Punk 1977 or grunge 1991: which rupture changed music more?
Two short windows that reset guitars, labels and attitudes.
Generation X – Dancing With Myself
Dancing With Myself, Generation X's 1980 Chrysalis single, is the club-ready step between London punk and Billy Idol's solo years.
Afterlife Interview with Joe Strummer
Riffs and Beats finds Joe Strummer in a West London alley under cold neon, leather jacket and Telecaster, talking about the afterlife like another Clash call.
Ghost Stories – Coldplay
Ghost Stories (2014) pulls Coldplay back from stadium scale toward a quieter record, written as Martin’s marriage was ending.
What if Patti Smith had never moved to New York?
Patti Smith remains in New Jersey in 1967. She works through poetry rooms, college radio and clubs across the river from New York.
Patti Smith – Poetry with a microphone and a snarl
The first line of Horses does not ask permission: a CBGB poetry reading pushed up to rock volume.
London Calling – The Clash
By the late summer of 1979, punk's first uniform had started to feel tight, and The Clash answered by recording a double album that refused to stay in one lane.
Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant
Pretty Vacant, the Sex Pistols' July 1977 Virgin single, is about 1977 boredom and anger, ahead of Never Mind the Bollocks.
Afterlife Interview with Ian Curtis
Under Manchester sodium lamps that do not warm the brick, Riffs and Beats finds Ian Curtis in an overcoat, a cigarette lit.
L7 – Fuel My Fire
On L7's 1994 album Hungry for Stink (Slash / Reprise), Fuel My Fire is a short, loud hard-rock track from the Los Angeles band's fourth studio record.