Written by: Dave Cantrell
You know post-punk, we all do. Joy Division, PiL, the Gang of Four. The Cure and Magazine and Siouxsie & the Banshees. Wire. But of course post-punk was so much more than that. It was feverish and profligate and unconstrained and fearlessly experimental. It was pop exploding in your face. Post-punk was monumental and sudden, it never let you catch your breath. And yeah, while those I just mentioned (and many others we could name just as quickly and with little effort) produced a body of work that, taken together, is as enduring as any other era you could mention, the real action was in the regional scenes blowing up all over the UK and, eventually, in the US. And most of it took place on 7″ singles. Here’s twenty of the best (one of which even includes, appropriately enough, a quick snippet of John Peel):
MANICURED NOISE – “Metronome”
RESTRICTED CODE – “First Night On”
VIVIAN GOLDMAN – “Launderette”
I’M SO HOLLOW – “Dreams To Fill A Vacuum”
RED GUITARS – “Good Technology”
FAMILY FODDER – “Savoir Faire”
THE DECORATORS – “Absent Friends”
GOLINSKI BROTHERS – “Bloody”
DALEK I – “Dalek I Love You (Destiny)”
RUDI – “Crimson”
EXPLODING SEAGULLS – “Prefab (Buildings)”
STEVE MIRO – “Queen of the Sea”
EXPELAIRES – “Sympathy”
MUSIC FOR PLEASURE – “Human Factor”
GLAXO BABIES – “This Is Your Life”
THE DISTRACTIONS – “Time Goes By So Slow”
SMACK – “Edward Fox”
PROTEX – “I Can’t Cope”
PINK MILITARY – “Did You See Her”
CLIVE OXFORD – “Fading Star”
[Check out the LP version of this list here.]
Really happy for this article. Many of these bands I haven’t heard of before, but that’s why you’re more of a post punk expert than I’ll ever be, Dave.
On a random note, how would you classify or categorize Fad Gadget? If you haven’t check out his/Frank Tovey’s work, it’s a must listen… so is that Cold Cave I introduced you to awhile back.
Saw Smack supporting The Fall at Bolton in, I think, 1980. I thought they were good and bought the Edward Fox single never to hear of them again. Still play it every now and again.
“But of course post-punk was so much more than that. It was feverish and
profligate and unconstrained and fearlessly experimental.” – Yes, indeed, but I wouldn’t say these records really reflect that; they’re mostly just a lot of second-rate guitar bands.
Welcome to your opinion, Jonathan, of course. But to use the epithet “second-rate guitar bands” seems reflexively baiting. That Distractions single is considered one of the finest pop moments in post-punk history, the Glaxo Babies is generally revered by just about everyone (you excepted, I guess), the Family Fodder & Clive Oxford singles don’t even bloody use guitars (well, the former does, but barely), nor does the Dalek, while the Vivian Goldman is highly prized by all (again, except you, I guess,) and again isn’t what ANYONE would consider a ‘guitar band’ which suggests to me you never bothered to listen but rather just blathered about just to hear your own voice. Protex was indeed a ‘guitar band’ (like that’s such a crime) but a damned good one (ref. the movie “Good Vibrations” if you wanna know what you’re talking about) and the Golinski Brothers is a universally loved single and AGAIN (getting tired of saying this) is hardly reliant on guitars. ‘Post-punk’ was many things, including DIY, which I assume you’re familiar with. This is but a sampling, and anyone, you included, could come up with an alternative set of 20 singles. But man, lay off, don’t you have other things to concern yourself with? Geez….Dave
Sorry, Dave; yes, it was baiting. I love post punk music (or “New Wave” as it was called back then), whereas indie guitar bands are a pet total hate and sometimes I go off on one here. Yes, I did listen to them all before posting and… Well, I won’t spend time (pointlessly and needlessly) arguing with your own taste again. And I do like some of these records anyway: Family Fodder (though I’d go for “Playing Golf With My Flesh Crawling”, which is funny); Pink Military (though that’s a rather accessible track; I’d look to Buddha Waking Disney Sleeping maybe); Vivien Goldman (no, I love this single – a total classic); and the Clive Oxford (don’t remember hearing this before – a nice find; thanks for this one). Sorry for offending you otherwise….Jon
Thanks for the response,Jon. In rereading, I see I rather went off as well, so perhaps you’re not alone in that reflex. From the sound of it (given your preferred choices vis-a-vis Family Fodder and PM), I would guess that I’m a bit more susceptible to the joys of a pop hook – for which, of course, I apologize not at all – though I hastily add that, seeing as my tastes expand to Gong and Soft Machine, Thelonious Miles and Anthony Braxton et al, I’m not pinned down to any particular aesthetic. In the end, I just published this for those whose knowledge of the post-punk era doesn’t extent too far beyond the borders of Joy Division/Go4/Bauhaus etc, hoping to spark curiosity, which is among my prime hopes in this existence. All the best…Dave