re: The Sex Pistols played Baton Rouge in 1978

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Congratulations. Not everybody works that hard to prove they're clueless.

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You're welcome. You then refuted precisely zero of my argument. Make an argument for your case, don't just call the other guy stupid.

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In specific reference to your last paragraph, do you have even the most basic understanding of the music industry in England at that time. Do you really think DIY was something viable for English bands?

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Of course it was. Just as it was viable for American bands. Now, would the Sex Pistols have had a #1 single or been on the Today show? No. Of course not. But they wanted to be stars. They wanted to be part of the machinery, protests to the contrary. American punk pretty much developed, post 1977, completely outside the music industry which allowed for complete artistic freedom but guaranteed it wouldn't get on the radio.

Dischord was started by teenagers in high school. SST was a radio repair shop. They were completely barred from entry from the music industry as well, so they just made their own. And given the incredible physical distance involved, it was actually more difficult for American bands. They did it anyway (thanks to some pioneering tours by Black Flag, creating an underground network across the nation). But American punk bands had to record at 3 AM, use old tapes, make the artwork themselves, glue the covers together on their own, and play in non-traditional venues as bars and clubs wouldn't book them. I mean, I love the Clash, but how are they really different from the Rolling Stones (who I also love)?

It's why vets of the American hardcore scene of the 80s have little but contempt for the British punk scene. They were counterculture, as approved by the music industry. As soon as they cut off funding, they fell apart. American hardcore developed almost entirely with at best indifference and at worst outright hostility from the record industry.

Our band could be your life.

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Paul Cook and Steve Jones in particular spent a lot of time nailing their parts down. It's pretty well polished.

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Yeah, which is why it has more in common with hard rock and metal. For a band that claims anarchy, their record sounds real polished. But a polished turd is still a turd. Give me the joyful anarchy of Black Flag (even with Spot's pretty f'n awful production).

British punk and American punk really took two divergent roads. It's funny people talk of the Ramones influence, but they are far more influential to British bands than here in the States. And I do like a lot of old British punk bands (the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, the Buzzcocks, etc), but they did have very little influence on the American hardcore scene. I think Creedence might've had more influence on American hardcore than the Sex Pistols (almost entirely due to the Minutemen's worship of them, and Fortunate Son, a near template for US punk even though it didn't exist yet).