Boards
Class Rage
Don't know if anyone was watching Seven Ages Of Rock on BBC at the weekend, but this week it was covering Punk and its impact. One of the themes of the programme was the comparison between the New York punk acts and their London equivalents. Describing the disdain that The Sex Pistols felt for Patti Smith's band on account of them being "hippies", the show contained the following illuminating quote from Charles Shaar Murray -
"[The English punk bands] were full of class rage. As unfocused and misdirected as it was, they were full of class rage... Basically, the American punk bands were bohemians or they aspired to be. The English bands were yobs. Or they aspired to be."
So, what do you eminently knowledgeable DiS-ers think about class warfare perpetuated through music? Is it necessary? Did the English acts have a point in hating their more upscale American bretheren? The only reason I ask is because there doesn't appear to be the same class fixation in American music as in England (maybe I'm wrong here - correct me if so) and I'm interested to see where it originates from.