Hong_Kong_Tatler_September_2017

ILLUSTRATION: KY CHAN

first heard Sheena Is A Punk Rocker by the

Ramones in 1992. I was in Pacific Place, in

my final year at Chinese International School,

then off to Eton College that summer. In

short, the trajectory of a traditional “safety

first” Hong Kong adolescence: mall roaming

countervailing dependable schooling. The

Ramones rebuffed all of this because their “punk” was a

wholly rebellious concept. Sheena, for example, was no

longer the comic book Jungle Queen; she was reborn a

sonic renegade and cut through my safety net.

In 1977, pop music lost its safety net. The Ramones

released Sheena while, across the Atlantic, the debuts of

the Clash and the Sex Pistols marked the explosion of

music’s most belligerent genre: punk. Then, Elvis Presley

died. All bets were off. Punk’s prototype nerd, Elvis

Costello, stole his hero’s name and punk bands infiltrated

the mainstream, showing little regard for the music that

preceded them.

The decade’s punk movement influenced many,

including U2, who loved the Clash, and Kurt Cobain

insisted that Nirvana was a punk rock band first and

foremost. It’s also impossible to listen to REM or

London Calling without referencing Wire’s Pink Flag.

The spirit of this raucous sound, garage bands

playing with reckless abandon, inspired new sub

genres. In 1977, three New York bands came to the

fore with groundbreaking debuts. Television released

an alt-punk masterpiece, Marquee Moon, with Tom

Verlaine’s ascending guitar solo in the title track a

particularly dazzling moment. Talking Heads was art

rock, its blend of Motown, Caribbean rhythms and

off-kilter pop silhouetting new wave. Suicide was a

cacophonous mix of punk and synthpop that shifted

seamlessly across bleak and graceful landscapes. If you

want to make your blood run cold, listen to Frankie

Teardrop for a journey into hell’s opulence, while Keep

Your Dreams will lift you to the heavens on the wings

1

977

: The Year in Music

Jason Magnus reflects on the year David Bowie released Heroes, punk rock

became mainstream and dance music joined the fray

234 hong kong tatler. september 2017