Since I am drawing a cartoon strip about a bunch of kids who start a punk group, some of you might be wondering: do I really like punk, or am I just making fun of it? I'll tell you frankly, I'm one of those Beatles, Hendrix, Dylan, Led Zep kind of guys. Punk broke out when I was in my teenage, but I ignored it. I hated it. All that has changed, of late. In my ripe old age, I've discovered punk. Now, when it's almost dead and gone, I finally get it. And the person who made me change my views is Courtney Love and her group Hole. I heard the following song on YouTube, while flicking through videos, and it changed my whole conception of music.
Hole, playing live at the Whisky à Go Go, Feb 11, 1992.
If you've never heard this before, do yourself a favor and get out your best pair of headphones and give it a listen. Don't for God's sake listen to it on your tinny computer speakers, or even worse, your mobile phone speakers. You'll just not get it. Prepare to have your mind blown away. I personally consider it to be THE GREATEST LIVE PERFORMANCE OF A SONG, EVER. And this is a Hendrix, Led Zep fan speaking, remember. I'm not one of those dudes given to making 'awesome' 'greatest ever' comments on social media at the drop of a hat. I measure out my words with care. And Courtney Love, I consider her to be right up there with the greatest. There is no other singer on the planet who can caress your cheeks with her voice one moment, and right the next instant smash your jaw to pieces. Kiss your lips softly, and then punch you in the stomach. There are plenty who can do one or the other, but not both. Not in the same song. Not again and again, all in the space of three minutes. But Courtney manages it, that too without turning a hair. If there is a music performance that can authentically be called heart-stopping, this is it. (By the way, her songwriting and arrangement are outstanding too.)
If The Punk Attitude is all about letting your feelings show, without filters, without artifice, without bothering too much about being in key and fiddly details like that, then this song demonstrates it like no other. Actually, all of Courtney Love's live performances are like that, but this performance and this song more than any other.
The rest of the Whisky à Go Go performance is pretty amazing too. Check out this video:
Having been converted to punk by Hole, I've gone on a voyage of discovery. L7, Pattie Smith, the early Blondie, Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde, newer groups like The Distillers... (**) But Hole and Courtney Love remain my favorite. I consider her the epitome of The Punk Attitude, in everything she does, says or sings. (Her interviews and her between songs comments can live you in fits of giggles: and those extraordinary lines are delivered absolutely off the cuff, without pre-planning.)
** By the way, if you know your punk, you would know that these are all-girl groups or woman-led groups. You won't find any of the big boys in this list: The Sex Pistols, The Cure, The Clash... I found them intolerable in my teenage. Now I can tolerate them, but just about. For some reason, the only punk groups I really seem to like are all-women or women-led groups. Perhaps that is why Sue plays such a big role in my comic strip, even though the strip was originally supposed to be about Sid and Sod.
