But still, I think "California Uber Alles" by the Dead Kennedys (the original single version) is one of my favorite US punk records of all time.

....just realized I called the Pistols iconic in the UK punk thread before reading Blir's statement on this thread.

To me, regardless of how you regard her MUSIC, Patti was undoubtedly a part of the early NYC punk SCENE and all that went with it. I've read/absorbed many written pages and seen billions of B&W's from that early Bowery era (without ever having been there *sniff*) and she's always been tangled up in it - - and not in an opportunistic way.

[profpike]

I voted for X as a sympathy vote -but c'mon no Minor Threat!?

[Peter Venkman]

[quote][i]Originally posted by EverydayItsTomorrow[/i]
<br>The song was Hey Joe rewritten with a Patty Hearst spoken section. It is not one of her most famous songs. It is the B-side of her single Piss Factory[/quote]

My copy of the Punk Rock diary states that Hey Joe is the A-Side.

[quote]This was a radical idea to rewrite a basic rock song and completely change it's meaning"[/quote]

Like Hendrix did with "All Along The Watchtower".
Not [i]that[/i] radical.

[quote]Actually Patti and Bruce co-wrote “Because the Night” [/quote]

Bruce wrote the original, then sent the tapes to Patti next door. Her band changed the beat, and she shifted the lyrics. She rewrote it.

[quote]Jim morrison was a terrible poet and his lyrics only work because of his delivery and the talent of the rest of the band. Forgive me Doors fans.[/quote]

Ahem...from Creem, June 1975

[i]"I went to Jim Morrison's grave and there was nothing. a dirt site in section 6. I sat like some jack ass sobbing in the mud all alone in paris when there is so much work to do so much flesh to consume. there is nothing there -- not headstone no vibration no flowers no feeling. just a little plastic plaque with the word AMI friend the only thing Jim Morrison ever wanted."[/i]

No matter what your opinion on Morrison, it's apparent that he influenced Patti Smith in a huge way.

[quote]Suzy was a huge flop in the US most famous for being Leather Tuscadero way latter in her career. Maybe you could say Janis or Grace influenced her[/quote]

Janis and Grace were cowardly hippies. Suzi Quatro, although of neglible commercial import in the states, was huge in England; considering that the stateside musical progression moved at a glacial pace, it's england that mattered.

[quote] but she really was influenced by male artists like Lou Reed.[/quote]

...and Jim Morrison, and Hendrix, and Dylan, etc.

What I'm trying to say is that for all Smith's punk-poetic bravado, her influences hew closer to classic rock than the avant garde.

[quote]Like male rockers and punk males never influence each other? Rock has always been about stealing, look at David Bowie. And Patti if anything was completely original[/quote]

Except for rewriting Hey Joe, Gloria, Because the Night, etc.

[quote]You have no since of true history and your influenced by everything they came after. I am not even a huge Patti Smith fan but I know how important she is and that a lot of people with a lot more knowledge than both of us agree with me as well.[/quote]

Who? Dave Marsh? Robert Christgau?

<font size=1 color=#006666>
[i]"I could join a pray-peace group;
Explain it all away,
'Cause groups can change the world
And meet Ms. Fjord and Benny."[/i]--The Fall, "2nd Dark Age"</font>

[SwampThing]

Peter, let's just say I'm glad you stay out of the political/social debates, unless of coarse your arguing my side [;)]

EverydayItsTomorrow, you've made some very fine points also. I've really enjoyed this debate.

<font size="1">"I've been playing the joker and dumbass for too long here, out of pity for the intellectually challenged that frequent this site" -- Hutter</font>