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No Thanks!: The 70’s Punk Rebellion: CD box set
The folks over at Rhino did it again with this four-disc library of essential ‘70s punk listening pleasure. The included 100+ page book itself houses some seriously bad ass reading in the sense that it talks about each song and band in the box set’s listed order, not to mention the complete info listings of each song listed in the back. And the band pictures… tons and tons of wonderful band pictures! Included on the discs are some NYC band staples like the New York Dolls, Ramones, Cramps, Blondie, Dictators, and Talking Heads, not to mention Ohio transplants the Dead Boys (who, after relocating to NYC, were to be managed by the owner of CBGB’s, Hilly Cristal). The golden state of California shines here, too, with Black Flag (Keith-era), X, The Weirdos, The Avengers, Fear, The Dickies, Dead Kennedys, Germs, The Dils, Runaways, and that other Ohio transplant band, the almighty Devo. A great selection of what the UK had to offer back then turns up here with the likes of The Damned, The Clash, The Jam, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, The Rezillos, Generation X, Buzzcocks, and a neat-o, edgier version of “The Wait” from The Pretenders (including yet another Ohio native, Chrissie Hynde). With the 100 songs total in this collection, there’s bound to be some voice-raising concern as to why this band or that band didn’t get included. All I can say is go make your own damn box set, cocko. I do have to give props to a few bands that should’ve been included, even if they are all LA choices: The Controllers, The Skulls, The Zeros, The Gears, and The Plugz. But, to be fair, I’ll also add that it was refreshingly cool to find Aussie legends The Saints, as well as Stiff Little Fingers from Ireland included in this set, too. For those of you who are waiting in line to suck John Lydon’s dick, you can all go home, ‘cause you ain’t gonna find any Sex Pistols here. Why? It seems that it wasn’t a personal choice with Rhino that the Pistols didn’t get their spot on here. Word has it that Lydon was being his usual twatish self about the whole song licensing situation. Pretty fucking small for a guy who toured in a chartered bus last summer and held concerts with his other Sex Pistol wash-ups at big venues like the Greek Theatre in LA. Christ. I know it’s wrong, but I keep saying to myself, “Why couldn’t it have been him instead of Strummer?” That’s just life, I suppose, so go figure. Then go grab this box.  –Designated Dale ()