Would the popular pub rock bands have all become huge like Dr Feelgood briefly did in England? Would we be buying 10-disc SACD box sets by Ducks Deluxe today?

New Wave would most likely not have happened. If punk was a reaction against prog - back to basics, then New Wave was a reaction against punk - back to melody!

...and all the music I like would never have happened. I wonder what I'd be into.

To quote one of the late John Candy characters..."Polka, Polka Polka"

I would have gone to a sold-out Brinsley Schwarz reunion on My birthday this year, instead of the Police.

I would've had to find something else to spend money on.

The punk era was when I became a "collector" rather than just a music fan.

For some of us, for a good long while, punk never did happen. We saw the news stories on the crazed sex pistols and how horrible they were, but that was about it.

As pop disco dissapeared, pop new wave emerged, and we had no idea where it came from.

I think punk is overrated.

Especially the one & only Sex Pistols record, good record all and all but is it in the top ten of all time releases of all-time? Not in my book.

I'll take any Ramones record over it and hey, they were there first! They nicked many ideas from the Ramones when they went to England for their first tour.

Rick A.

Rolling Stone will continually ignore certain bands and musical genres that have sold millions of albums, yet will devote a six page feature article to the thirtieth anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks, an album that might have qualified for platinum status at best after thirty years.

Chris ... if punk never happened, it's still a safe bet that Elevator wouldn't have gone quadruple platinum.

Chris, you and Rick A are dead on the money. I'll take it one step further and say not only do I think they totally sucked as a band but they had zero redeming qualities and did NOT deserve to be in the HOF, much less even be nominated.

Those morons at Rolling Stone routinely whip out an "Oh my gwad, the Pistols are the best thing since sex, Dylan and the cure for any known illness" article every couple of yers. Their only record is just a scream fest with no real songs. Sure they were punks and dressed the part but besides the Ramones and The Clash there were about 10-20 other bands that hit at the same time that were/ are real punk bands but could write, sing and preform their own stuff with talent.

I have quite a few friends that are music junkies like me but their tastes can vary accross the board in many directions. For those that like punk we are all in agreement against the SP.

And as long as the supposed "experts" at RS and those in the industry think they are smarter than us and have the key votes to get someone in the HOF, we will continue to see lame entries like the SP and Grandmaster Flash etc and have truely deserving bands like Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull, ELP, ELO and the list goes on never even get a mention. Other than some of the cool exhibits there I personally hate the place and how political it has become.

Sorry for the follow-up rant but the "respect" the SP routinly get always hits a nerve with me.

I bought one of those Rolling Stone "Best 50 Albums of All Time" issues back in the 80's.. I had to chuckle as they explained why bands like the Eagles weren't truly rock bands, and had no place on their list.

Rock would have died, oh wait, it died anyway.

I think it helped if you were in your teens in 76-78 and tired of living in the shadow of the older kids early 70's rock worship. Yes that era started out fantastic but by '75 Yes, ELP, Zeppelin, Tull etc were were making complex, lengthy and sometimes dull music (certainly nothing that matched the fire and inspiration of their 69 - 72 stuff). The bands, their fans and the old school rock press had a smugness and elite-ness about them where anything new was scoffed unless it was a warmed-over copy of what had already been done (Kansas, Styx, Bad Co etc). They had their moment in the sun and wanted to close the door on what defined rock and roll. The Pistols, Damned, Ramones and others kicked that door in and reminded everyone that Rock n Roll was youth music and anyone could give it a try (years of 'classical' training or not). If it wasn't the class of 76 bands it would have been somone else a year or 2 later, it had to happen.

Rolling Stone pretty much ignored the Pistols, Clash, Damned in the 70's. They still had drawings of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Eagles, etc. on their covers.

Creem, Musician, and Trouser Press were the ones who did regular coverage in the U.S.



Also remember Rolling Stone ignored Floyd, Zep, Cream, and called Hendrix a has been.

It wasn't until after the fact (or near the end) of the Pistols that RS finally became a bastion of love for them. One top 50 albums of all time issue had "Bollocks" at number two. I'm a fan of the band, and disagree with some of the things said upthread, but no way on earth it is on anyones number two all time!

The issue that I bought in the 80's had Bollocks at #1.

That's when I dusted off my wife's copy and gave it a listen.

She actually did listen to punk while a teen, unlike myself, who didn't take an interest until it was over.

Hey... you sound just like my dad.

Here it is again: "the album that has widely been considered one of the most influential recordings of the past 50 years," by "the band that reshaped the music scene of the late 70s!"

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=19486&ret=Default.aspx