PUNK'S SECRET HISTORY OF SQUARENESS

By JESSE KNIGHT

Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation” has been considered the national anthem of US punk for as long as said office has existed. Malcolm McLaren even explicitly commanded the Sex Pistols to write their own version of the song in order to distinguish themselves from a sub-par Alice Cooper cover band. BUT, would Malcolm have been so eager to coopt the Voidoids’ ode to vacancy if he’d realized it was itself a rewrite of late 50s novelty tune by arch-cornball Rod McKuen?

Hear ’em and weep.

Maybe there’s something to be said for taking a parody of how dopey and vacant the Beats were at face value and using it as the foundational statement of your own subculture, but even with the benefit of hindsight, irony, and the recuperation of Novelty Music by the artistic elite, it’s still a little hard to digest. I mean where does it go from here? The Fall covering I’m a Mummy"? Awwwwwww shit

By JESSE KNIGHT 2 years ago

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