0016 - A Noise Agency

So what was it I said in my post about 20/20 - "whenever I hear or read of something as being post-punk, I expect it to either sound like Dead Kennedys or Wire." So it's a big hurrah to A Noise Agency for reinforcing my preconceptions.

0006 - 20/20

I know that post-punk isn't exactly a genre and I do like a lot of music from that immediate post-punk era - in fact, I think that the period from the late-70s to mid-80s represents the pinnacle of pop music in my lifetime. So it's a bit odd that whenever I hear or read of something as being post-punk, I expect it to either sound like Dead Kennedys or Wire. Of my recent post-punk-pop-postings, 100 Flowers fit that mould reasonably well, but 17 Pygmies' jazz and synth-pop couldn't be much further removed. 20/20 are something else again - classic 80s power-pop.

0004 - 17 Pygmies

More post-punk from LA, but a pretty stark contrast from the last lot - where 100 Flowers were fairly straightforward punk, 17 Pygmies are much more of a mixed bag.

0002 - 100 Flowers

100 Flowers are a post-punk three piece from Los Angeles who started life in 1978 as The Urinals, changed their name to 100 Flowers in 1981, disbanded in 1983, reformed (after some members spent time in Trotsky Icepick), again as The Urinals, in 1996, changed their name to Chairs Of Perception (which is a great name) some time after 2003 and then back to The Urinals in 2008. Awesome.

Adam & The Ants

Ah, the early 80s.  As far as I'm concerned the period from maybe 1981, possibly a year or two earlier, to 1984 was the absolute peak of popular music in my lifetime.  Post-punk, New Wave, The New Pop, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, the rise of electronica - there was just so much exciting musical stuff going on that was both interesting and commercially viable, and this was just in the UK.  I've already eulogised over A Flock Of Seagulls and ABC on the blog, so let's add Adam & The Ants to that list.