Everything changed in November 1976 when The Sex Pistols released Anarchy In the UK. Punk was born.
Yeah, yeah, I know Punk began in CBGB’s a couple of years earlier with The Ramones and Television. I was there, but The Pistols put the politics in Punk, and The Clash set London burning soon after.
Within weeks of Anarchy’s release, EMI Records dropped the Sex Pistols for swearing on live TV. They should have given them a medal for honesty, considering the state of the UK in those days.
Rock music tends to rev up and regenerate the more depressed things are politically and economically. Progressive Rock - the hip music of the pre-Punk era - had become so ponderous and self-referential, you needed actual music training to play the damned thing.
And what’s reading scores got to do with Rock ‘n’ Roll? Just rip out 3 loud chords, take a shot of Jameson’s, open your mouth, and see what comes out – chances are your friends can dance to it, that’s what Punk was all about. Turn up to 11, have some fun, and to hell with the begrudgers!
Terri Hooley.
Over in Belfast in 1976, a self-confessed “old hippy” named Terri Hooley opened a record shop on Great Victoria Street. Terri’s taste was broad and he lamented the fact that Belfast had become a no-go area for international touring bands.
In fact, Belfast had become a no-go area in general, with Catholic and Protestants sticking to their own turf – and never the twain would meet.
Like many music aficionados, Terri had little interest in 3 chord manic Rock ‘n’ Roll, but like everyone else he listened to the Almighty John Peel on BBC and he sensed a change coming.
Soon after Good Vibrations opened Hooley noticed that the black leather-jacketed youth from both communities, if not mixing, were sharing space around his shop; and as Punk raised its spiked head he realized that both Protestants and Catholics were buying the same records.
There would be many ups and downs in the Terri Hooley story, but I won’t spoil them for you, instead go see the musical Good Vibrations that opens for previews this week at The Irish Arts Center. It’s the real deal.
You don’t have to like Punk Rock but my guess is even if you don’t give a fiddler’s for this unruly genre, you’ll be humming Teenage Kicks by The Undertones, Alternative Ulster by Stiff Little Fingers or one of the many anthems that a driven group of twelve actors and musicians from Belfast will be delivering for the next month.
It’s to the Irish Arts Center’s credit that they are hosting this Lyric Theatre production, hot off the stage from a blockbuster run at Belfast’s Grand Opera House. And what better space in which to experience this explosive musical!
Though Belfast has changed immeasurably in the last fifty years, it’s good to look back, from the safety of a theatre seat, at a benighted weirdo like Mr. Hooley who stood up to sectarian conformity and in his own way set the stage for the ongoing peace process.
Personally, I’m in awe of the musicians who formed Stiff Little Fingers, The Outcasts, Rudi, and Protex, not to mention the stalwart fans who supported them. In 1981, while on tour in Belfast with the punky Major Thinkers, though our gig was cancelled because of the Hunger Strikes, I felt in mortal danger twice in the one night. Talk about a tough town!
It’s to the Irish Arts Center’s credit that they are hosting this Lyric Theatre production, hot off the stage from a blockbuster run at Belfast’s Grand Opera House. And what better space in which to experience this explosive musical!
I can vouch for the state-of-the-art PA system and am looking forward to seeing how the Good Vibrations creative team uses the amazingly adaptable IAC theatre.
In a way, this will be a coming-of-age production for the Center – a large sized original musical encapsulating an important political and social moment in Irish history.
It’s time the Punk Spirit of ’76 as portrayed in Good Vibrations was unleashed in New York City, and where better to feel its heat than in Hell’s Kitchen.
All that remains to be decided is what to wear? Black leather will never go astray, try safety pins in a ripped-up Taylor Swift t-shirt, spiked hair, bovver boots, torn fishnets, studded dog collars! If you didn’t live the punk life while it was happening, now’s your chance. Don’t waste it!
Good Vibrations at The Irish Arts Center, 726 11th Avenue, NYC June 14-July 16. Box Office 888-616-0274 boxoffice@irishartscenter.org
