As I've mentioned here before, I still count myself as an ardent fan of Julian Cope. While he hasn't really delivered an album I've actively wanted to listen to in well over a decade, his back catalog is sterling enough for me to overlook his relatively recent forays into the wilderness of the frankly unlistenable. He's also got a load of things to say, and no small amount of them are provocative. Were his own credentials, revered rock n' roll smarts and résumé not so unimpeachable (having cut his teeth in the British punk & post-punk scenes in the Teardrop Explodes and later as a dynamic and eclectic solo artist and penning several books along the way), I'd probably say he was talking out of his own ass, but inarguably – whether you subscribe to his opinions or not – Julian Cope knows his shit.
Back in September, I logged a post here praising Cope for his championing of Tom Lehrer on his dizzying exhaustive website, Head Heritage. Well, this month, Julian's unveiled a streaming collection of post-punk mp3s he's dubbing "Postpunksampler." It's well worth checking out, given its inclusion of both choices canonical (The Germs, The Swell Maps, etc. ) and esoteric (Psycho Surgeons, Missing Presumed Dead, etc.) More to the point, though, Julian appends a lengthy essay on his take on punk and post-post luminaries. Along the way (and it's a loooong way), Julian takes the time to give some swift kicks to the groin of sacred cows like Joy Division, New Order and The Clash. Bernard Sumner and the late Joe Strummer especially gets their eyes blackened by the self-proclaimed "Arch Drude." Again, Cope pulls no punches.
This isn't the first time Cope's gone after some of my heroes. In "Repossessed," the follow-up to his autobiography "Head-On," Cope took a few cutting swipes at Flaming Pablum favorites, Killing Joke. Were these criticisms and withering put-downs coming from any other source, I'd laugh them off as heretical ramblings. But coming from Cope, they make for some interesting reading. You can check out "Postpunksampler" by clicking right here.
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