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Chris Packham: Forever Punk

Tony L said:
A lot of the best punk is fast distorted bog-standard rock! The thing with the MC5 is the political backdrop, the involvement of John Sinclair, the connection to the Black Panthers and the civil rights movement and more extreme counterculture of that era. Bands like The Clash, Crass etc certainly learned a lot from them. Obviously a huge influence on Patti Smith (married to the late Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith) too.

Kick Out The Jams is not an album I play that often, but it is certainly one I’d never sell (I was lucky to stumble over a really nice (uncensored) US original for very little money). It deserves its place in rock history IMO as there was nothing quite like it beforehand and it influenced a lot that came later, as all great albums should. Its one of those albums you’ll always find in punk, new-wave and indie band’s record collections along with VU, Stooges, Can, Bowie etc. There is a very good MC5 documentary film somewhere, and predictably I’ve forgotten what is called, but it documents their part in all the riots and everything that was blowing up at the time.
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Personally, I think Kick out the Jams is nothing like as good as their two studio albums, High Time and Back in the USA. But I may be alone in that. Back in the USA is a stone classic from start to finish.

The Clash leave me absolutely cold. Give The Damned any day.
 
Glad to see Alien Culture on the programme - I saw them at the LSE (as a visitor as I was too poor and thick to go there) in 1979(?) supporting the Au Pairs and the Leyton Buzzards (who later turned into Modern Romance). The evening did not end well for the Leyton Buzzards.
Chris Packham -national treasure.

Cheers

Tony
 
It seems a very long time ago that Chris and I were walking our dogs and he mentioned that he was starting Springwatch on the Beeb. I really cannot remember how it all started but I think he wanted something to keep him amused during filming. I suggested that he try and get a Smiths title into each show (a colleague at my school - Chris's old school incidentally - used to do this at Friday briefing each week) as this might require some mental dexterity. And the rest is history as they say....

Chris really is an original, he goes out of his way for people and really does require our support in these challenging times.

Neil
 
^

Brilliant. I'm going out to buy a hat so I can take it off to CP and @badlyread

I thought he'd be going nowhere fast with that idea, or oscillate wildly and end up with the joke not being funny anymore, but with a rush and a push the land was his.
 
Those three were the Springwatch dream team.

I couldn't believe how much personal stuff Chris still has from the Punk days. Aspergers maybe, but in a good way...wish I'd held on to some of my tickets etc from younger days. Though I still have a Nick Coleman top that I'll never get into again. Chris could still get that leather jacket on. :rolleyes: Actually I do have a leather jacket from 84 that still fits...loose fit.
 
Good programme, really enjoyed it.

I would class myself as a skate-punk, my first wife and I were punk/new wave kids and both had mohicans (pink and orange) but we enjoyed american punk as well, D.K. Black Flag stuff. I was waiting to see if the US punk scene would get a mention, but it was generally London/South viewpoint. (no surprise given Packhams teenage haunts)

Loved the fact he had old clothes of his from the period.
 
Big Tabs said:
I would class myself as a skate-punk, my first wife and I were punk/new wave kids and both had mohicans (pink and orange) but we enjoyed american punk as well, D.K. Black Flag stuff. I was waiting to see if the US punk scene would get a mention, but it was generally London/South viewpoint. (no surprise given Packhams teenage haunts)
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I was just that bit too young for punk my thirteenth birthday being mid-76. Too young to get to any gigs etc. For the next few years I was just devouring everything I could find music-wise so I had the Pistols, Devo, Television, Tom Robinson Band etc along with T. Rex, Yes, Hawkwind, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream etc. All stuff I found exploring other people’s record collections and then bought second-hand with money from my paper round, saved school dinner money etc. It wasn’t until the new-wave thing of 1980 when I started being able to get to late gigs in Liverpool (I was isolated way out in the ‘burbs of the Wirral) and really started to feel part of a ‘scene’.

PS I remember having to hide my copy of NMTB, Pretty Vacant and God Save The Queen from my absurdly straight-laced Tory parents, I stashed them under the carpet in my room for a while.
 
Saw it when it was broadcast. Chris Packham is an interesting guy and there is much to admire about him, other than he didn't have a singalong with his old band in the pub.

Jack
 
Found a copy of the Penetration album with the track ’Shout Above the Noise’ in my local record shop today. Looking forward to playing that later.

Kevin
 
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