A strange little ditty called "Whistle Bait"
February 25, 2018 12:57 PM   Subscribe

Larry Collins (previously) is not only a ball of fantastic musical energy: in 1958 (at age 13) he arguably cut the first punk record.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (17 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Do yourself a favor and play each video as you read the article. That kid is amazing.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:57 PM on February 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


If this is punk so are, say, Jerry "The Phantom" Lott's unhinged "Love Me" (also 1958) or Johnny Burnette's "Please Don't Leave Me" (1956).

They're closely related to one another, and have been cross-pollinating for decades now, but rockabilly ≠ punk.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:20 PM on February 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


Yeah, I'm not really feeling/hearing punk in Whistle Bait, especially with that sexist theme/topic.

Punk has pretty much always been socially conscious. It's initial roots go far beyond the Sex Pistols or punk as pop fashion.

Whistle Bait is a weird, wild rip of proto surf/garage, for sure, but I think this is more of the usual conflating rock and rockabilly with punk, which, honestly, is like conflating the mods and rockers and throwing early The Who in with early Pink Floyd.

It's really easy to get rockabilly confused and mixed up with punk, as they share a lot of fans and cross pollination and stages, but they even talk about this being mainly rockabilly in the article.
posted by loquacious at 1:41 PM on February 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


Was just going to say the same thing as ryanshepard.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:42 PM on February 25, 2018


Well, now what the hell are we supposed to argue about?
posted by loquacious at 1:49 PM on February 25, 2018


I dunno. The _strangest_ rock record that came out of the 50s might be, "Little Girl" by John & Jackie. How the hell did "Jackie"'s suggestive moaning and yelping get past the censors?
posted by SansPoint at 1:50 PM on February 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


shombalor by sheriff and the ravens is stranger - and at around 25 sec the singer says "what the fuck do you need now?"
posted by pyramid termite at 2:11 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Little Girl, man that is somethin else.
posted by vorpal bunny at 2:24 PM on February 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Well, now what the hell are we supposed to argue about?

Elvis - honkey thief or pulsating cultural vortex of near-bottomless fascination?

[pours drink]
posted by ryanshepard at 2:24 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


It's a mystery why those kids weren't massive stars.
posted by davebush at 2:25 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


I expect Little Girl got by the censors because they had never heard sounds like that.
posted by vorpal bunny at 2:25 PM on February 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


respectfully, loq, Deke's argument is based on his observation that the structure of the song is not blues-based. He says it's simpler, and I understand that to mean akin to structures we more commonly associate with The Stooges or The Fugs.

Additionally, I'll observe that I was sadly forced to give up my own internalization of the idea that punk must necessarily be associated with a social conscience when considering the Dead Boys' immortal "I Need Lunch". I feel that the comparison is apposite as the song expresses a childish need, and Larry was of course a little kid. I'm not 100% sold by Deke's pitch, mind. But I will concede it's pretty well argued.

Deke is a hoot to follow on FB, by the way. I strongly suggest it.
posted by mwhybark at 4:43 PM on February 25, 2018


These kids were part of country culture, where punk rock (even in its archaic forms in the 1960s) came from what happened after the initial waves of rock & roll and R&B washed ashore in northern latitude (North America and Europe) city/suburban culture. By the time “punk” became a named thing it spread beyond those boundaries (e.g., the late-1970s / early-1980s Californian scene), but it still was primarily a product of city culture, not country culture.

It was interesting to hear that single, nevertheless.
posted by D.C. at 4:55 PM on February 25, 2018


I kind of thought of the Collins Kids as sort of hopped up Everly Brothers.

That being said, I'm pretty wary about the kind of genre defining that usually goes on. "Punk is like this, not like that" sort of thing. Because styles contain multitudes. Socially conscious? I think you could argue rock and roll music has been since the beginning in one way or another. Too sexist to be punk? I mean, really? The most distinctive punk attribute IMO was simple, even crappy, musicianship. Rock and roll already had social consciousness, already had bad attitude, already had youthful energy. It even already had simple, even crappy, musicianship. By the time punk became Punk, simple, even crappy, musicianship had become rather unfashionable among what was commercially available rock and roll. In that sense, punk was kind of a throwback to the era that produced Collins, even if Collins was clearly far from a crappy musician. Maybe the other distinct attribute of punk when it first popped up was it being cynically commercial. And to put it in modern parlance, a kind of musical troll exercise. Being outlandishly punk fed a distinct and untapped market, and also took great pleasure in taunting even the slightly older generation.

I think there are some precursors to what became punk scene of the late 70s. And I think there are a few acts that might be described as punk going back to the 50s. Maybe the closest, earliest one that I can think of is Hasil Adkins. Some of the spirit is there. But he sounds nothing like Punk of the late 70s, at all.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:05 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'll observe that I was sadly forced to give up my own internalization of the idea that punk must necessarily be associated with a social conscience when considering the Dead Boys' immortal "I Need Lunch".

This was the first thing that popped in my head. I always thought of anything socially conscious as being a subset of Punk, like any other genre.
posted by bongo_x at 10:07 PM on February 25, 2018


Elvis - honkey thief or pulsating cultural vortex of near-bottomless fascination?

Yes.
posted by e1c at 10:51 AM on February 26, 2018


Punk has the markers of no syncopation, fast tempo, distorted guitar tone, extreme preference for barre chords over open chords, heavy repetition, simplicity, short track length. That's before you even get to the vocals.

That song is a shuffling, twangy, midtempo 50s song that sounds like it should have been covered by Elvis on a b-side.
posted by w0mbat at 3:42 PM on February 26, 2018


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