Installment #8 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
I'm well aware that what I'm proposing is audacious.
Contentious.
Even antagonistic.
To suggest that there is one punk rock song that stands above all others is to basically drive a steel-toed boot squarely into the proverbial punk rock hornet's nest (I can already feel the vitriol spewing toward me through the wires and clouds of the World Wide Webernet).
I can live with that. Because the point of Monolisticle isn't to come up with long, exhaustive, non-committal, cover-our-butt listicles that include every single reader's favorite song so that nobody feels bad and the halo-dom of everyone's favorite band remains intact. The point is to get it down to one.
That said, let it be clear that I have nothing but the greatest respect for every punk rock band that ever smashed a guitar or jumped off a stage into the arms of a delirious crowd. The Ramones. The Clash. The Buzzcocks. Sex Pistols. Patti Smith. The Jam. Dead Kennedys. Not to mention the Green Days, Blink 182s and Sheer Mags of the world who have helped keep punk rock relevant ever since. Punk Rock, Post Punk, Pop Punk—all the punks, all good.
So without further caveat, here it is—our choice for the one single greatest punk rock song in the history of punk rock songs...
...City’s Full, by Savages.
What? Whom? Huh?
Exactly.
“I first heard City’s Full at a live show. Which is how every punk rock song should be heard. Live. It immediately sets the tone, letting everyone in the room know how it’s going to go down: Loud. Chaotic. Punch your inhibitions in the kidney.”
Half the people reading this article have no clue what or whom I’m talking about. And even if you do know the band—unless you're from Great Britain—you probably aren't familiar with the song. And then others of you are probably thinking, "Well, yeah. Of course. This song is killer. I LOVE THIS SONG!"
But for those of you who haven't heard it, I recommend that you pause for a moment, and watch the video of the live performance before judging. MAKE SURE it’s the “Live Pop Noire Night at the Shacklewell Arms” version filmed by Giorgio Testi. This is important. It has to be the live version. And TURN UP THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY!
I’ll give you a few minutes to give it an ear...
<Pause>
<Pause>
<Pause>
And..???
Agree with our choice of song or not, one thing is inarguable. This song, especially in its live mode, is a monumental achievement. And should be included in the punk rock canon of greatness. (By the way, major respect for Giorgio Testi ( @giotesti ). The film and camera work is as brilliant as the song itself, and handled with commendable dexterity and timing. It couldn't be easy nailing a live performance in one single film take. Kudos).
But if you're STILL spewing vitriol, you may be missing the point, which is this: Not only is this song not on any top 50 lists, or top 100 lists (as far as we could determine in our searches), it's not even in the conversation. And that's a travesty. Next time anyone with a music blog compiles a top whatever list of the greatest punk rock songs of all time, this should be at the top of the list for consideration.
I first heard City’s Full at a live show. Which is how every punk rock song should be heard. Live. Savages usually started off their shows with City’s Full. It immediately sets the tone, letting everyone in the room know how it’s going to go down: Loud. Chaotic. Punch your inhibitions in the kidney.
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Savages drummer, Fay Milton, is phenomenal. She doesn’t just beat the drums in this song—she pummels them. The lead guitarist Gemma Thompson shreds the guitar like she’s playing a Stradivarius chainsaw. The bassist Ayse Hassan cooly and masterfully thumps strings with her eyes closed—impressive. But the most punk rock thing in the entire video? The camera panning down to the lead singer’s feet. High heels. High...heels.
Jehnny Beth is the real deal. Hailing from France, she is the only non-Brit in the band. And her accent gives her vocals another layer of inimitable edge. She reminds me of the lead character in Luc Besson's early film, La Femme Nikita. As if at any moment she will flick up one of her shoes and use its dagger heel as a weapon.
Instead, Jehnny Beth prefers to kill with her voice and her intensity. Once at a show that I attended, a fan standing close to the stage stuck his phone camera in Jehnny Beth's face as she was kneeling near the edge of the stage. Jehnny Beth snatched the phone out of his hand and tossed it to the side. As it should be. Could you imagine someone shoving a camera in Sid Vicious's face during a show?
As this article heads to pixel print, Jehnny Beth has just released her solo debut, "To Love Is To Live." According to an interview in Rolling Stone by Kory Grow, Jenny Beth's new album grapples with issues such as violence and depression. "The starting point for the record, lyrically," she says, "was to bring the demons that were haunting me on the page. I felt I was a very imperfect being when I finished the touring [with Savages]. I felt I was often a bad person and prone to anger and violence."
Clearly it comes through in the interview that her new album is both a cathartic and therapeutic response to her time as lead vocalist of Savages—an experience she seems to have left behind, at least temporarily. Jehnny Beth appears to have matured, and opened herself up to new places she had previously been reluctant to go.
Case in point: when I listen to Jehnny Beth's new song French Countryside, there's no doubt that the growth and change she has gone through are a good thing. A very good thing. This song is one of the most beautifully haunting songs I've ever heard. With little more than Jehnny Beths' vocal and a simple piano melody, it is brilliantly pared down, delicate, fragile—and wonderfully vulnerable.
It's the perfect modern aria.
Apparently, she wrote this song after a turbulent plane flight in which she thought the plane would crash. Although in many ways the simple and vulnerable French Countryside is the musical antithesis of the layered and aggressive City's Full, it hits me in all the same places. And moves me in all the same ways. (I'll also admit that my reaction to this song may be slightly influenced by the fact that I actually lived in the French countryside during college, in Le Pays d'Auge outside of Lisieux).
"I think being alive is a violent act, but it's made of sort of moments of hope," Jehnny Beth says in the interview. That aspect of hope is clearly something she wants to come out the other side of her work, regardless of how melancholy or angst-ridden the songs may be. My personal hope is that Jehnny Beth will continue to explore her talents wherever they lead her, whether it's with Savages or this new direction. Or why not both?
Meanwhile, Savages as a band are still on hiatus. And like most fans, I'm eagerly looking forward to their first post-vaccine tour. We likely won't be standing nearly as close to each other. Or slam dancing. Or jumping off stages. But I know it will be every bit as awesome.
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Additional credits:
Concert photo of Jehnny Beth amid crowd by ©Mauro Melis
B/W still frames from Savages City's Full "Live Pop Noire night at the Shacklewell Arms video shot by Giorgio Testi
"City's Full" credits:
Matador Records + Pop Noire
Producer: Johnny Hostile
Producer: Rodaidh McDonald
Writers: Savages (Ayse Hassan/Camille Berthomier (Jehnny Beth)/Fay Milton/Gemma Thompson)
@jehnnybeth
@faymilton
@gemma_s_thompson
@ayse_hassan
@giotesti
@korygrow
@rollingstone
@popnoire
@matadorrecords
@rodaidh
@johnnytheho
@bad6942090210
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