Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Spin's look back at Ohio's punk history


Love 'em or hate 'em, I saw this SPIN magazine feature on the history of punk. It's actually a pretty good read, so check it out at this link HERE

Most importantly (since this is a Midwestern-focused music site) is this section:

New York City's sister scene was, oddly, in Ohio. There were the ferocious Cleveland aesthetes Pere Ubu and drooling delinquents the Dead Boys (who eventually moved to Manhattan); Velvet Underground obsessives the Mirrors (later the Styrenes); the audience-abusing, post-glam sociopaths electric eels; and screed-heads the Pagans. In Akron, the Bizarros and Rubber City Rebels revved up a hooky buzz, and Devo's multimedia synth-punk spoofed and condemned society as a mutant production line; Kent's male-female trio Human Switchboard conjured organ-drenched drama. Also in the Midwest, MX-80 Sound's arty metallic roar and the slap-happy scuzz of the Gizmos (known for the ditty "Human Garbage Disposal") emerged from Bloomington, Indiana. Minneapolis' Suicide Commandos released their snappy '77 debut, Make a Record, and the trashy Sillies just dismayed Detroit.

I guess history repeats itself from 1977 to 2007, when Ohio's punk roots reared up its head again nationally.

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