Viv Albertine
Bands: The Slits
Punk has always had a fascination with
Jamaican music, from reggae and dub
to ska and rocksteady. A serious effort
to incorporate these influences began
in the English post-punk era, with bands
like Public Image Ltd., The Clash, and
particularly The Slits, whose members
had close ties to the original London
punk scene. The Slits were quite overtly
dub influenced, combining deep bass-
and-drum grooves with Viv Albertine’s
angular, scratchy guitar percussiveness
and Ari Up’s exuberantly tuneful
vocal delivery. Albertine’s off-kilter
approach to the six-string included
everything from traditional reggae-
style accompaniment and spacious dub
atmospherics, to ringing, harmonic-
accented rhythmic scratching more akin
to a hi-hat pattern than a guitar part.
Her inventive and accomplished musical
voice did a lot to set The Slits apart
from the pack, earning them accolades
from punk stalwarts like Joe Strummer
and John Lydon, as well as dub pioneers
like Lee “Scratch” Perry. In modern
times the band’s debut album, Cut, is
widely recognized for its influence on
the riot grrl movement, as well as being
a key inspiration for the post-punk
revival.
Rowland S. Howard
Bands: The Birthday Party
In contrast to the more consistent tone
and attitude of first wave punkers, post-
punk bands were all over the place,
from bouncy and playful to downright
suicidal. At the darkest end of the
emotional spectrum was The Birthday
Party, a band of Australian nutjobs
that moved from Melbourne to London
in 1980 to propagate a particularly
chaotic and frightening take on the
sound. The Birthday Party is notable
for many reasons, including being a
seminal influence for nearly every gothic
and noise rock band of the following
decades, and for introducing the world
to the distinctive vocal stylings of
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