โI knew it was over for usโ: the bands who got left behind when punk exploded
Fifty years ago this week, the Sex Pistols played their first Manchester gig โ and upended pop culture. But what was 1976 really like before punk arrived? From swing bands to โspaghetti rockโ, we discover a lost history In January 1976, the cover of the NME didnโt feature an artist, but a photo of a room damaged by an IRA bomb: there had been a string of terrorist attacks in London the previous year. The headline: โIs rockโnโroll ready for 1976 โฆ Is 1976 ready for rockโnโroll?โ In the accompanying feature, writer Mick Farren was to be found complaining vociferously about the state of music. Audiences are โprepared to tolerate just about anythingโ. Rock has โlost its gutsโ and โis on an unalterable course to a neo-Las Vegasโ, because artists are โtotally insulated from the real worldโ and thus making music that โseems so damned irrelevant to real lifeโ. Farren reiterated these points in June in a piece titled The Titanic Sails at Dawn, by which point it was obvious that some new artists completely agreed with him. Continue reading...