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Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Semiological study; reprinted from 1985By John L MurphyHow punk was deployed as a reaction against what Dave Laing calls the "gigantism" of AOR; pop and progressive rock is familiar. Laing; an English researcher; chooses a more academic approach. He scrutinizes how late-1970s British punk applies to cultural critique. He incorporates insights from Walter Benjamin; Theodor Adorno; Roland Barthes; Michel Foucault and Julia Kristeva. This reprint of Laings 1985 semiological analysis precedes Jon Savages first-hand account; Englands Dreaming (1991). Introduced briefly by The Adverts guitarist-singer; T.V. Smith; One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock takes its title from that bands song; a tribute to D.I.Y. spunk.Unlike Savage or Smith; Laing distances himself as a scholar. He finds predecessors for punks nexus within pop culture. In its collision of the authentic with the commercial; punks predicament echoes that of British folksong proponents in 1899 and London pub-rockers in the earlier 1970s. Movements seeking a return or revival of "basic" music confront those who capitalize on its inherent potential for profit. Craving exposure; musicians often must capitulate to the system. Rejecting one tradition; innovators resurrect another; back-to-basics. Johnny Ramone; cited here; embodies this choice. "Were playing pure rocknroll with no blues or folk or any of that stuff in it."Instead; punk promoted "artiface; exaggeration; and outrage." One chord wonders turned an insult into a celebration. Distorted sounds and mangled meanings created a "frontal assault" on triple-disc or concept albums of the mid-1970s. However; Laing reports how this music reworked old lyrical themes. Us vs. The Man repeated. Narcissism remained along with protest. Lacking a danceable element; punk stressed exclusivity and negativity. Failing to break out in 1977-1978; punk; Laing asserts; faded rapidly. He notes how broadcasters resisted its disruption and preferred easier listening.In chapters titled "Formation;" "Naming;" "Looking;" "Listening" and "Framing;" Laing dissects the strategies claimed by punk. Drier at times; if supplemented by data; the middle section of his book muddles along. Ivory tower jargon slows its pace. It revives in its later stages; where a short "picture section" shows how punks adopted their public roles to what Laing defines as the movements "provisional discursive formation." That is; punk offered positions to adopt; roles to play and rules to adhere to. Laing presents publicity shots; professional photographs taken in concert; and vamping poses as proof. The last category portrayed one trap punk fell into. Originally seeking to provoke or to subvert; earnestly posing punks "allow themselves to be consumed as pin-ups of sex objects."The final chapter; "After;" adds an intriguing analogy. Laing notes that prior to punk; new bands felt making an album was equivalent to making a full-length film. Such an artistic effort seemed to overwhelm. Therefore; professional producers and studios had to be recruited and funded. By contrast; Laing reasons; punk was akin to creating a magazine or a paperback. Cassettes around 1980 began to change the way music by amateurs was distributed. Laing contrasts the cost of a hardcover book to that of a photocopy; as fans began to join with musicians to reproduce their efforts cheaply.Enriching this study; Laing refutes the claim that most punks came from a working-class background. He compares their class and education to that of beat groups between 1963-1967. He finds little difference in these categories. Such statistics deepen the value of this compact book. It may serve well in seminars or by scholars accordingly; as a critical contribution to Popular Music Studies.Finally; Laing places punk within intellectual contexts. Benjamin and Adorno looked at Dada and at the "shock-effects" of radical art; as predecessors to punk; in Laings estimation. Similarly; he ends with Barthes and Kristeva. They located within the avant-garde "the site of the return of the repressed." Some punks embraced mid-1970s semiotic possibilities of confusion. Fragmenting; discontents chose other fashions; sartorial and musical; to emulate by the decades end. Diehards chose "anchored meanings" of mohawks; Oi and slogans embroidered across leather jackets.What united punk; for one or two years in the later 1970s; was the tension between realistic lyrics decrying conformity and repression and the sonic jolt that undermines musical predictability. Full of paradox; punk in Laings judgment produced a problem. It set out as a rock alternative; but it had to stay recognizable as rock; to bring in an audience; to sustain a career and to meet industry demands.