Scottish punk timeline (part 1)

Simply put, the mid- to late-70s Scottish punk scene rarely attracts the attention it rightfully deserves. In response to that, I've put together a timeline (which will be posted in installments throughout the week), chronicling the short-lived movement's most significant events. This timeline, together with a recent story I did for Stylus, should serve as a good primer for those looking to get into the scene.

And away we go . . . .

1976

March
Rising from the ashes of the party band The Knutsford Dominators comes Edinburgh's first punk group (though they've often labeled themselves otherwise, usually new wave ): The Rezillos. The eight-piece group forms at Edinburgh Art College, and features members named Hi-Fi Harris, Candy Floss, and William Mysterious. The Rezillos’ first official gig comes later in the year, however, on Guy Fawkes Night.

May
Copies of The Ramones' self-titled first album start to appear at record shops in Glasgow. Three months later, one of the songs on the LP, "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," touches off a firestorm in the city, on account of the recent rash of Scottish teenagers inhaling solvents. MP James Dempsey of Scotland calls for the record's outright banning in the country.

September
There's considerable debate over just who was the first punk act from Glasgow: Johnny & The Self Abusers or The Jolt. According to Self Abuser vocalist Jim Kerr, it was his group, seeing how The Jolt are comprised of four blokes from Wishaw and Shotts, two small towns located outside Glasgow. Also, worth mentioning: When The Jolt come together in September of '76, they were initially a '60s-style rhythm and blues outfit. Punk came later.

October 12
The Sex Pistols make the first of what will be just two trips to Scotland (the other comes during the group's reunion tour: July, 16, 1996, at the S.E.C.C. in Glasgow.) The venue: Dundee Technical College. The band gets pissed on 10-pence pints, and is convinced to due an encore by fans, who pepper their dressing room door with beer cans.

November
The Sex Pistols announce plans for a UK tour. Two of their stops will be in Scotland. On the 26th of the month, the group's landmark single "Anarchy In The UK" is released.

December 1
"What a fucking rotter." These, and a few other choice words are uttered during The Sex Pistols now legendary interview with Bill Grundy on Thames Television's "Today" program. In the days to follow the band is skewered in the tabloids. The resulting fallout reaches all the way to Scotland, as Robert Gray, chairman of the Glasgow District Council licensing committee, announces he will close the Glasgow Apollo for the Dec. 15 Pistols show. The tour's other Scotland date (Dec. 16 at Caird Hall in Dundee) is also cancelled.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "I Can't Stand My Baby" by The Rezillos.

The story of Creation (part 9)

Edward Ball had the distinct privilege of working with two individuals who are often regarded as being a tad nutters: Alan McGee and Dan Treacy. Lucky him.

Ball joined Treacy as one of the founding members of the seminal act Television Personalities. The group formed in August of 1977, the same month Elvis died. ("We started the Television Personalities because we'd killed Elvis," Ball joked in this interview. "He'd become fat, redundant, and useless.")

Gigging 'round London with the TVPs brought Ball in touch with McGee, who was kicking off The Living Room club nights and later, Creation Records. During his years associated with the label, Ball recorded with Biff Bang Pow!, toured with The Boo Radleys, and even released his own material.

Hear it for yourself. Download: CRE 239: Edward Ball - "The Mill Hill Self Hate Club," (CD5), 1997.

Paging Ian Thomson . . . .

Procuring information on indie Scottish acts of the punk, post-punk, and new wave variety rarely presents any problems. Rekindled interest in said bands, thanks to frequent name-droppings by contemporary artists (hello) and a slew of recent compilations, is one of the main reasons why. Fast forward a tad to the Smiths-saturated, C86-dominated world of the mid- to late-80s, and well, your trawling efforts for info get a bit less fruitful (see this post).

Comps such as Egg Records: An Introduction To 1988 - 1991 and 53rd & 3rd's AGARR Retro: Fun While It Lasted, Part II have done an admirable job packaging some eighties Scottish guitar pop into one neat and tidy bundle, but releases such as these are indeed rare.

Which brings us to The Gold Blades. Information on this late-80s Arbroath outfit is limited to what's listed on its MySpace page: member names, influences, and a quick rundown of how the fivesome came together. (As well as a clever reference to any future plans: "The next bit of new music from us will probably be from our offspring.")

I've been in touch with guitarist Ian Thomson in the past (though briefly), so I dropped him a line, asking him to string together a few sentences on The Gold Blades. In the meantime, listen to this. (The group's MySpace page has the below track available for download, as well as two others.)

Hear it for yourself. Download: "The Day I Went Down To Texas, Part 3" by The Gold Blades.

Remembering a TOTP highlight

After 42 seasons, well over 2,200 episodes, and 87 Status Quo performances (egads), the long-running BBC music program "Top Of The Pops" aired its last show Sunday evening.

The one-hour finale featured memorable clips from the program's four-decade run, as well as many former presenters, including Sir Jimmy Saville (decked out in a gold tracksuit and looking very much like the Crypt Keeper), Dave Lee Travis, and Mike Read.

According to recent numbers, "Top Of The Pops" -- long shunned by some (The Clash) and subtly mocked by others (The Rezillos) -- had seen its audience shrink to just one millions viewers, which was a far cry from the 15 million it would regularly attract during its heyday in the 1970s.

One of highlights for the long-running program aired in the spring of 1996, when Giffnock's Bis became the first unsigned band to perform on "Top Of The Pops" (playing the fittingly titled "Kandy Pop"). Barely old enough to legally have a pint, the trio -- comprised of keyboardist/vocalist Manda Rin, guitarist Sci-Fi Steve, and his younger brother, John Disco (guitar) -- became instant media darlings with the U.K. music press.

However, just as soon as the furor commenced, so too did the backlash, as the public quickly grew tired of the band's sophomoric nature, its pseudo cultural movement dubbed Teen-C Revolution, and in some instances, its Huggy Bear-meets-Sarah Records-meets-New Wave sound.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "What You're Afraid Of" by Bis.