'More influential than The Sex Pistols'
Dec 26, 2023 14:39:50 GMT
Post by keithknight on Dec 26, 2023 14:39:50 GMT
I have borrowed a 4 disc CD compilation by Steven Wilson out the library, called 'Intrigue - Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89'. There are detailed sleeve notes for each track and artist and on CD3 'Patient' by PH crops up.
After the usual reference to the Capitol Radio Johnny Rotten appearance, when he chose two tracks from Nadir, there is this:
'Van der Graaf Generator is a good example of a band that was more innovatively influential than, say, The Sex Pistols.' contends musicologist Dick Witts, a former member of both The Halle Orchestra and Manchester post-punk group The Passage. 'You might even say that post-punk existed before punk. VdGG played at UMIST in 1976, and an argument could be made that that gig was equally as important as the two Sex Pistols gigs at the Lesser Free Trade Hall for a lot of people'.
This is a remarkable statement. The Sex Pistols' Manchester Free Trade Hall gigs are legendary for the future musicians who were in the audience who were inspired to go and form a band. The gig on 4 June 1976 was attended by about 40 people including Howard Devoto, Pete Shelley, Morrissey, Peter Hook and NME journalist Paul Morley. The second gig, six weeks later, included Ian Curtis, Mark E Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Mick Hucknall (!) and broadcaster / promoter Tony Wilson. Buzzcocks formed in the intermediate period and supported on the second night. Marc Riley went, and he still plays VdGG on his 6Music radio show from time to time.
I think Dick Witts' is pointing out that the UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology) gig - on 8 May 1976 - pre-dated both Pistols gigs. Presumably many of the people who went on to the Pistols gigs were also at UMIST and perhaps had their minds rearranged by our boys before Mr Lydon et al got to them.
I was there. I had been driven down from Lancaster by my girlfriend Deb. Entrance for students was £0.60. It was stupendous. I was quite drunk and recall being sat on the floor when 'Gog' rolled over me like a physical steam roller. I can't recall much about my fellow audience, other than that the venue wasn't full. Hardly anyone was dressing like a punk in the first half of '76. Dick Witts was obviously there (I saw his band The Passage supporting Joy Division a few weeks before Ian Curtis died in 1980) but who else might I have been rubbing shoulders with?
Dick's comment is fascinating, like uncovering a secret history of punk and all that came after. The set list that night (from setlist.fm). Who wouldn't be impressed?
The Undercover Man
Scorched Earth
Arrow
(In The) Black Room
Pilgrims
Still Life
La Rossa
Childlike Faith in Childhood's End
Gog
The Sleepwalkers
Darkness (11/11)
After the usual reference to the Capitol Radio Johnny Rotten appearance, when he chose two tracks from Nadir, there is this:
'Van der Graaf Generator is a good example of a band that was more innovatively influential than, say, The Sex Pistols.' contends musicologist Dick Witts, a former member of both The Halle Orchestra and Manchester post-punk group The Passage. 'You might even say that post-punk existed before punk. VdGG played at UMIST in 1976, and an argument could be made that that gig was equally as important as the two Sex Pistols gigs at the Lesser Free Trade Hall for a lot of people'.
This is a remarkable statement. The Sex Pistols' Manchester Free Trade Hall gigs are legendary for the future musicians who were in the audience who were inspired to go and form a band. The gig on 4 June 1976 was attended by about 40 people including Howard Devoto, Pete Shelley, Morrissey, Peter Hook and NME journalist Paul Morley. The second gig, six weeks later, included Ian Curtis, Mark E Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Mick Hucknall (!) and broadcaster / promoter Tony Wilson. Buzzcocks formed in the intermediate period and supported on the second night. Marc Riley went, and he still plays VdGG on his 6Music radio show from time to time.
I think Dick Witts' is pointing out that the UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology) gig - on 8 May 1976 - pre-dated both Pistols gigs. Presumably many of the people who went on to the Pistols gigs were also at UMIST and perhaps had their minds rearranged by our boys before Mr Lydon et al got to them.
I was there. I had been driven down from Lancaster by my girlfriend Deb. Entrance for students was £0.60. It was stupendous. I was quite drunk and recall being sat on the floor when 'Gog' rolled over me like a physical steam roller. I can't recall much about my fellow audience, other than that the venue wasn't full. Hardly anyone was dressing like a punk in the first half of '76. Dick Witts was obviously there (I saw his band The Passage supporting Joy Division a few weeks before Ian Curtis died in 1980) but who else might I have been rubbing shoulders with?
Dick's comment is fascinating, like uncovering a secret history of punk and all that came after. The set list that night (from setlist.fm). Who wouldn't be impressed?
The Undercover Man
Scorched Earth
Arrow
(In The) Black Room
Pilgrims
Still Life
La Rossa
Childlike Faith in Childhood's End
Gog
The Sleepwalkers
Darkness (11/11)