Reynolds has opined that Jesus and the Mary Chain were in fact the first RetroRock TM outfit. He's correct. I'd counter with the suggestion that Oasis are of course the mainstream manifestation of JAMC, and isn't it strange that the conservative Retro impulse filtered from the (supposedly avant-garde) underground to the mainstream. I thought the underground was supposed to provide the mainstream with unpredictable ideas which it could sanitise dammit! (Electro=====>Madonna).
In a cosy symmetry, and in a hopeless attempt to try and shore up my sagging theory I also countered that Sonic Youth had exactly the same relationship to Nirvana as JAMC do to Oasis. Creation to Geffen etc. Sonic Youth are surely the most uber-concious Rock band there ever was. I have a theory that the reason Ed Bahlman (honcho of 99 records and one the last Modernists in Rock) was suspicious about SY was that he smelt Post-Modernism on their breath, but like the simple country cat he was he couldn't figure out what that smell was. They looked like a 99 records band, Branca was sure as hell keen to sign them, but gee something just wasn't right.
Of course when Sonic Youth sloganeered with that "Year that Punk broke" shtick what they were really saying was. "The Year RetroRock TM broke" no scrub that, what they were really saying was "The Year Sonic Youth broke."
Posted by Woebot at January 24, 2003 12:44 PM