Well some things you can explain away but my heartache's in me till this day

70’s Pick of the Week

“Train in Vain” by the Clash (1979)

He is not likely going to be posthumously knighted ‘Sir Joe Strummer’. One of the central figures in punk rock, Strummer was viewed as an extremist and mocked the government. You don’t get knighted for that. The Clash would sit around another round table though – that of Punk Rock.

From the womb of a nation wracked with economic turmoil and political and social unrest came writhing, spitting, sneering and swearing, a youth with only anger, fear and contempt for anything that smelled like authority - that was the essence of punk rock. 

I am waiting for my man twenty-six dollars in my hand up to Lexington, 125 feel sick & dirty, more dead than alive

The origins of “Alternative Music” and the rise of Punk – Part II

“I’m Waiting for My Man”, The Velvet Underground (1967)

Back in New York another very significant artist to contribute to what would become alternate music, was Lou Reed. To think this song came out when I was in grade school is almost creepy. The guy is talking about a heroin deal in Harlem. I was likely making batman puppets, bringing my guinea pig in for show-and-tell, or writing my first poem for Mrs. T.  Who knew?

 Seemingly from a normal Brooklyn Jewish family, Lou Reed learned to play guitar listening to the R&B and doo-wop on the radio. Having received ‘electroconvulsive” shock therapy in his teens to ‘cure’ his homosexuality, things took a different turn for Reed. The appearance of ‘normal’ would continue for a while as Reed completed a B.A. from Syracuse University College of Arts and Science in 1964, where he met John Cale (who is most famous for his song “Cocaine”).

The Velvet Underground who was based on the lower East-side in New York would catch the attention of Andy Warhol who led the visual art movement in the 1960’s. Now considered by some to be the pioneers of Goth rock, glam rock, and maybe even punk rock,  VU’s, 1967’s “The Velvet Underground & Nico” has been called the most prophetic rock album ever made (Rolling Stone).