Blank Generation
Just as intended, punk rock shook things up. In the U.S., that shakeup wouldn’t yield commercial windfall until the 1990s as bands including Nirvana and Green Day emerged to alchemize underground sounds into platinum-selling shopping mall soundtracks. The five CDs comprising Blank Generation (A Story Of U.S. / Canadian Punk & Its Aftershocks 1975-1981) go a long way in documenting punk’s subterranean explosion and its reverberations. The set’s track list rightly places punk's epicenter in New York City before its titular aftershocks were felt throughout much of the rest of the nation.
Blank Generation's six-year span allows enough time to tell the story from the importance of many of the bands cutting their proverbial teeth at the Bowery’s famed nightspot, CBGB. It ends at the early ‘80s when the punk impulse generated sounds and philosophies related to, but decidedly apart from, the initial burst of creative energy that sought to disrupt post-hippie rockers' dominance. The collection's 125 tracks commence with the Richard Hell & The Voidoids’ album from which it derives its title; last heard is Minor Threat, the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk outfit, promoters of the straight edge lifestyle who became principled prophets of a secular puritanism.
The 123 tracks between those tunes outline definition of punk far beyond the “loud fast rules!” directive of everyone from The Ramones to The Adolescents. Even Hell, synth duo Suicide and the Patti Smith Group’s spartan, poetic approach defied the notion that increased tempo necessarily makes for greater impact.
So even within its first disc, a catholicity of definition allows a wide stylistic berth for Pere Ubu's Captain Beefheart-influenced art damaged nihilism, Blondie’s snotty Shangri-Las throwback aesthetic, The Dictators’ dumb guy shtick and The Residents’ willful warping of classic rock tropes (represented by the only remake present, of a Rolling Stones oldie) all exemplify one or another aspect of embodying punk-ness. Two bands with alumni of The New York Dolls—Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers and Arthur Kane’s Killer Kane Band—merit inclusion, representing the legacy of the NYC band to have best proffered a punk approach to rock and roll earlier in the ‘70s.
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As the set progresses the Generation grows more sonically diverse, making room for The Cramps’ psychobilly, Devo’s spastic robotics, plenty of punk-adjacent, purposefully dance-oriented new wave from Romeo Void, Pylon, tween queen Chandra et al and ... well, 125 tracks is a lot!
Milwaukee figures into the story on the last two CDs. One of the most fun numbers by The Haskels (from their insanely collectible debut EP) makes the cut (among tracks from a brace of releases that could easily deplete a vinyl fiend's bank account). So does one by Oil Tasters, whose sax-bass-drum line-up adds an off-kilter kick to Richard bassist/singer LaValliere’s despairingly hilarious lyrics.
Licensing difficulties and other forms of resistance likely prevented a handful of important acts from appearing in the track list. Conversely, there's arguably a bit of redundancy present, too. Television was a great, pathfinding band to emerge from the CBGB scene, but to include solo cuts from singer Tom Verlaine and guitarist Richard Lloyd seems like a bit of overkill. Ditto for the inclusion of a solo turn from Suicide’s keyboardist, Martin Rev.
Those relative quibbles aside, Blank Generation connects dots and illuminates history as an anthology of its proportions should. Go figure that it took a British label to make it happen!
Get Blank Generation at Amazon here.
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