Strangely, music culture has never really made up its mind about the ‘art’ word which more often than not is used as an insult and regarded as privileged, bohemian, inauthentic and the antithesis of rock’n’roll. Punk itself was often perceived as a revolt against such pretensions despite the obviously arty backgrounds of McLaren, Westwood and punk’s original movers and shakers. How ironic then that it would be a similarly driven handful of provincial misfits who would form the post punk vanguard!
Of course, it could be argued that post punk is just another meaningless term to encapsulate the wide range of artists and music to emerge from punk’s shadow. And that argument would be right because post punk is just a 21st century invention by journalists too young to have been there in the first place. And yet even without such a handy, generic title, living through that period, from Public Image Ltd to Dexys Midnight Runners, and from The Birthday Party to Frankie Goes To Hollywood, we were in no doubt that all the participants were connected and that connection was punk.
Naturally it was John Lydon who first started to swim against the scummy, stinking tide punk had become. A couple of years earlier amidst the chaos of the Pistols, the singer had answered questions about his groups supposed destruction of rock’n’roll with a dismissive ‘Who cares about the music?’ But Public Image Ltd were all about a music that was exploratory, brutal and mesmerising. That such an iconic figure was prepared to cast off the ghosts of Johnny Rotten, the Pistols, McLaren, sad Sid and his old audience was significant enough, but to go on and pull the limbs from rock’n’roll’s bloated corpse was even more momentous.
Galvanised into action by the aberration of Thatcher, fascist violence, mass unemployment, a near police state and a widescale looting of 20th century art, literature, philosophy and movements, groups began to explore new sonic possibilities through electronics, dub, funk, disco, musique concrete and the avant-garde. Unattainable dreams suddenly became attainable reality for anyone with a good idea. The manifesto of individuality kicked in and there were none more individual than Vic Godard, Siouxsie, Mark E Smith, Julian Cope, Howard Devoto, Mark Stewart, Ian Curtis, David Byrne, Green Gartside, Ari Up, Billy Mackenzie, Jerry Dammers, Robert Smith, Phil Oakey, Ian McCulloch, Kevin Rowland, Billy Mackenzie, Jaz Coleman, Adam Ant or even Bono.
If punk was nihilistic and destructive, post punk was the polar opposite, positive and constructive, a reason to get excited again with a mesh of activity and discussion that made the world more interesting and life more meaningful. Punk may have been the shared point of origin, but what followed was a space of possibility where anything could happen and usually did. Post punk was a discourse about music and out of that discourse a whole range of new genres eventually emerged. What united them all was a set of open ended imperatives, innovation, deliberate oddness and a timely rejection of everything that had gone before. After the ‘Big Bang’ of punk, it was the new dawn we had all been fighting for!
01. PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ‘Public Image’ (A Side October 1978)
02. SUBWAY SECT ‘Ambition’ (A Side October 1978)
03. GANG OF FOUR ‘Love Like Anthrax’ (Damaged Goods EP October 1978)
04. SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES ‘Metal Postcard’ (The Scream LP November 1978)
05. PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ‘Annalisa’ (Public Image LP December 1978)
06. JOY DIVISION ‘Digital’ (A Factory Sampler EP January 1979)
07. THE FALL ‘Frightened’ (Live At The Witch Trials LP January 1979)
08. SCARS ‘Horrorshow’ (A Side March 1979)
09. MAGAZINE ‘Give Me Everything’ (Secondhand Daylight LP March 1979)
10. THE POP GROUP ‘She Is Beyond Good And Evil’ (A Side March 1979)
11. PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ‘ Death Disco’ (A Side June 1979)
12. THE B-52’S ‘Planet Claire’ (The B52’s LP July 1979)
13. JOY DIVISION ‘Shadowplay’ (Unknown Pleasures LP August 1979)
14. WIRE ‘Two People In A Room’ (154 LP September 1979)
15. GANG OF FOUR ‘I Found That Essence Rare’ (Entertainment LP September 1979)
16. SCRITTI POLITTI ‘Doubt Beat’ (4 A Sides EP September 1979)
17. THE SLITS ‘Newtown’ (Cut LP September 1979)
18. THE CONTORTIONS ‘Contort Yourself’ (Buy LP November 1979)
19. PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ‘Careering’ (Metal Box LP December 1979)
20. A CERTAIN RATIO ‘Flight’ (The Graveyard And The Ballroom Cassette January 1980)
21. JOY DIVISION ‘Atmosphere’ (AA Side March 1980)
22. THE CURE ‘Play For Today’ (Seventeen Seconds LP April 1980)
23. THE BEAT ‘Two Swords’ (I Just Can’t Stop It LP May 1980)
24. THE HUMAN LEAGUE ‘The Black Hit Of Space’ (Travelogue LP May 1980)
25. MAGAZINE ‘A Song From Under The Floorboards’ (Correct Use Of Soap LP May 1980)
26. BAUHAUS ‘Terror Couple Kill Colonel’ (Single A Side June 1980)
27. JOY DIVISION ‘Twenty Four Hours’ (Closer LP July 1980)
28. ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN ‘Crocodiles’ (Crocodiles LP July 1980)
29. SWELL MAPS ‘The Helicopter Spies’ (Jane From Occupied Europe LP July 1980)
30. DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS ‘Burn It Down’ (Searching For The Young Soul Rebels LP July 1980)
31. THE ASSOCIATES ‘Even Dogs In The Wild’ (The Affectionate Punch LP August 1980)
32. THE SPECIALS ‘International Jet Set’ (More Specials LP September 1980)
33. SIMPLE MINDS ‘I Travel’ (Empires And Dance LP September 1980)
34. THE FALL ‘Totally Wired’ ( A Side September 1980)
35. KILLING JOKE ’Complications’ (Killing Joke LP October 1980)
36. TALKING HEADS ‘Houses In Motion’ (Remain In Light LP October 1980)
37. ADAM & THE ANTS ‘Ants Invasion’ (Kings Of The Wild Frontier LP November 1980)
38. U2 ‘An Cat Dubh / Into The Heart’ (Boy LP November 1980)
39. BLUE ORCHIDS ‘Disney Boys’ (A Side November 1980)
40. ORANGE JUICE ‘Simply Thrilled Honey’ (Single A Side December 1980)