Five Reasons No Wave Pisses over Post-Punk (lyrics, country, pop)

lucifer_sam · 01-18-2009, 03:56 PM

1. No wave lyrics explored deep philosophical issues, unlike the tripe that predominated in post-punk at the time. I'll take a monologue about confrontation over M. Smith's ruses about wherever the obligatory ******s were.

2. Texture over melody. No wave artists used their instruments to invoke a deeper sonic experience. More preferable to the bland (and often vain) attempts at capturing kosmiche musik's drive.

3. There's no such thing as bad no wave music. Just varying shades of nihilism.

4. More imagination was poured into records produced during the no-wave movement than the rest of the lot of the seventies and eighties.

5. Nowhere else in music history has there been as diverse a smattering of artists belonging to the same movement as there were with no-wave: James Chance & the Contortions , Suicide , Glenn Branca , the Bush Tetras , DNA , Teenage Jesus and the Jerks , Mars , Swan , etc...

I'd take this any day over Joy Division / Nick Cave / the Fall / what-fucking-ever:

Molecules · 01-18-2009, 04:06 PM

i thought Suicide pre-dated no wave by a few years? Not to mention Bush Tetras who are quite generically post-punk sounding (if we go by your definition of the term, i take it to mean more of a worldwide mindset that incorporates all manner of sounds, including no wave)...

I totally get the angle you're coming from, but I think you're attacking the music media's regurgitation of what has long since become a nice pigeonhole for skinny jean-wearing pop groups over the last decade - like Bloc Party and god knows how many other bands i don't give a sh*t to name

Urban Hat€monger ? · 01-18-2009, 04:15 PM

I don't see post punk as a genre but as an era influenced directly or indirectly by punk of which I would consider no wave a part of.

**Janszoon** · 01-18-2009, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

I don't see post punk as a genre but as an era influenced directly or indirectly by punk of which I would consider no wave a part of.

^Exactly this.

lucifer_sam · 01-18-2009, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

I don't see post punk as a genre but as an era influenced directly or indirectly by punk of which I would consider no wave a part of.

I was going to title it "Five Reasons No Wave Pisses over the Rest of Post-Punk" but it didn't carry the same bravado. I'm basically trying to highlight the differences between the New York and English post-punk (which I agree is more of an era than a genre). I'm just here to explain that contrary to what you (and many others) believe, American punk, does in fact, not suck.

It'd be hypocritical of me to say post-punk sucked; some of my favorite albums exist within this era. I personally believe, however, that the New York no-wave movement was superior to everything else during that era.

**Janszoon** · 01-18-2009, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

I was going to title it "Five Reasons No Wave Pisses over the Rest of Post-Punk" but it didn't carry the same bravado. I'm basically trying to highlight the differences between the New York and English post-punk (which I agree is more of an era than a genre). I'm just here to explain that contrary to what you (and many others) believe, American punk, does in fact, not suck.

It'd be hypocritical of me to say post-punk sucked; some of my favorite albums exist within this era. I personally believe, however, that the New York no-wave movement was superior to everything else during that era.

It pains me to say this because I'm a huge Swans fan but I have to admit UK post-punk by and large kicked US post-punk's ass. Killing Joke, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Gang of Four, The Cure, The Smiths, Siouxsie and the Banshees, PiL, there's really no contest.

lucifer_sam · 01-18-2009, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

It pains me to say this because I'm a huge Swans fan but I have to admit UK post-punk by and large kicked US post-punk's ass. Killing Joke, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Gang of Four, The Cure, The Smiths, Siouxsie and the Banshees, PiL, there's really no contest.

Which is a perfectly non-incendiary opinion. Unfortunately also one that most of our kinsmen believe (at least the ones that have heard of post-punk). I'm an enormous fan of Wire and a few other British bands of the era, but in truth, I'm fatigued by the sheer number of people (and musicians) who labor to pay homage to Joy Division, The Smiths, The Cure, etc. and completely ignore the wealth of great music the no-wave movement has produced.

**Janszoon** · 01-19-2009, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

Which is a perfectly non-incendiary opinion. Unfortunately also one that most of our kinsmen believe (at least the ones that have heard of post-punk). I'm an enormous fan of Wire and a few other British bands of the era, but in truth, I'm fatigued by the sheer number of people (and musicians) who labor to pay homage to Joy Division, The Smiths, The Cure, etc. and completely ignore the wealth of great music the no-wave movement has produced.

Well that's a relatively recent phenomenon. Back when I was in college in the mid to late 90s post-punk was dead as dead and no one I knew who was in a band or into music, except myself, seemed to be into it or influenced by it at all.

The US had some other great post-punk bands in the early 80s that weren't considered no wave though. Wall of Voodoo, Scratch Acid and Devo are all favorites of mine that come to mind.

GravitySlips · 01-18-2009, 04:54 PM

Amusing thread.

Akira · 01-18-2009, 04:56 PM

Just what this forum needs, another 'this genre is better than this genre' thread.

01-18-2009, 03:56 PM	#1 (permalink)
lucifer_sam Unrepentant Ass-Mod Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3,921	Five Reasons No Wave Pisses over Post-Punk 1. No wave lyrics explored deep philosophical issues, unlike the tripe that predominated in post-punk at the time. I'll take a monologue about confrontation over M. Smith's ruses about wherever the obligatory ******s were. 2. Texture over melody. No wave artists used their instruments to invoke a deeper sonic experience. More preferable to the bland (and often vain) attempts at capturing kosmiche musik's drive. 3. There's no such thing as bad no wave music. Just varying shades of nihilism. 4. More imagination was poured into records produced during the no-wave movement than the rest of the lot of the seventies and eighties. 5. Nowhere else in music history has there been as diverse a smattering of artists belonging to the same movement as there were with no-wave: James Chance & the Contortions , Suicide , Glenn Branca , the Bush Tetras , DNA , Teenage Jesus and the Jerks , Mars , Swan , etc... I'd take this any day over Joy Division / Nick Cave / the Fall / what-fucking-ever: __________________ first.am

01-18-2009, 04:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
Molecules daddy don't Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: the Wastes Posts: 2,577	i thought Suicide pre-dated no wave by a few years? Not to mention Bush Tetras who are quite generically post-punk sounding (if we go by your definition of the term, i take it to mean more of a worldwide mindset that incorporates all manner of sounds, including no wave)... I totally get the angle you're coming from, but I think you're attacking the music media's regurgitation of what has long since become a nice pigeonhole for skinny jean-wearing pop groups over the last decade - like Bloc Party and god knows how many other bands i don't give a sh*t to name __________________ [SIZE="1"]Eff em tumble her

01-18-2009, 04:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	I don't see post punk as a genre but as an era influenced directly or indirectly by punk of which I would consider no wave a part of. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.

01-18-2009, 04:54 PM	#9 (permalink)
GravitySlips Music Addict Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,578	Amusing thread.