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Your 10 favorite Post-Punk Groups ever
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Lugia
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Re: Your 10 favorite Post-Punk Groups ev
Dec 30, 2004, 23:52
Hmmm...lessee...in no order whatsoever...

Wire: started as punk, but evolved like hell into something of a 'template' for 'post' things...post-punk, even post-rock if you count some of their 'in between years' solo efforts.

Joy Division: similar to the above, but in this case evolved into a 'template' for techno in the post-Ian Curtis guise of New Order.

Gang of Four: the grand warp of punk and funk that begat...well, a lot of things. Influenced way too many things that came in their wake to even begin here.

Flying Lizards: David Cunningham's experiment in humor + dub + experimental music + pop. Known for that version of "Money", but there's a lot of other stuff that's rather neglected that's more than worthy, musically.

XTC: again, started during punk, but turned into something else...in this case, one of the finest revitalizers for pop to come out of that fin-de-punk period.

Japan: we'll ignore that first album, for some good reasons, and instead focus on what came after as a much better infuser of 'style' into matters than, say, Duran Duran or the bulk of the more-hyped "New Romantics".

Sigue Sigue Sputnik: post-punk or the last punk blast? The multi-million prank of "Flaunt It!" on EMI in of itself makes them worthy enough, IMHO, but even musically they managed to mash together things that even precursed such latter-day styles as 'soundclash', early techno, et al.

PiL: definitely post-punk, by Johnny's own definition itself. Another thing like GoF that wound up being a mass influencer in addition to creating some wonderful, disturbing, experimental work up thru "Flowers of Romance" and carving up many ideas of what rock is after that.

Material: Bill Laswell redefined hard funk with this, and again, another 'mass influencer' that continues to have repercussions down to the present day. Also important as a 'launching pad' project for many, many things since its inception.

Sonic Youth: the other NYC luminaries of this sort, I think...a nasty recom-virus of NYC punk + Lower East Side New Music experimentalism + hangover traces of American psychedelia. Late into the mix, perhaps, but very much in the vein and very much worth making it into the list.

And just to be contrary, an eleventh:

The Pop Group: not a huge body of work here, but one that still repercusses music to this day. Perhaps the original 'soundclash' group, smashing together avant-jazz, avant-garde, funk, punk, industrial, dub, and god only knows what else in rapid-fire (dis)assembly, and sounding like virtually nothing else in the process.
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