Maybe in the US.
If anything saved rock and roll, it was British punk, along with some American bands. Bands from the US like The Stooges, New York Dolls, the MC5 then Talking Heads, Television, Blondie, Patti Smith saved it. And yes even The Boss.
Not to mention all the great British punk and new wave bands of 1976-1980: Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Clash, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Elvis Costello, The Buzzcocks, The Damned, Sham 69, Siouxsie and the Banshees........
I like the Ramones, but they didn’t save it. Frankly if any American bands saved rock and roll, it was The Stooges and the Dolls.
I totally agree on the Dolls.
That was an amazing post, and full of great history....I suppose of all the greats that you mention, you know, one has to sort of pick a favorite and organize a history around that. Like any history, events/causation are complex and that’s why history is so awesome...I read a little excerpt from Forrest McDonald recently talking about the nature of history in just that regard; but I digress.
Absolutely I am partial to the Ramones...and the Dolls.
And I became more so after (again) U2 did their absolutely beautiful and deserved tribute to Joey at the beginning of their recent album and as the opener of their tour. Incidentally, in the show I saw, they did snippets of Patti Smith’s “Power to the People” at the beginning and at the very end. I have read they did in other venues snippets of others, including the Talking Heads....and there is a song on the album about attending the Clash concert on college green (at Trinity Dublin) and they sing about how they sold their souls, their lives were changed and so on. And we know the rest of the history (part of the point being...the Clash are hugely important, as well...).
With regards to the New York Dolls: anyone interested should check out the fantastic documentary...called New York Doll. It’s available I think in its entirety on youtube. It’s about the reunion that Morrissey put together in London a few years back. It focuses on the story of Arthur Kane. I can’t praise it highly enough, and there is a bunch of awesome interviews with many musicians who make many of your excellent points. It is also very beautiful, as Kane found faith in the LDS church. Now as a traditional Christian, I have to take the LDS stuff with a grain of salt, but I do believe that Art came to know Jesus, and for that, I am grateful. But whether you are interested in the life of that man, in the music history, or just interested in the Dolls in particular this documentary is a must see.
Back to your post...I’m not familiar with Sham 69, or Siouxsie, or the Buzzcocks. I will check them out.
AGain, great post, thanks for putting it up!
With the exception, of course, of The Stooges, the Dolls and the MC5 (all of whom greatly influenced the Ramones) most of those bands owe their very existence to the Ramones.
The Stooges and the Dolls would have just faded into obscure curiosity had not the Ramones carried on what they began.
No Ramones, no punk rock. No punk rock, and the excesses of 1960s-1970s rock and roll would have been endless.