4 ms·

The Welsh Punk Scene of the 1980s

111 points by tintinnabula 3y ago

hackandthink 3y ago
>victimize-hi rising failure a really nice song (early clash like)
Neil44 3y ago
It's not obvious if the article mentions it but this exhibition is free to visit in person at the Wales Millennium Centre. Might take my dad for Christmas. https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/llais/events/wasteland-of-my-fathers https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/llais/events/wasteland-of-my-fathe...
- genezeta 3y ago
  Just in case you didn't notice and so that you don't miss it, it ends on Nov 5, so don't wait till Christmas :)
  - Neil44 3y ago
    Ah drat, better get my thinking head on again!
WilTimSon 3y ago
Oh, that's brilliant, wish I could attend. The Partisans are the only one I recognise and used to listen to a bit. There's a whole list of Welsh punk bands on RateYourMusic, so maybe I'll rediscover some of them. Would likely have to be on YouTube, through fan rips...
bsenftner 3y ago
There was a, as far as I know, a yet to be documented faction of the American east coast punk scene that I'd love to see get a formal treatment. Where the traditional view of punk is anger with volume, I found and became a part of what we called "a psyc club" - a sick club / a pseudo intellectual club - where everyone was style-wise a Sid Vicious punker, but in addition everyone was well read and serious into philosophy. Bands like Joy Division, Psychic TV, Einstürzende Neubauten and authors like Burroughs, Jean Genet, and Hesse, artists like Brion Gysin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Warhol were our idols. The overriding aspect of these punkers was intellectual depression, with a public debate held at Boston's "Pour House" bar about 3 days a week with the topic being "what is and has value" with the debate finding no value worth pursuing in earnest over and over. It was a shared nihilist delusion, with one another egging each other to view darker, and darker. The debate disbanded after two debate members killed themselves. Four decades later, my memories are like we were role playing the end of the world, wishing for the drama that would allow. I'd love to see a formal treatment of that scene.
wkat4242 3y ago
I miss that kind of scene. Life is so boring and mainstream now. No rough edges.
- Swizec 3y ago
  There’s plenty non mainstream life out there. We’ve just gotten too old and too uncool to be invited. And when we do get invited it’s like “Ugh Wednesday is no good for me, how does Thursday 3 weeks from now work?”
  - dazc 3y ago
    Can we jump on a call?
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Hmm no, I do get invited to pretty seriously non-mainstream parties despite being in my 40s. And I do go. I don't have a family so I don't have to schedule between birthday parties and judo classes. But it's still not the same. I remember working in a bar in the 90s, thick with smoke, serving underage customers, staying open till 6am though we had a permit till 2, not caring about anything. Fuck the rules. Things were really much rougher then. These days even the rough places are 'responsible'. No drinking if you're serving, no smoking because it's EU law, at 3am the lights come on.. Bleh. The "illegal" (usually meaning no permits) parties are a bit better but even they do most of this stuff. And they are hard to find not because I'm not invited but because nobody wants to organise them anymore.
    - Swizec 3y ago
      Touché, I have many fond memories of partying at Metelkova in semi legal bars where high schoolers, college kids, and old rockers mixed as one. Some nights you’d get a punk or metal sore from a band happy to get 10 people listening, other nights it was an underground great on their European tour who packed the club so tight you couldn’t move. Good times, cheap drinks, and lifelong memories. I think sfba (where I live now) still had a thriving scene like that until a few dozen people died in a fire a few years ago. That put a damper on the mood around underground bars and clubs I think. Turns out rules are there for a reason … But it’s something else too I think, a novel I enjoyed (Close Enough For The Angels) put it perfectly: When we were young, selling out was seen as a shame, now it’s the goal. Everyone wants to get famous enough asap so they can sell brand deals and sponsorships and whatever. The art is secondary. It’s very hard to sell advertising and branding deals if you aren’t seen as “safe”. Bland is best
w0mbat 3y ago
“There are not a lot of photos of Icons of Filth. Apparently they encouraged people not to take them because there were animal products used in the processing of film.” LOL I suppose film is technically an animal product, as it contains gelatin, normally obtained from boiled up cow bones. They didn’t kill the cows to make film though, it’s a byproduct. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone attack old-fashioned photography for not being vegan enough.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

111 points by tintinnabula 3y ago

>victimize-hi rising failure a really nice song (early clash like)

It's not obvious if the article mentions it but this exhibition is free to visit in person at the Wales Millennium Centre. Might take my dad for Christmas. https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/llais/events/wasteland-of-my-fathers https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/llais/events/wasteland-of-my-fathe...

genezeta 3y ago
Just in case you didn't notice and so that you don't miss it, it ends on Nov 5, so don't wait till Christmas :)
- Neil44 3y ago
  Ah drat, better get my thinking head on again!

