Punk, to me, means, rebellion. Punk is when you're pissed off and its punk when you're angry.
Punk is when you don't give a fuck.
I fell in love with punk when Garreth and Mel (from the band, Split) started another band, a punk band, called ForceField. Punk is so hard-core.
They introduced me to The Sex Pistols and The Clash. And the Ramones. The Sex Pistols and The Clash, particularly, have the most rebellious energy and meaning to their music.
Here's a funny story about the Sex Pistols.
In November 1977 The Sex Pistols released 'Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols.' The lettering on the album sleeve was a design, crudely cut out from newspaper headlines in the same way as kidnappers' notes and hate mail were delivered. There would always be someone who was offended by this. One day, the manager of the Virgin Records shop in Nottingham was arrested under the Indecent Advertisements Act of 1889. The police said they couldn't use the word Bollocks.
Richard Branson, (whose record company, Virgin, had signed up the Sex Pistols), called a lawyer who'd helped him nearly 10 years ago on a similar charge…(for using the words venereal disease) and the lawyer said, "Bollocks? What on earth is wrong with bollocks? It's one of my favourite words." He recommended they speak to a linguistics specialist to find the exact meaning. He called up Nottingham University and spoke to Professor James Kinsley.
"So one of your staff has been arrested for displaying the word bollocks? What a load of bollocks! Actually the word "Bollocks" is an eighteenth century nickname for priests. And then, because priests generally seemed to speak such a lot of nonsense in their sermons, "bollocks' gradually came to mean "rubbish."
"So, bollocks actually means either priest or rubbish?" Richard checked to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
" That is correct."
"Would you be prepared to be a witness in court?"
"I'd be delighted."
Quoting Richard Branson: (from his autobiography, Losing My Virginity)
I enjoyed the court case. The police prosecutor was determined to win what was clearly a case of national importance. The shop manager admitted that he had prominently displayed The Sex Pistols poster. The policeman had the smug look of someone who was doing the public a great service and expected to be praised for it.
When the professor was cross examined, he explained that "bollocks" had nothing to do with testicles, but actually meant 'priests' and then - due to priest's sermons being full of it – 'rubbish.'
"So, professor Kinsley, are you saying that this expression 'nevermind the bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols', which is the basis of this prosecution, should more accurately be translated as "Nevermind the priests, here's the Sex Pistols?"
"Yes.. or it could mean, Nevermind the rubbish, here's the Sex Pistols. It sounds like a strange title for a record, but I doubt whether the Church would mind."
The prosecutor then pressed on this point, asking him how he could be sure that no clergyman would be offended.
Professor Kinsley then played his trump card, by folding down his polo neck to reveal a dog collar. Professor Kinsley was also known as Reverend Kinsley.
"That's enough," snapped the magistrate. He straightened his back, squared his shoulders and, adopting as much magisterial solemnity as he could muster, announced:
"The case is dismissed."
Richard Branson, (whose record company, Virgin, had signed up the Sex Pistols), called a lawyer who'd helped him nearly 10 years ago on a similar charge…(for using the words venereal disease) and the lawyer said, "Bollocks? What on earth is wrong with bollocks? It's one of my favourite words." He recommended they speak to a linguistics specialist to find the exact meaning. He called up Nottingham University and spoke to Professor James Kinsley.
"So one of your staff has been arrested for displaying the word bollocks? What a load of bollocks! Actually the word "Bollocks" is an eighteenth century nickname for priests. And then, because priests generally seemed to speak such a lot of nonsense in their sermons, "bollocks' gradually came to mean "rubbish."
"So, bollocks actually means either priest or rubbish?" Richard checked to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
" That is correct."
"Would you be prepared to be a witness in court?"
"I'd be delighted."
Quoting Richard Branson: (from his autobiography, Losing My Virginity)
I enjoyed the court case. The police prosecutor was determined to win what was clearly a case of national importance. The shop manager admitted that he had prominently displayed The Sex Pistols poster. The policeman had the smug look of someone who was doing the public a great service and expected to be praised for it.
When the professor was cross examined, he explained that "bollocks" had nothing to do with testicles, but actually meant 'priests' and then - due to priest's sermons being full of it – 'rubbish.'
"So, professor Kinsley, are you saying that this expression 'nevermind the bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols', which is the basis of this prosecution, should more accurately be translated as "Nevermind the priests, here's the Sex Pistols?"
"Yes.. or it could mean, Nevermind the rubbish, here's the Sex Pistols. It sounds like a strange title for a record, but I doubt whether the Church would mind."
The prosecutor then pressed on this point, asking him how he could be sure that no clergyman would be offended.
Professor Kinsley then played his trump card, by folding down his polo neck to reveal a dog collar. Professor Kinsley was also known as Reverend Kinsley.
"That's enough," snapped the magistrate. He straightened his back, squared his shoulders and, adopting as much magisterial solemnity as he could muster, announced:
"The case is dismissed."
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