TIMELINE:
1974 Gill Scott-Heron sings: “The revolution will not be televised…. The revolution will be live.”
1975 Philip Agee writes CIA Diary: Inside the Company.
1977 The Ramones release their self-titled debut album.
1979 Earth First! is formed.
44
PATTI SMITH USES ROCK AND ROLL
LIKE A WEAPON
LIKE A WEAPON
When I entered rock 'n roll, I entered into it in a
political sort of way, not as a career.
political sort of way, not as a career.
— Patti Smith (b. 1946)
I'm not talking here about the Patti Smith who stumped for John Kerry in 2004. This is all about
the punk poetess whose first line in the first song on her first album was:
the punk poetess whose first line in the first song on her first album was:
Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine…
I'm talking about the Patti Smith described in 1975 by Charles Shaar Murray in NME as “an odd
little waif figure in a grubby biack suit and black satin shirt, so skinny that her clothes hang baggily
all over her, with chopped-off black hair and a face like Keith Richards' kid sister would have if
little waif figure in a grubby biack suit and black satin shirt, so skinny that her clothes hang baggily
all over her, with chopped-off black hair and a face like Keith Richards' kid sister would have if
123
… YOU'RE NOT
SUPPOSED TO KNOW
SUPPOSED TO KNOW