The Punk Road to Damascus

[Dr. Medulla]

Bouncing off of Hoy's wonderful question about the first music we remember hearing, what's the punk song/album/band that opened your eyes to a world outside the mainstream?

I've told this story lots of times, but whatever. Back in '86, I guess, a friend of mine, Chris, wanted a ride out to one of my shitty hometown's malls where there was a shitty record store (I think it was called Top 40 Records and Tapes). He want a copy of Ted Nugent's Cat Scratch Fever and didn't have a driver's licence, whereas I did. (I should add, in defence of Chris' character, he was the first person in our school, I think, to discover Metallica, pre-Master of Puppets.) So, we go off and he buys Cat Scratch Fever and at the till were promo cassettes from WEA—The Great One-Cent Sampler, I think—and Chris magnanimously spent an extra penny and gave me the tape. I was a Top 40 dork at the time and didn't know any of these bands—Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, Violent Femmes?—but free music is free music.

At the end of Side 1 was "Rise" by Public Image Ltd., and it captivated me like nothing I'd ever heard before. More to the point, that voice hypnotized me. Within a few days I bought Cassette and played the fuck out of it. The. Fuck. Out. Of. It. And started doing research and found out that this guy used to be Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. I knew about the Pistols and heard bits and pieces—plus I knew my cousin Al was a Pistols and punk fan—but I didn't really know them in any meaningful way. So I bought a copy of Bollocks and it was a 2 x 4 between the eyes that gave me sight. This music was fucking perfect. It something seized on all my insecurities and frustrations and anger and put it in the form of song. It ain't hyperbole to say it changed and saved my life.

From there, I read as much as I could about the Pistols and punk and did all I could to catch up on this music, quickly expanding to postpunk, alternative/indie, and all the other genre spawn of 70s punk. I was ravenous to acquire and listen to everything I could—and did fairly well, overall, I think—yet so many vital records would escape me until the internet made me aware and gave me access. Every last dollar that came into my mitt got passed onto a record store owner in Saskatoon. When I tell this story (especially to students), I make a point of thanking Ted Nugent, despite being a racist, authoritarian prick.

[revbob]

I think it was probably my brother bringing home London Calling from his first year in college. This led me to the self titled album. I also listened to a lot of college radio in the NYC area which exposed me to a ton of shit, lots of it wasnt identified i just sounded loud/fast. I remember also working in a campground and kids from the city coming up with their parents playing various punk bands. I honestly ha e a hard time remembering timelines. Underground college radio was huge.

[Sparky]

I was probably 14 or 15 years old, I'd heard & read of the Sex Pistols & Clash, but local chain record stores hadn't stocked them yet (1977 dinosaur rock / long hair era). Neighbors older brother had a copy of NMTB, so I borrowed it, taped it then went looking for an independent shop that carried them both, then there was no turning back. Fuck Ted Nugent!

[Mimi]

Ramones. I was about 10 or 11

[gkbill]

Hello,

I'm dating myself but as a sophomore in college a guy down the hall was the radio station chief. I was a pretty standard rock guy but it just wasn't really exciting despite my efforts to make it seem so. He started playing some stuff that caught my ear and I starting reading about the Pistols' antics. Never Mind the Bollocks was/is exciting. It had an edge. It was a plus that the Pistols didn't appear to care if they had fans - they did stuff contradictory to standard rock star behavior. To top it off, this school was a conservative school in South Carolina. People there really didn't get it. We had a chance to see the Pistols open in Atlanta but the ride fell through - man, that's such a huge "What if...". I transferred to a school in Albany, NY with a majority of students from the greater New York City area so Ramones were pretty big among music-listening people. Eventually, I ended up telling this story to a people on a Clash board - not sure if they read this far.

[Low Down Low]

Older brother was a key influence, i just listened to what he was playing. Big Bruce fan, Ry Cooper, Van, Rory Gallagher, Lizzy etc, so exposed to good stuff from pretty young age. Not 100% but i think hearing Bankrobber was the trigger that led me down a slightly alternative path. Guess I reached a point I felt I needed to strike out on my own and i figured the Clash could be my band. It was ages before I met anyone else who was as big a fan as I was. Sadly, I did begin to disdain a fair bit of what my brother was listening to, but eventually I did get to grips and realise how great all that stuff really was.

[Dr. Medulla]

Eventually, I ended up telling this story to a people on a Clash board - not sure if they read this far.

