Back in my youth, it was not unusual for me to see television advertisements for compilation music collections. You know, 20 hits on one LP from K-Tel or from Ronco or from Adam VIII or some other company. And these compilations would have catchy titles like “Night Heat” or “Big Smashes” or the like.
But these compilation LP’s (and later, compilation CD’s) came with a caveat. The tracks weren’t gathered specifically by genre or by musical theme. They were often garnered by whatever tunes the compilation company could license from a record company. This might mean your 20-track LP might contain ten songs you absolutely love, five you might remember, and five that were tossed in to fill out Side 2.
And the compilation tracks were advertised with total advertised sincerity by totally honest actors on totally independent commercials. Totally.
Such is the case with this compilation. Now if I told you that the two-CD collection was called “Punk,” you would imagine it would contain, oh, let’s see … Sex Pistols, the Clash, maybe Black Flag or the Dead Kennedys or Bad Brains or Fear or Minor Threat or X-Ray Spex or something along those lines. Right?
Right?
(looks around) Right?
Yeah, no. What we get here are two 1980’s-hair-teased actors talking about a punk album that includes … Crowded House. That includes … Huey Lewis and the News. In other words, we’re not getting Punk. We’re essentially getting Punk’d.
Scope this.
I mean, yeah, it’s an 80’s compilation LP with a few New Wave and New Romantic tracks, but it’s about as “Punk” as a toothpaste commercial. And look at the prices. $27 for a two-CD set, plus you pay $5 shipping. No wonder Napster flourished in those days.
Blech.
At this point, I can’t wait to see this company’s next compilation album, “Reggae,” with tracks by the Village People and the Longines Symphonette.
Chuck The Writer 