Both Existing or no-longer-together bands are allowed. I'll start:
Screeching Weasel - I have loved the album "Kill the Musicians" since I was old enough to appreciate rebelling.
Fifteen - their song "Petroleum Distillation" defined my entire adolescence
Trent
PowerDork
10/20/23 3:59 p.m.
Operation Ivy.
I saw most of my heroes BITD. Back when if you weren't careful you'd have them crashing at your house afterward. SNFU overstayed their welcome by a few days at the hippie co-op I lived at in 1990. Same with Citizen Fish
The list of bands that broke up before I was old enough would be large and a the top of that heap would be Minor Threat.
In '92, I got hit on my motorcycle, and got a settlement $2200 as I recall. I called my best friend, and told him to gear up as we were heading for Florida. We stopped through Athens Georgia, and the next night Social Distortion was playing the 60 Watt Club. I was in a hurry to get to Florida, and we left.
Stupid, Stupid...Stupid.
I have since seen them at the Ryman, and it was great, but that was the place and time. Stupid.
I had a co-worker who worked as a bouncer at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC at the height of its punk/straight-edge era. He was all of the best shows. All of them.
I missed the boat by half a decade.
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
40 Watt Club! :)
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Noted. Been a while.
I missed X when they were last here. I think I had just broken my arm and decided it wasn’t worth the risk as I was in a sling and not a cast. I’d like to see them as well as John Doe’s trio. I love his voice. I still need to see OFF!, too, but just saw the Circle Jerks.
Been lucky to see a bunch of bands we’ll never see again, too: Nirvana, Ramones, Morphine, Soundgarden and more.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Nirvana would definitely be on the list of Alternative stuff...100%
In reply to Trent :
Op Ivy was the first one that came to mind for me too. I was barely three when they broke up so I didn't exactly have a chance...
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
The 40 Watt has been an Athens institution for decades. Always an easy walk there and back. Totally spoiled us.
I saw Nirvana there plus so many great local bands. Nirvana played just a few songs and then totally imploded. Best. Show. Ever.
The club has moved over the years, but it’s been in the same location since 1991. Curtis Crowe, drummer for Pylon, opened the club in his apartment. The name comes from the fact that it was lit with a single 40-watt bulb.
I saw Social Distortion open for the Ramones in Atlanta in October 1992. I wonder if it was the same tour.
nderwater said:
I had a co-worker who worked as a bouncer at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC at the height of its punk/straight-edge era. He was all of the best shows. All of them.
I missed the boat by half a decade.
damn, 9:30 had *everyone* on that stage over the years. i grew up in the DC area, turned 18 in 1984. didn't discover punk until 1988. :-(
Link to a review of that Social D/Ramones show. I went with my brother plus two of our friends from school. I think we all had comp tickets from our college radio station.
Sort of related, but a few years ago I made a list of bands I hadn’t seen but still needed to: Devo, Living Colour, Van Halen. That was the list.
Knocked all three off the list and, sadly, one will never be seen again. And sounds like Devo is close to bowing out.
Go see a punk show.
AC's ages are the exact opposite from mine. 1984 I got into Punk in the Pittsburgh area, the Electric Banana was the place for the best shoes. I was there every weekend for the most part until just after 1988 and I had to get a real job.
After a decade+ of E36 M3 music my mother listened to three chord rock-n-roll was back!!!
There were a couple other venues that I can't remember. One of which would let a few of us in a back door for free since we had a guy working security on the inside. Got to see Bad Brains and Ramones for free a few times. BB was fun because you did not know if it'd be a Punk set or Reggae. It did not matter to me.
I got to see 7seconds on PBS's dime for some documentary. Kind of a skater band to us at the time but free was cool and getting filmed was a berkeleying joke to us. Man we had fun but the only footage of me and my friends that made the cut was us in line to get in.
My walls in my bedroom were plastered with show fliers and 64-67 GTOs that were for sale. I never got the GTO but I went to every show on the fliers. Saw a bunch of hardcore bands before they crossed over to more metal sounds. DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, and Corrosion of Conformity are examples.
So many bands, so good.
I guess my picks would be Beastie Boys first tour before they went rap (the dynamic between Punk and Rap is really neat history BTW). Then the train wreck ofthe Sex Pistols would have been cool. Toss in Television and Minutemen.
Go see some Punk.
I mean the Sex Pistols are the obvious one, right?
After that -- I'm probably more into post-Punk than pure Punk. Wish I'd been able to see Joy Division and The Smiths, but I wasn't quite old enough in time. Would have liked to make it to The Sisters of Mercy and while they do still play the US very occasionally (a couple earlier this year), I'm told Eldritch's voice isn't what it used to be. Cocteau Twins. Bauhaus (today is Bela Lugosi's birthday!)
That said, I've seen Depeche Mode three times and The Cure four (if you get a chance, go see The Cure). Saw Dead Can Dance in the mid 90s, that was an amazing show.
A Social D show in the early days would be awesome. Perhaps a show in CA when they were not yet popular.
Speaking of before popular, here is a "Bar Band" being joined on stage by another local scene "Bar Band" singer (in sweat pants none the less.)
Yeah, I know its not punk!
This was 1994. Her groups 1st album came out in '92 but only gained "local" fame. Second album in 1995 took them world wide. She's like 23 in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVnyScPCoqM&ab_channel=EricKeyes
BenB
HalfDork
10/20/23 5:57 p.m.
I just missed seeing the Ramones in '82 when they played near my dorm. I didn't find out about it until after tickets had sold out. Would've loved to have seen Siouxsie and the Banshees and Divinyls.
Not punk but a show I missed by inches. The venue was the field next to my dorm. I could hear the soundcheck from the bathroom but had other plans that evening–likely another show. Plus, wasn’t too familiar with them.
The band? Pearl Jam.
And if I could go back in time, yes to Joy Division
It's a lil before my time but I would have loved to be able to see the New York Dolls. I got hooked probably around 7 years old with my dad listening to Too much too soon. Being 42 I'm a too young to have been able to see them but I do have a picture of Sylvain Sylvain and myself at a airport in New Jersey taken in around 2003.
I’d still like to see the Damned, too. I guess that’s my second list of bands that I still need to see: X, the Damned and OFF!
In reply to Appleseed :
We saw Motörhead on their final tour, a co-headling gig with Anthrax. Quick research shows it was three months before Lemmy passed.
Place was beyond packed. You just stood there and took it all in. Wall of sound–like Dinosaur Jr. back in the day.
\m/
Another one I’ll never get to see and wish I did: Beastie Boys.
How about Sonic Youth, too.
4cylndrfury said:
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Nirvana would definitely be on the list of Alternative stuff...100%
This was like just a few weeks before they blew up. Nevermind had just come out, and we all knew Bleach. But there was a little moment in time where they were still playing small venues.
And very soon after, they were stars on the global stage.