AA.VV.
All That Punk

Initially, "Punk" referred to prostitutes and, in jail, those who gave it away. So, always a derogatory term, even today, although the meaning has changed, calling someone a Punk is offensive. In my opinion, being Punk is the attitude one has towards society and life in general, an irreverent and nihilistic way towards others and oneself. A typically youthful phenomenon, which finds adherents among the ranks of young people, often unemployed, frustrated, certainly angry, and without ideals, coming from the fertile soil of the suburbs and the underclass in general, but, to a lesser extent, also among "respectable" families. Generations that have lived in discomfort, standing against everything and everyone, have always existed.

Better than music, in the fifties, films like "Rebel Without a Cause" or "The Wild One" testify to this. However, singers like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Eddie Cochran were also labeled as rebels; listen to his "Something Else" and "C’mon Everybody" which Sid Vicious roughly covered, performing in his underwear. (It's been thirty years, so I might remember it wrong, it could be "My Way"). In the sixties, bands like the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Seeds, Sonics played, it was called Garage Beat but it was Punk because it was born in basements and suburbs, and essentially the approach to life of Garage Rockers wasn't much different from Punks in the late seventies, the "no future" talk hadn't started yet but the fear of tomorrow always existed. Moving from the Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls, we finally reached '77, when the Ramones, Damned, Sex Pistols burst onto the scene, playing poorly, relying solely on their anger and the strength of their wild energy, started to change the world, undoubtedly Punk also influenced culture, morals, and behaviors in the years that followed. There's been enough talk about who were the first, what's sure is that, (leaving aside their questionable value as artists) the most important were the Sex Pistols, because with their provocative attitudes in public and on television, so much as to outrage housewives and puritans, they spread Punk at a media level throughout the west. Looking back, the same happened to Elvis "The Pelvis" Presley, who disturbed the young girls but provoked disdain in their fathers with his famous pelvic movement.

The beautiful three-CD collection "All That Punk" consists of more than thirty groups that animated the scene in those years, some with more than one song. It must be said that not all bands can be clearly defined as Punk, some come from New Wave like Devo, Television, Violent Femmes, B-52s, others like the Smiths, Jesus & The Mary Chain, Pogues, Pretenders, Echo & The Bunnymen, are neither one nor the other, but they too present themselves with excellent compositions. Forty-five tracks almost all of excellent level, I emphasize almost, to indicate that the collection is not all gold. The Ramones are present with three of their best songs, the Stooges and MC5 with two, Richard Hell with his famous "Blank Generation." For my tastes, the best moments are offered by Dead Boys, Dinosaur Jr, Rezillos, Lemonheads, The Used, B-52s, Smiths, finally Pogues, Gun Club, and Husker Du offer the tracks I prefer.

To summarize, a balanced collection, going through impressions of great diversity. From sophisticated musicalities to the most wild and violent rhythms, in two words Rock of extraordinary vital power and inventiveness. For completeness of information, I add that the collection also includes Faith No More, Sisters Of Mercy, OPM, Melvins, Jane's Addiction, Funeral For A Friend, Less Than Jake, and the A.

P.S. Before writing I checked if DeBaser had the cover, the record is there but only the first CD. My advice is to try to get them all, I only paid about fifteen EURO.