VARIOUS ARTISTS - Blank Generation - A Story Of U.S. / Canadian Punk & Its Aftershocks 1975-1981 (5CD BOX) - UK Cherry Red Edition - LISTEN

A five-disc set presenting a comprehensive look at the beginnings of punk rock in the USA and Canada. It contains tracks by the most influential bands of the scene and many rare singles that appear on CD for the first time. The compilation, which took its title from the famous track "Blank Generation" by Richard Hell, documents the emergence in North America of what would soon be called punk rock. A year or two before the explosion of punk in Britain, bands who were playing live at venues such as CBGB in New York began to release records, often on independent labels. Here we will hear the influential bands from New York: Patti Smith Group, Ramones, Television, Blondie, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, as well as other pioneers of the scene, such as Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys (both Cleveland, Ohio), Dead Kennedys and Crime (San Francisco), Devo (Akron, Ohio), The Germs and The Weirdos (Los Angeles) and Mission Of Burma (Boston, Massachusetts). The compilation offers a broad view of punk, as it also includes such atypical artists as Suicide, Residents or The Cramps, as well as combinations of new wave and power pop (Sneakers, Chris Stamey & the dB's). The American punk scene was probably always more musically diverse than the British one, as the tracks on CD4 and CD5 may demonstrate. Many of the bands, such as X, Replacements, The Feelies, Redd Kross, Dream Syndicate, Gun Club and Minor Threat, had an even greater influence in the 80s. Everything in a hardback, book-style cover. (MU)