What were we all doing back in the late 70s? It might be appropriate to use the Via Negativa method to find out. Let’s take a look at what we weren’t doing.
We weren’t flying the flag for Peace & Love. We weren’t planning to spike the reservoirs with LSD so the whole world would turn on to a new, psychedelic, world order. Nor were we longing for our particular revolution to be fuelled by meditative discipline, flower-strewn sex or free-expression dancing. That’s what we were leaving behind.
Punk went for short-term nihilistic fixes with no concern for the
environment other than destroying it. Dancing was restricted to pogoing with
our arms by our sides, while spitting beer at bands onstage. We didn’t spend ‘nights
in white satin, never reaching the end’. We dressed in bondage trousers and
black bin bags, to be torn off before indulging in ‘2 minutes of squelching
noises’ according to Johnny Rotten who, allegedly, reached the end as soon as
possible.
And our Joni Mitchells, our Jimi Hendrixes, our Goddesses and Gods? No heroes here
mate. We’re all workin’ class. Suddenly.
It’s tempting to define a youth
culture by the way we dress, the music we listen to and the bars we gather at,
but to get to the heart of it we’re better off going underground. Mind the gap,
here come the drugs.
Most youth culture stimulants are illegal but some are more illegal than
others. Punk rejected jail-term hashish from Morocco in favour of ASBO speed
from Boots the Chemist.
Speed does what it says on the tin, it keeps you awake. No visions, no future. Dexedrine
was the key ingredient for that decade’s slimming tablets too. Sid Vicious,
Siouxsie Sue, Patti Smith, The Ramones – how many sleepy, obese punks did you
see??
This ‘speed’ attitude was expressed in the passion of those early Punk
performances, with the urgent “1 – 2 – 3 – 4” count in from the drummers propelling
their ramshackle mates into their next three-chord thrash. Gone were the days
of, “This number came to me at the airport, kind of channelled. It was the
first time my lover and I had been apart since Woodstock and I was desperate to
record it. But my guitar was already in the hold so I just sang it a cappella
to everyone right there in the B.A. business lounge bar. It was magic, were you
there? Hey, amazing man. Far out. I’ve got my guitar now, and of course the guys
are right here behind me. Maybe this is a good time to introduce my fabulous
band.”
In a nutshell, punk rejected any human warmth or empathy. It sneered at any
suggestion that society could develop in any other way than by destruction of
current protocol in favour of lager-fuelled anarchy. How that anarchy would
work in practice, if applied to maintaining a nation’s infrastructure and its struggling
welfare state, wasn’t addressed. By definition it would have been inappropriate
to do so.
And pretty soon it was brushed aside by squeaky clean New Wave music, fuelled
by cocktails and cocaine supplied by some patient hippies waiting in the wings.
Followed by Rave culture, sub-sonic bass beats and laser shows all powered by
the, “I love everyone forever” drug ecstasy.
Which brings us back to ‘let’s spike the reservoirs’. Only this time without
the hallucinogenic visions that made the hippies of the 60s think the revolution
had already arrived. How do I know all this? I was born in 1954. I lived within
all these youth cultures, either pretending each one was my first or, later,
positioning myself as an authentic acid/cocaine/dope/speed/ecstasy survivor.
My current drugs of choice are self-generated. No more “waiting for my man” on
the street corners of Manhattan. I regularly make Seratonin and Melatonin in my
brain by drumming and singing with large groups of people around the world.
Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way.
1one
There’s no ‘i’ in team but there is in tribe and it’s right in the middle. No
one wants to subsume their personal identity but they do want to conform to be
accepted and there are unwritten parameters that include or exclude members.
The intensity of being accepted is worth the attention you have to pay to
remain welcome.
2 two
Within the tribe sometimes you’re in the backing band and sometimes
you’re the singer. Whichever role you find yourself in, and this may change
several times, bring as much energy and focus to playing the triangle as you do
to singing the lead vocal. They are very different frequencies with very different
roles but people will notice if you dedicate yourself to both roles equally.
People that matter.
3 three
Peak experiences are like the circus coming to town. You want it to last
forever. It won’t. Metaphorically the other three hundred and sixty four days
must be spent maintaining that bit of common ground so the circus can return next
summer.
4 four
Eventually you dream up and create your own circus, gathering performers
who share your heartfelt values. Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert, you
find the courage to stand in the centre of that circus ring wearing the Ringmistress/Ringmaster’s
hat. Whatever youth culture you came from, drugs you took or lovers you betrayed,
this what you’ve been training for.
As the youth of today say, “Own it!”.