[weller259]

I had a brother who was 5 years older than me so I would ALWAYS go through his record collection when he wasn't home and play his records, it was through him that I discovered so much great music that I had no clue about being that much younger. It was through his stuff that I first discovered Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Who, Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle to name but a few ... my brother had gotten the first Clash album somehow and i'd never heard of them nor had any idea what "punk" was at all. I remember playing it (the US version) and while I did not totally understand what they were talking about, I really liked the tempo of the songs and the great guitar riffs/sounds. Now by that time I was 16-17 and had been a Beatles/Classic rock fan my entire life to that point. But for me, the true turning point came in late 1979, I had graduated high school as a 17 year old and was working in a deli that was 5 storefronts away from the bar my brother was working at. Well, one day my brother came into the deli to see me and he said "drop by the bar when you close up I have something you need to hear" and he had a HUGE smile on his face. He wouldn't tell me what he had, so I spent the rest of that shift wondering what he was so excited about. This little hole-in-the-wall corner bar was really a shithole except for one thing ... a DJ booth and a ripping sound system. So, I close down the deli for the night and head over to the bar. When I arrive, my brother said ok, you ready for this? I nodded sheepishly, so the DJ (a friend of my brothers) got up from the bar and went into the booth and started the record (a 45 as I later found out). My brother said "its new Clash!" and so I now knew why he was so excited. The very loud system played "London Calling" which was amazing. Then my brother said "wait till you hear the other side" and when the flip side started, o.m.g. Train In Vain. My brother jumped up on the bar (there were only like 5 people in the bar at the time) and started dancing crazily. That changed everything for me. What an amazing song, with my brother dancing on the bar. Surreal. Moments like that are so precious in life, and that was one of the biggest joys my life has ever had.
I've never been quite the same since.

[Dr. Medulla]

Marvellous story, w259—I just love hearing stories where people discover something and it just changes their outlook. We have few epiphanies in life and must never forget how significant they are.

[weller259]

Marvellous story, w259—I just love hearing stories where people discover something and it just changes their outlook. We have few epiphanies in life and must never forget how significant they are.

Dr. I totally agree with you. These moments which on the first glance don't appear to be all that unusual but turn out to be life-altering are significant even if only to us who experience them at any particular time. I cherish those moments (maybe even a little too much sometimes).

[JennyB]

Older brother. Clash. Ironically, he became a deadhead while I became a punk.

[dave202]

I was 15 when John Peel did his famous 'Punk Rock Special' on late night Radio One, UK, in December 1976. I was gobsmacked, although in retrospect, not all of it was what would now be considered 'punk'. One of the bands featured on a session recording was The Damned, and I went out and bought a copy of their debut single, 'New Rose', as soon as possible. A week or so later and 'Damned Damned Damned' was released, and in Spring of 1977, 'The Clash' was a landmark purchase for me. I'd bought loads of singles, the few punk albums then available, but the opening drum beats to 'Janie Jones' did it for me. I still feel sixteen when I hear that opening.

[Wolter]

Ramones we’re the first bridge I had between buzzsaw guitars and effortless 60s am pop, the two things I always liked.

[Spiff]

My older brother bought the New York Dolls first album. He hated it and gave it to me.

This was in high school, and a few years later in college (1980s), I met Mikey, from Long Island, New York, who had actually been to shows at CBGBs and he introduced me to The Ramones, The Stranglers, The Clash, and The Cramps, among other bands.

Sadly, Mikey is MAGA now ...

[JoseUnidos]

My punk Damascus moment happened within a week of my freshman year in college. Up until then my record collection boasted the usual late 70s-early 80s rock stuff - Styx, Pink Floyd, ELO, Skynyrd, etc. I have a brother who's 4 years older but that didn't help since he was into the same kind of music. So, away I go to college. It's a christian college. Not exactly a hotbed of interesting musical tastes (think Amy Grant, but worse). There's maybe 10 people out of a student body of 1,400 that listened to punk/new wave. Lucky for me one of them was my roommate, and another was Dale, who had a great collection of punk/new wave records and lived across the hall. I heard the Ramones "Cretin Hop" from Rocket to Russia blasting from his dorm room for the first time and was hooked. Combat Rock was out around that time and that was my gateway to the Clash. A year later Dale got seriously into Rush and sold off most of his record collection, which I bought.