If Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, British punk was born in Manchester in 1976
I WAS THERE: THE RAMONES, 4 JULY 1976
The night the Ramones played the Roundhouse on 4th July 1976 has
gone down in punk history. Hear from someone who was down at the front
that very night…
Credit: Danny Fields, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The London scene never attracted me; I was content as
a student in St Andrews but when John Peel played ‘Judy Is A Punk’ one
night I realised I was far from content, and bought a ticket to the
Ramones forthcoming appearance at the Roundhouse without delay.
Arriving that sunny evening during the heat wave summer of 1976 the Roundhouse was the perfect venue for the next new thing: run-down, ancient, an industrial shed from the steam locomotive age. This was for hard-core fans only; nobody else knew or cared.
Facilities were primitive; the Roundhouse interior was charred, poorly lit and ill-kept. My friend Alan and I witnessed the first group from the stalls. The Stranglers came on like some small-town local band that fashion had passed over, grinding out a Doors-derived noise full of aggression and obscenity they seemed older and gnarly, desperados who slept in their cars and hated everyone. Looking back, I realise The Stranglers were the true outsider band, more subversive and heavier than the others on the bill, but that evening Alan and I were too refined for their piercing volume and retired to the circle to see the Ramones.
download it! http://www.linkbucks.com/AsLye
A month earlier, a little-known London group called the Sex Pistols had played at Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. It was said that there were only a dozen attendees, but they all went out and started a band.
download it! http://www.linkbucks.com/As09b
"I've said this before, but I'll say it again," said Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks in a recent interview while drinking a Guinness beer in London. "If Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, British punk was born in Manchester at that touch."
Now...
Arriving that sunny evening during the heat wave summer of 1976 the Roundhouse was the perfect venue for the next new thing: run-down, ancient, an industrial shed from the steam locomotive age. This was for hard-core fans only; nobody else knew or cared.
Facilities were primitive; the Roundhouse interior was charred, poorly lit and ill-kept. My friend Alan and I witnessed the first group from the stalls. The Stranglers came on like some small-town local band that fashion had passed over, grinding out a Doors-derived noise full of aggression and obscenity they seemed older and gnarly, desperados who slept in their cars and hated everyone. Looking back, I realise The Stranglers were the true outsider band, more subversive and heavier than the others on the bill, but that evening Alan and I were too refined for their piercing volume and retired to the circle to see the Ramones.
download it! http://www.linkbucks.com/AsLye
A month earlier, a little-known London group called the Sex Pistols had played at Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. It was said that there were only a dozen attendees, but they all went out and started a band.
download it! http://www.linkbucks.com/As09b
"I've said this before, but I'll say it again," said Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks in a recent interview while drinking a Guinness beer in London. "If Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, British punk was born in Manchester at that touch."
Now...
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