Avengers

I've wondered how much of punk revival was revival and how much was something new. After all, the Dookie sound is not quite identical to the UK77 sounds of the Clash, Sex Pistols, Damned, Buzzcocks or Stiff Little Fingers or any combination thereof. Nor is it a rehash of the Ramones, who mapped their territory so thoroughly that it is impossible to sound like the Ramones without just plain covering the Ramones. As for the professional musicians of US77 — Television, Blondie, Richard Hell and X — they've been all but disowned by the (popular) punk community. So whose grave did Green Day rob to assemble their 15x-platinum monster?

I earlier claimed that the only two significant pre-hardcore L.A. punk bands were X and the Germs. (Such a claim correctly dismisses the Dickies as a novelty act.) To be sure, there was a flash scene in Hollywood in 1977 populated by legit L.A.- and Frisco-based punks like the Screamers, the Weirdos, the Bags, the Dils and Avengers, but the US record industry based right there completely ignored the nascent revolution. None of these groups was ever able to release a proper album, leaving behind only a hodgepodge of demos, live bootlegs, independently-pressed singles and local radio appearances. Contrasted with the London-Manchester scene, where Malcolm McLaren's chicanery persuaded the majors to sign anyone* willing to spit onstage and blitz the airwaves with punk singles and sensational live-TV rudeness, it's as if early L.A. punk wasn't merely underground — it never existed at all. So what I said was true, from a certain point of view.

Green Day sold a zillion records in 1994 by reproducing exactly the sound of the Avengers, who couldn't even cut, much less sell a record in 1977. There is something in the performance of those forgotten Cal punks that the Brits just didn't have. Something to do with sturdy limbs and churning guitars. Maybe it's sunshine.


* The Jam, Adicts, Adverts, Sham 69, Generation X, Stranglers, Vibrators, X-Ray Spex, Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer, Peter & the Test Tube Babies, Slaughter & the Dogs, Skids, Wire, UK Subs