The Avengers
We Are The One

«Have you ever felt cheated?».

The famous last words, with which Johnny "not-for-much-longer-Rotten" Lydon bids farewell to the contingent to enter definitively into legend, are spoken on the night between January 14th and 15th, 1978, on the stage of Winterland in San Francisco, at the end of what will go down in history as the last concert of the Sex Pistols.

Then, if one had to consider the artistic value of the performance, perhaps it would be better to forget the whole thing, since the group is by now on the brink and the adventure that began a little more than a year earlier has lost all meaning.

What absolutely must be remembered, however, is that before the Pistols, two glories of the local punk movement, the Nuns and the Avengers, take the stage and they truly are fire and flames.

Exemplary stories, those of Nuns and Avengers, which I blatantly exploit to validate a deeply rooted belief of mine, that is, that punk is essentially music for singles rather than albums, a passion to burn quickly without taking time to reflect.

And indeed, the Nuns, after the extraordinary debut «Decadent Jew / Savage / Suicide Child», create an LP that still today leaves the regret typical of lost opportunities and unfulfilled promises; while the Avengers, who never reach the album milestone, are counted among the cult bands in punk history.

And so, make way for the Avengers (but sooner or later also for the Nuns)!

First, however, allow me to ask a question and give an answer, as the poet Gigi Marzullo would say.

•-          Q: How beautiful was Penelope Houston?

•-          A: Simply stunning!

So much so that she ascends in my imagination to a female icon of '77 branded punk; and she would have truly become one if the group had enjoyed greater visibility at the time.

Instead, they don’t stray much from San Francisco, the Avengers, just enough time to head to Los Angeles, get signed by Dangerhouse, and record a 7" worthy of the punk annals, in which there is room for three memorable tracks, including that «We Are The One» destined to become a classic, one of those you find in any anthology of the genre, from the most slapdash to the most curated.

Contributing to the result is a clattering yet simultaneously melodic and warm sound - in the best Californian style - and a naive text if we are being charitable, yes, but impeccable in rendering the image of the young rebel, with or without cause you decide: «We are not Jesus Christ / We are not fascist pigs / We are not capitalists / We are not communists / We are the ones, unique». And this is only the chorus, the rest is pure and simple utopia if it can be defined as such, the desire to put the past behind, destroy the present to rebuild the future. In two words, simply punk, as punk should always be.

Such is the beauty of «We Are The One» that it overshadows «I Believe In Me» and «Car Crash», tracks that in the repertoire of any other band would immediately rise to the rank of anthem, in perpetual tension between rock'n'roll revivalism and hardcore futurism, the same formula that a few years later would bring fortune (so to speak) to bands like Adolescents and Social Distortion: you be the judge.

Following this, in 1979, comes the equally indispensable 12" «The American In Me / Uh Oh! / Corpus Christi / White Nigger», to beautifully close the story of the Avengers: four tracks in line with the three that preceded them, also to be memorized to attempt to better understand what the punk attitude is. And if we need it reiterated by someone who, shortly thereafter, will don the clothes of a much-appreciated folk singer, it means we're really in bad shape...

Anyway, returning to the Marzullian question above, a sad reflection spontaneously arises on how time passes relentlessly for everyone, even for the splendid Penelope, to whom I send an ideal kiss for thanking her for leading me down the rock'n'roll's bad path, wherever it leads.

And, just to conclude, whatever Frankie Fix and Johnny Strike say, in San Francisco rock'n'roll might as well be called «Avengers».

The Avengers (1977 - 1979)

Penelope Houston - Voice

Greg Ingraham - Guitar

Jimmy Wilsey - Bass

Danny Furious - Drums