tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2393375448776914979.post8884498748362413740..comments2023-08-02T00:38:14.732-07:00Comments on Criterion on the Brain: #191: JubileeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2393375448776914979.post-71055190022125113212011-07-10T17:16:18.528-07:002011-07-10T17:16:18.528-07:00Great points, clearly from a true punk purist. :)
...Great points, clearly from a true punk purist. :)<br /><br />First, I was definitely intending to be provocative by saying London Calling was a punk record - probably only the title track can lay claim to any true punk credentials, and even then it's pretty distant. I don't know if I would qualify them as post-punk so I'm glad you used the qualifier of "in their own way," since they were more deconstructing punk's influences on London Calling than they were actually moving forward into post punk (have you read Rip It Up and Start Again, by the way? An excellent take on the post punk scene).<br /><br />Second, I get what you're saying and obviously Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious did not form a boy band. However, I really, really hate the narrative Rotten has been able to get away with that the Sex Pistols somehow personified punk, so maybe my bitterness came through a bit too much. That being said, that is incredibly awesome that you were at that show, as I have no doubt that they had great energy live. Also, Malcolm McLaren is the only person I actually like who came out of the Sex Pistols, primarily because of his work after the fact on Duck Rock, one of the most underrated records of the 80s. So maybe I tilt towards his narrative because of that.<br /><br />I was actually a music critic for about five years (though I mostly wrote about hip hop and electronic music), so this stuff is extremely interesting to me. Despite your disagreement with my points about the Clash and the Sex Pistols, I hope you agree with my overall point that punk's repeated ability to redefine itself (and it's artist's abilities to do the same) make it endlessly fascinating, both as a credible social movement and an authentic music genre.<br /><br />I really wish I had enjoyed this movie more, as I expected to love it. Have you seen any of Jarman's other movies? I believe I saw Caravaggio years ago, but don't remember much of it.bzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15236841988720327212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2393375448776914979.post-74529104233648937622011-07-10T14:43:23.056-07:002011-07-10T14:43:23.056-07:00As usual, nicely written review and I appreciate y...As usual, nicely written review and I appreciate your insights on the film. Jubilee is a mess, I agree. <br /><br />But I have to take issue with a couple of points you raise, as one who was actively involved in the punk scene from the perspective of a 16 year old kid living in suburbia but still intent on getting my hands on whatever "punk rock" was available to me thru my local record store in Bay Area California at the time. London Calling is NOT the best punk album ever made, because The Clash were already post-punk in their own way when they released Give 'Em Enough Rope. They stopped being a punk band when that album came out and they started advertising themselves as "the only band that matters" in magazines like Rolling Stone. All their singles leading up to GEER were pretty great though. But Mick Jones was in the process of selling out fueled by his pop star dreams. Even though they remained a great live band for a few years, London Calling was a point of departure between The Clash and many of their earliest (genuine punk) US fans. Sandinista! was the last straw, as they were trying to out-Springsteen Springsteen. After that, we most definitely went our separate ways. <br /><br />Second, you're interpreting the Sex Pistols in hindsight, through Malcolm McLaren's post-break-up marketing scheme. Of course his angle is important and essential to the history of the Pistols, but the sell-out stuff came out relatively late, really only after they played their last show at Winterland (which I attended) and Malcolm needed some kind of narrative thread to wrap around "Who Killed Bambi" which became the botch-job of "The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle." <br /><br />It's been a couple years since I watched Jubilee, and it'll probably be at least that long before I give it another go, at the pace my own Criterion blog is crawling along! :)David Blakesleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12167200509158903679noreply@blogger.com