BMU wrote
Yeah look, an *hole is an *hole in any sphere of life, and there are always a few in any arena. I guess the same can be said for non-technical players who scoff at the "shredders", I mean that pretty much describes the entire grunge era, where if you could play you had to hide the fact or be laughed at - not that the shredders didn't somewhat deserve it at that point...the pendulum swings back and forth...
Did you really see Grunge like that? I was paying some attention to Punk, but was really looking the other way when Grunge became the next big thing - or was too old and cynical to believe that there is a next big thing.
I'm not sure it was the case with Punk, but that depends on how narrowly or broadly you define the word. Punk seemed to me to be more about attitude than chops or no chops. One of the bands that emerged at the same time as Punk was Dire Straits. I remember reading an article about them in NME in which the author acknowledged that it may seem surprising or unfashionable to say so, but that Dire Straits were one of the best live acts in the UK. This was early on, round about the time of their first album. Dire Straits were being acknowledged by many for the passion and energy of their live performances, though nobody was calling them "punk".
What about Television? There was a band with some serious chops who also had serious Punk credentials and attitude. The Buzzcocks were about a twin guitar attack, though they didn't have the sheer firepower that Television had.
Television perhaps illustrate the point nicely. It wasn't that they didn't have a lot of skills (they did) or that they eschewed guitar solos (they didn't) but that there was some attitude, some spark, some vitality to what they were doing. There was a point beyond a demonstration of technical prowess.
I do think there was a minority that saw anything more than 3 chords as a sell-out and who have ... well they wouldn't have spat on guitar solos because that would have been a compliment. That was the ironic faction within punk, that just ended up with a different uniform and a different set of cast iron rules and with a style of music that rapidly became pointless other than as a backdrop for people who wanted to show off their mohicans and the safety pins through their noses and spit on each other.
