Metal Box (1979), above even Public Image Ltd.’s debut, is the quintessential post-punk record. Forget Factory Records and Joy Division for a moment and remember that the UK Punk scene, first and foremost, was based around the Sex Pistols. After their demise, Punk was essentially defunct and John Lydon, formerly Johnny Rotten, began to pick up the pieces in the only way that seemed to make sense - put them back together in an entirely new fashion. Always the provocateur, their first record, First Issue (1978), challenged the notions of abstract music in a pop setting, but it was Metal Box (later renamed and re-released as Second Issue), that took their deconstructionist approach to a new tier of postmodernity. From the ambling, kaleidoscopic meandering’s of “Poptones” to the jaunty, haunting grin of “Careering”, you can find shades of almost any group that existed afterwards (i.e. The Rapture, The Futureheads, and many others). The production was groundbreaking in the use of atonal, fractured, flash-recordings that never seem to come from any place but nowhere, mixing dub, reggae, experimental, funk, and whatever else could be thrown in the the bombastic combination. Metal Box seems to exist in the space in-between convention and disharmony, creating the perfect soundtrack for the post-everything era.
Listen to “Poptones/Careering” (Live on American TV, 1980) and “Bad Baby” (Live, 1980)
Download “Metal Box“