WilTimSon 3y ago

Oh, that's brilliant, wish I could attend. The Partisans are the only one I recognise and used to listen to a bit. There's a whole list of Welsh punk bands on RateYourMusic, so maybe I'll rediscover some of them. Would likely have to be on YouTube, through fan rips...

bsenftner 3y ago

There was a, as far as I know, a yet to be documented faction of the American east coast punk scene that I'd love to see get a formal treatment. Where the traditional view of punk is anger with volume, I found and became a part of what we called "a psyc club" - a sick club / a pseudo intellectual club - where everyone was style-wise a Sid Vicious punker, but in addition everyone was well read and serious into philosophy. Bands like Joy Division, Psychic TV, Einstürzende Neubauten and authors like Burroughs, Jean Genet, and Hesse, artists like Brion Gysin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Warhol were our idols. The overriding aspect of these punkers was intellectual depression, with a public debate held at Boston's "Pour House" bar about 3 days a week with the topic being "what is and has value" with the debate finding no value worth pursuing in earnest over and over. It was a shared nihilist delusion, with one another egging each other to view darker, and darker. The debate disbanded after two debate members killed themselves. Four decades later, my memories are like we were role playing the end of the world, wishing for the drama that would allow. I'd love to see a formal treatment of that scene.

wkat4242 3y ago

I miss that kind of scene. Life is so boring and mainstream now. No rough edges.

Swizec 3y ago
There’s plenty non mainstream life out there. We’ve just gotten too old and too uncool to be invited. And when we do get invited it’s like “Ugh Wednesday is no good for me, how does Thursday 3 weeks from now work?”
- dazc 3y ago
  Can we jump on a call?
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Hmm no, I do get invited to pretty seriously non-mainstream parties despite being in my 40s. And I do go. I don't have a family so I don't have to schedule between birthday parties and judo classes. But it's still not the same. I remember working in a bar in the 90s, thick with smoke, serving underage customers, staying open till 6am though we had a permit till 2, not caring about anything. Fuck the rules. Things were really much rougher then. These days even the rough places are 'responsible'. No drinking if you're serving, no smoking because it's EU law, at 3am the lights come on.. Bleh. The "illegal" (usually meaning no permits) parties are a bit better but even they do most of this stuff. And they are hard to find not because I'm not invited but because nobody wants to organise them anymore.
  - Swizec 3y ago
    Touché, I have many fond memories of partying at Metelkova in semi legal bars where high schoolers, college kids, and old rockers mixed as one. Some nights you’d get a punk or metal sore from a band happy to get 10 people listening, other nights it was an underground great on their European tour who packed the club so tight you couldn’t move. Good times, cheap drinks, and lifelong memories. I think sfba (where I live now) still had a thriving scene like that until a few dozen people died in a fire a few years ago. That put a damper on the mood around underground bars and clubs I think. Turns out rules are there for a reason … But it’s something else too I think, a novel I enjoyed (Close Enough For The Angels) put it perfectly: When we were young, selling out was seen as a shame, now it’s the goal. Everyone wants to get famous enough asap so they can sell brand deals and sponsorships and whatever. The art is secondary. It’s very hard to sell advertising and branding deals if you aren’t seen as “safe”. Bland is best

w0mbat 3y ago

“There are not a lot of photos of Icons of Filth. Apparently they encouraged people not to take them because there were animal products used in the processing of film.” LOL I suppose film is technically an animal product, as it contains gelatin, normally obtained from boiled up cow bones. They didn’t kill the cows to make film though, it’s a byproduct. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone attack old-fashioned photography for not being vegan enough.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]