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Punk Rock recalled by Chris Sullivan - can music STILL be outrageous?
Episode 851

Punk Rock recalled by Chris Sullivan - can music STILL be outrageous?

Word In Your Ear · Word In Your Ear

December 9, 202534m 3s

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Show Notes

What’s the word ‘punk’ come to mean 50 years later? It’s been adopted by the very people it sought to unsettle. Chris Sullivan – DJ, club runner, lecturer, former band-leader – arrived in London just as it kicked off and looks back at a time when everything was a challenge, no-one apologised, outsiders linked up and fought for recognition, and pop culture could change overnight. We talk to him here about ‘Punk: the Last Word’ which traces its roots from Socrates to Soho, touching on…

 

… does ‘punk’ now mean conformity?

 

… is pop music still allowed to be outrageous?

 

… Socrates, Rimbaud, Lee Miller, the Warhol superstars: 2,000 years of people who embody the punk philosophy

 

… how the clothes often precede the music

 

… the 1975 pre-Pistols world – “people dressing as teddy boys, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, records by Patti Smith, the Velvets, MC5”

 

… the days when you were attacked for dressing up, in his case by the Newport Rugby team and a guy with a starting handle at a service station

 

... new punk equivalents emerging in 2025

 

… how the spirit of punk gave people a drive and identity – Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Jonathan Ross, John Galliano

 

 … “I threw a policeman through a plate-glass window”

 

Order ‘Punk: the Last Word’ here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/punk/stephen-colegrave/chris-sullivan/9781915841254


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