AudioPhyles, Part 7: Phylogeny of a Punk Peacock

One day, when I was in graduate school, my roommate and I had a friendly argument about music, as we tended to do.

He claimed that Sonic Youth’s “Teenage Riot”, the opening track of their 1988 masterpiece Daydream Nation, was indebted to the sound of R.E.M.’s “Life and How to Live It,” from their 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction.

Now, I didn’t necessarily disagree.

There’s clearly a similarity in sound and structure—the progression from dreamy guitar chimes to full-on rockin’ post-punk played at a breakneck speed.

It’s possible Sonic Youth were fans of R.E.M. and took some ideas for their song. But I happen to think it likely that the primary influence for “Teenage Riot” came from the punk era, specifically:

“Smash It Up” by The Damned.

Moreover, it’s possible that the similarity that my roommate noted was just a coincidence. After all, the general sound of both songs—specifically the fast, tight, slashing guitar strums—was very common in a lot of punk and post-punk music.

Perhaps closest to the sound of R.E.M.’s “Life and How to Live It” was The Cure’s 1979 song “Jumping Someone Else’s Train.”

There was also Modern English’s “I Melt With You” from 1982, which took the sound to the Hot 100—albeit at #78.

And let’s not forget the classic single that inspired so much post-punk to follow, Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

Not long after this discussion with my roommate, I discovered Nick Cave’s album with his first band, The Boys Next Door. Their song “Somebody’s Watching” featured similar breakneck guitar strums. There it was again.

What was this musical flourish called? I had no idea, so I simply went with my gut.

I thought of it as the “punk peacock strum.”

Hearing Nick Cave’s band do the punk peacock so soon after my discussion about Sonic Youth and R.E.M., I was prompted to think more carefully about its ancestry and evolution.

When it comes to early precursors, I can only take some guesses.

Buddy Holly seems like an important influence. Specifically his jittery electric guitar chimes in “Words of Love.”

At the very least, those chimes inspired The Searchers, who peppered some of their songs with quickly strummed flourishes. Like in their biggest hit, “Needles and Pins.”

However, I think the most important distant precursor was in fact an acoustic strum.

On The Beatles’ “Things We Say Today” from 1963, Paul McCartney decorates the song with flamboyant guitar punctuation, likely inspired by flamenco. This is pretty darn close to our sound!

I had a notion that Pete Townsend would be an important influence in spreading around this guitar flourish. And Pete definitely toyed with flamenco-inspired strums in some Who songs, perhaps most notably in “Pinball Wizard” from 1969. But never as a strong, exclamatory sort of punctuation like the true punk peacock.

If anything, Pete was strumming semicolons and ellipses.

In fact, the next important link in the chain was The Yardbirds. On “Heart Full of Soul” from 1965, Jeff Beck mixed a droning electric riff with acoustic strum flourishes similar to McCartney’s. Then, two years later, Jimmy Page joined the band, and gave some bright electric strums to “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor.”

But the day the strum became a full-on peacock strum was the day in 1968 that the Rolling Stones released “Jumpin Jack Flash.”

Bright and bold as can be, Keith Richards’ electric strum flourishes just perfectly embody the brash, preening exhibitionism of cocksure young rebels.

It’s not surprising that other guitarists worked the peacock strum into some of their own songs.

• Dave Davies of the Kinks.

• Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music.

When it comes to exuding ‘tude, that strum does set the mood.

Even less surprising is that the early punk bands grabbed onto Keith Richard’s flashy guitar flourish for their own songs of brash youthful abandon. Variations of the peacock strum can be heard in songs by The Stooges, The Dictators, and Pere Ubu, and The Sex Pistols.

And the Pistols connection may be the most important of all.

Steve Jones’ ringing strums in “Holiday in the Sun” are full-on punk and full-on peacock. This likely served as the template sound for countless bands to follow.

From there you get John McKay of Siouxsie and the Banshees strumming like crazy in “Hong Kong Garden” and “Helter Skelter.”

• You get Sham 69 uniting the kids.
• You get Joy Division tearing apart.
• You get no action from Elvis Costello.
• You get the passion of Bauhaus.

And The Cure, and XTC, and Modern English, and R.E.M., and Sonic Youth, and the Pixies, and the Wedding Present, et cetera, et cetera.

It’s a stretch to say it’s everywhere now.

But despite being a niche musical flourish, the punk peacock strum has been thoroughly entrenched in the indie music world.

← Does this thing actually have a name that I don’t know about?

Well, too bad! I calls it what I calls it.

Here’s a playlist to get your heart strings a-strummin’, punk peacock style!

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