So along the lines of the SI / Situ discussion going on in an earlier entry, this morning AZ came into the ktchen to switch the radio for me as I was preparing my lunch. Happily to the Sex Pistols classic "Anarchy in the UK".
Listening to it, a few minor thoughts, probably mundane in their generality....
First, the structure is so far from what we've learned to call punk - the Hardcore years really changed our perceptions of what is "harsh" music. There's a lot of chord interplay, choruses, and structure here.
And secondly, the lyrical structure holds up. But what does Lydon mean when he says
I wanna be anarchy.
(emphasis added).
Is he taking on for himself the formative role of an influencing body? Is he shortcutting the rhyme scheme? What's happening here?
I'm sure Marcus has something to say about all this - maybe I should dig that off the bookshelf.
(and, as an aside, update those reading lists over yonder. Boy are THEY stale!)
Posted by esinclai at October 29, 2002 07:31 AM |
Funny, when I was listening to it, I thought, "Hey, a solo!"
Posted by: Anne on October 29, 2002 08:55 AMI heard some of the harder punk first - Dead Kennedys, Misfits, Black Flag, Gwar, etc. When I finally found the Sex Pistol's record (yes, this was the waning hour of vinyl) and listened to it, I double checked to make sure I had the right stuff. Compared to a lot of the other music I'd heard, it sounded downright like pop, not punk.
Posted by: brian on October 29, 2002 10:51 AMMarcus sez that Lydon, er Rotten, is immanentizing the eschaton: by becoming the antichrist, he becomes the christ, in whom all is permitted: do what thou wilt, etc.
Therefore: he IS anarchy, and that is the end of the world and an end to temporal suffering.
Someone alert Dent.
Posted by: mike on October 29, 2002 03:30 PM