Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Know your Punk Bands: The Ruts

An odd group to start out with, but I thought I'd start with something obscure (which is Velvet-appropriate) and wouldn't require I write a biography (which would take too long).

The Ruts formed in around 1977 and puttered around in the shadow of The Damned, The Clash, Sex Pistols, etc.   They disbanded in 1980 after Malcolm Owen, their lead singer died of an overdose, then reformed in 2007 (with Henry Rollins replacing Malcolm Owen) to do a show just before Paul Fox died of cancer.  It was a great event, and if you're so inclined, go to Amazon and look up "The Gig", a DVD of the entire show, including the UK Subs and The Damned opening for The Ruts + Henry Rollins.

Why should you listen to the Ruts?  Well, Malcom Owen's singing and the lyrics aren't really anything worth writing home about.  But man, dig this guitar...




Probably one of my top 20 favorite intros ever.  Doo-doo-doo....doo-doo-doo...doo-doo-doo....

Allegedly, according to the somewhat dubious opinions of Henry Rollins on matters non-musical, but certainly dead on in musical matters, this band influenced the entire D.C. hardcore scene, in the same way that MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges were huge with the early UK punk scene even though they didn't make as dramatic an impact on the United States.


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