The year of punk: Elvis Costello’s favourite albums from 1977
Really, what does Elvis Costello know about punk?
The classic rock and roller perhaps isn’t exactly the font of knowledge of the heavier genre, but could anyone music music during the mid-to-late 1970s escape its impact?
I’d argue, no. For someone like Costello, his entire musical education came from a pre-punk world. He grew up in the dawning of rock and roll when even the lightest work from that world was at first deemed crazy and wild, enough to make parents everywhere shocked or even scared for what the impact of an electric guitar might have on their kid.
Slowly but surely, the bands of the 1960s and early ‘70s were pushing the shock further and further though. The riffs were getting hotter and heavier, the lyrical content was getting dark, and, in perfect alignment with the social and political goings on of the world, the angst was stepping up.
Costello was around for that, but by 1977, the year that punk seemed to hit the industry hard, he’d already picked a stage name with a nod to Elvis Presley and committed himself to rock and roll.
Still, that doesn’t mean that the mass breakout of punk didn’t impact him. Right as he was first launching his solo career, 1977 hit. Punk definitely began earlier than this, back with the Ramones in New York earlier in the decade, or with the Sex Pistols’ first gigs around London. But in ‘77, the records would be coming in hot as the punk ethos of those bands had finally been noticed, picked up by the big leagues and set to the studio to finally solidify this new moment and get it out on tape.
It was a big year for punk releases, and while he didn’t make that type of music, Costello was listening to it, and more and more, the attitude of his own music evidently changed with the impact of these dark and moody sounds. In a list of his all-time favourite punk records, 1977 appears as a favourite year for him. It was the year that the Sex Pistols unleashed Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, changing British music forever.
It was also the year that Television released Marquee Moon, furthering the New York punk scene by bringing in some more nuance. It was a similar story for the release of Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ Blank Generation, also coming in that fruitful year.
Costello was also paying attention to the fringes, shouting out artists like Ian Dury and his own 1977 release, New Boots and Panties!!, which didn’t sound like a stereotypical punk album but certainly had its spirit.
By the end of the 365 days, Costello’s record collection must have been heaving with these raging new releases. While plenty of rockers would have struggled with this new rough-around-the-edges genre, he embraced it, adopting it into his broad influences even if he never adopted the style.
Elvis Costello’s favourite 1977 punk albums:
- Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation (1977)
- Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties!! (1977)
- Iggy Pop – The Idiot (1977)
- Iggy Pop – Lust for Life (1977)
- Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
- Television – Marquee Moon (1977)
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