Punk Was Meant to Self-Destruct. . .And Here's Why

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Those of us who rode in with the first wave of punk instinctively knew that it was doomed from the start. Like Dadaism before it, punk was predicated on a premise that once a work had been created, it was no longer valid. As a result, its focus was in a constant state of flux. Bands sprang out of nowhere, and just as quickly, vanished.

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And that's when things started getting interesting.

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People were beginning to realize that what fueled punk--the anger of disenfranchised youth could only go so far before the message became redundant. That kind of energy burns itself out quickly if left to its own devices. Punk had to evolve if it was to survive. The punkers began to take their work seriously, and began drawing on other influences such as reggae and rockabilly to make their points. Some delved into the 60's mod movement, while others succumbed to heavy metal, and still others mouseed their hair and went a disco beat. It all was thrown into a big vat, stirred around, simmered until bland, and served up by the marketing chefs as "new wave."

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By 1982, punk was dead for all intents and purposes. It had adapted. It was absorbed.

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All that being said, watching U.K.Subs Warhead: 25th Anniversary Marquee Concert is a strangely surreal experience. Particularly in the interminably long interview segment-- a spcial feature of the disc--the Subs come across as, well--old wankers reminiscing about how things were different in their day. It reminds me of something I vaguely remember from my childhood--it was some TV series from the sixties I think it was a Man From U.N.C.L.E. dream sequence) in which all the hippies had grown old and doddering, but were still playing acid rock in subterranean pubs.

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There's nothing significant in the interview--the Subs were always second stringers in the punk movement, and their drunken comments, between beer belches and gladhanding, reflect that. When Charlie Harper alludes that the music they were making was relevant to the working man in the same way the blues were before them, he loses all credibility. Still, it's entertaining, in a Spinal Tap kind of way.

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But this is a concert video, and judged in that context, it's a pedestrian performance at best. Nicky Garrett can still lay down the lines, and the rhythm section of Alvin Gibbs (bass) and Steve Roberts (drums) have a couple of shining moments. On "Rockers" and "Crash Course", the band almost evoke the original spirit of punk. But every time you think they've got it together, Charlie Harper ruins it all by sucking up to the oddly sedate audience. There are no mosh pits here--the Subs are a nostalgic act in the eyes of the audience.

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Even though the Subs are playing it by rote, and even though Charlie Harper comes across as the World's Oldest Living Punk, I'd still recomend this DVD as a living reminder as to what happens when bands can't pass on the torch.

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Punk is in its-- what?-- third generation now, and it's reduced to ramblings about manic depression from a suburban high school psycho POV. While the Subs DVD is not a great DVD, and while it shamelessly retraces old ground, it nonetheless reminds me of my days in dingy clubs with one step risers signifying a stage.

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It may be pure nostalgia on my part, or it may be that punk was my launchpad to rock criticism. Either way, this disc is a worthy reference edition for anybody interested in the origins of punk, and its subsequent decline and fall.

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Paraphrasing Lenny Bruce, "There's nothing worse than an old hipster."

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The same could be said of old punkers.

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