I just re-bought a CD by DNA, avant garde punk titans, and it opened up a world of unlistenable New York "No Wave" bands whose only mission statement was to annoy...
In the early 80's a group of bands sprang up who thought punk was growing soft, if indeed it had ever been that tough to begin with. With a foot planted in both the art and the music world these artists blended the two disciplines until music and performance were intrinsically linked in their presentations, as much influenced by Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns as The Ramones and Television. If this sounds all very pretentious it is worth remembering that they all produced an invigoratingly unholy racket as well as talking bollocks...Most considered such punk icons as Patti Smith to be as boring as the mainstream bands that early CBGB's punk was meant to replace such as The Eagles. The No Wave acts consumed drugs, partied and rocked as hard as Led Zeppelin, it's just their music was about a primitive NOW rather than goblins and wizards.
Egg headed pretention-meister Brian Eno picked up on the emergent scene and decided to document it in the epical album "No New York" which gathered together four of the most original groups and spread the nihilistic message. It was originally going to feature 10 acts but featured artist James Chance persuaded Eno that his band and friends were the only people worth featuring proving that rock star egomania thrived even in this defiantly "non rock" environment...
Below are a few of the best No Wave bands, "best" is a loose term, most of them are equally irritating and one of our tutors said DNA should be renamed DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). A good place to get an idea of the world that spawned this underground phenomenon is the film Downtown 81. This is a rambling mildly fictionalised day in the life of graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat who wonders about spray painting, looking stoned and running into gigs and rehearsals featuring a selection of No Wave acts including DNA, James Chance, members of Blondie pretending to be a No Wave band, Debbie Harry as a fairy godmother and oddly Kid Creole....
The live clips below are mainly from this film and give you an idea of the quirky energy of No Wave.
DNA
James Chance and the Blacks
Mars
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks
A compilation was released by Soul Jazz called New York Noise which gives a good round up of the main players if you want to investigate further...
maningrey
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