“Zounds! I was Never so Bethumped with.... the Soundz of Punk Rock’n’roll!!”

Some time ago I posted the proclamation that Wire's Pink Flag (1977 Harvest) may be the best punk rock album of all time.  I still stand by that, but making such claims can be complicated and ultimately unconvincing.  There’s so much great punk (as well as sooooo much bad stuff...) out there, and much of it - contrary to popular perception - is  extremely diverse in sound and attitude.  Case in point: meet Zounds, the best anarcho-punk band of the early 1980s.  They were very different from Wire in all senses of style and sound, but they too are on my top 5 list of best punk bands of all time.  

Whereas Wire explored the artpunk aesthetics that paved the way for bands like The Fall, Zounds   cultivated their sounds in the communes of anarcho-peace punk - a second-wave movement of UK punk rock that took seriously the political and cultural principles of philosophical anarchism.  Anarcho-peace punk exposed the John Lydens of first-wave punk for the media sellouts they’d become by offering a more politcally-charged, stripped-down-and-sped-up form of punk music that was uncompromising and intentionally uncommercial. The thing that gets me about Zounds, however, is there’s real musicianship and artistry in their songs - they’re a politically and stylistically focused band that proves just as aesthetically clever as groups of the artpunk tradition.

       

Zounds was formed in the Reading area of England in 1977 by the frontman Steve Lake.  Early in their career the band became friends with fellow rockers and activists, Crass, and even lived at their famous Commune, the Dial House, for a period of time.  The group released their first Ep, Can’t Cheat Karma, on Crass’s label (of the same name) in 1980.  Here’s the title track of that release:

A song like that has as much in common with artpunk & postpunk sensibilities as say the sounds of their Crass Records contemporaries. It reminds me of Gang of Four more so than Rudimentary Peni or Flux of the Pink Indians - and perhaps that’s why I like it so much...

I was inspired to make this post, however, due to another recent vinyl acquisition: Rough Trade’s 1981 release of Zounds first Lp The Curse of the Zounds. If Pink Flag’s my number #1, this one’s the runner-up, so I was thrilled to find it in the used record bins in such great condition.  Here’s the track, “Die He Jump” followed by "Fear" and lastly "New Band":

Zounds definitely sits on the mellower side of the Crass Records sound spectrum.  The guitars are cleaner, for instance, and the rhythms are less grinding.  Yet their message and attitude were just as uncompromising; they’re definitely punk rock. This album deserves a listen - as do their many singles and 7”s... Check it out:

Curse of the Zounds!

Also, the Wire Pink Flag link has expired on the previous posting page, so here’s a new one:

Wire's Pink Flag

Enjoy! And feel free to comment!