Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesNaked Raygun, Live at the Metro (1985)

CHIRP Radio's Citations presents interesting and informative content about Chicago or music (or both) from around the Web.

(This post originally appeared on the blog in January 2015)

Punk's not dead. Punk's been dying since it started, but it's not dead. It certainly didn't die, contrary to the pearl-clutching at the time, when Sid Vicious OD'd or Johnny Ramone voted for Reagan or the Clash released "Rock The Casbah."

What punk did do, however, was migrate. Punk spread out from skids of London and New York and colonized new populations: the doper surf burnouts of Orange County, the disaffected anarchists of Washington, DC, the Nordic ragers of Minneapolis, and (most importantly, for our purposes), the Rust Belt troublemakers of Chicago.

It inhabited the voice of Naked Raygun lead singer Jeff Pezzati, whose band would quickly become the standard bearers of the city's scene. On the night depicted above, the band's dominance of Chicago punk was already evident; they play to a packed, sweaty house at the Metro, thrashing around Wrigleyville in the days before boutique pizzerias and condo buildings full of recent Big Ten grads repeating a continuous loop of embarassing decisions.

Though the neighborhood's changed, the impact of shows like this one linger; this summer, Pezzati and the rest of Naked Raygun's current line-up will play the venue across the street, sharing a bill with the super-fans in the Foo Fighters. May everyone in the outfield who asks "Who?" be flung immediately into the nearest mosh pit.

Video courtesy of YouTube user RoCkiN' ReX NY.

Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesChicago Is… (1977)

CHIRP Radio's Citations presents interesting and informative content about Chicago or music (or both) from around the Web.

Looking to take the family on a trip to Chicago? And is it 1977? If so, you must see this introduction to the Windy City...! (Polyester Not Included)