Punk For Sale
Beating Hot Topic at its own game, Christie's has scheduled their first full-scale auction of punk memorabilia. The lots, which go up for sale on 11/24, include more than 120 records, photos and "promotional pieces" from Patti Smith, the Ramones, the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, the Smiths, the Cure, and Blondie, etc. Right, the Bank Generation. AP reports:
"We understand that tastes change, tastes mature," said Christie's pop-culture chief Simeon Lipman. "Ten years ago, punk memorabilia probably wouldn't be something we'd be auctioning here. But now, people of a certain age have a certain ability to splurge on this material."Highlights include a rare poster for a 1976 Ramones concert in London widely credited with helping inspire such British punk titans as the Clash and the Sex Pistols and a flier for a show later that year featuring the latter two bands and the Buzzcocks ... Other prime finds: a copy of the Sex Pistols' first press release and a 1966 promotional packet in which an up-and-comer called David Jones promulgated his new last name: Bowie.
The various punk items are expected to fetch between $300 and $6,000 apiece...
Even when the global financial meltdown is sapping a once-raging art market, "with pop-culture items, there's sort of a nostalgia that drives it. It's not necessarily a need to invest -- it's 'that's cool,'" he said.
Nostalgia is always a safe bet (right, ATP?). But what would Johnny Rotten say? Oh yeah:
Butter is a safer investment, but if you have some extra money sitting around, here are the Punk/Rock lots.
Posted at 10:20 AM by brandon in Video
Tags: John Lydon | Sex Pistols
Remember around 99/2000, when anyone who followed music trends was told by MTV that they should be into punk rock? Look what's happened since then: punk rock inductions into the Rock and Roll hall of fame, the Stooges are a household name, kids who have never even heard the Ramones wear faux-vintage t-shirts with their logo, etc. It's nice to see some classic music finally getting its due, but it's also really sickening to me that people needed to have it shoved down their throat by shitty opportunists like Alternative Press, Spin magazine, and VH1 before they were able to recognize its greatness.
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ummm.........I thought bands like sleater-kinney, bikini kill, huggybear, etc all got tons of recognition throughout the 90's in various circles. I Don't think MTV and Spin had as much to do with a resurgence as did quality punk music.
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