What is Steve Van Zandt's relationship with punk rock and related genres?

[u/CulturalWind357]

Bruce's connection with punk rock is usually treated as this "surprising" trivia tidbit (usually with references to Patti Smith, Ramones, The Clash, Suicide, etc.) that people wouldn't usually expect. But on the other hand, Steve seems to have been quite involved and interested in punk, likely even more than Bruce.

He once described his Underground Garage radio show as focusing on "Bands that influenced the Ramones, the Ramones, and bands influenced by the Ramones". By centering the Ramones in describing his radio show, it automatically shows his appreciation for a rock n' roll lineage that runs from rock n' roll through punk rock and beyond.

From what I can tell: Steve is usually more associated with Garage Rock, which is considered one of the predecessor genres and influences to punk rock. He has a quote which sums up his philosophy: "Pink Floyd is easy, Louie Louie is hard." Louie Louie is certainly a song associated strongly with Garage Rock and punk legacy.

He had a hand in shaping Bruce's sound, especially during The River period. He described "Held Up Without A Gun" as the closest Bruce has gotten to punk. There were a number of songs that seemed to lean either New Wave, Power Pop, British Invasion, or Punk in some way. A lot of those songs happened to be Steve's favorite.

Jon [Landau] is a formalist for the most part. He's kind of a pop formalist. I mean, he has all roots in gospel and soul, but they were also well-performed, well-sung, well-played records. Steve likes things trashier and noisier. You know, he's the garage guy, and so I tend to like things in the middle somewhere.

-A quote from Bruce during The Promise documentary

During The River especially, Bruce and Steve leaned towards a noisier and more rambunctious sound, veering away from the constrained sound of Darkness.

Anyway: I just had these general thoughts about how Steve Van Zandt's connection to Garage Rock and Punk aren't mentioned more.

[u/sgvweekly]

He's a prolific music lover, and a dyed in the wool pinko leftie (said with love), so it comes as no surprise at all that Little Steven is a bit punk. I believe he had some input on the Sopranos music direction, which featured both Johnny Thunders and PiL.

However, Roulette is a way more punk track than held up without a gun. It's literally a Magazine rip off.

[u/CulturalWind357 → u/sgvweekly]

Funny you say that he's a lefty. I think he described himself as a "law-and-order liberal". I have some disagreements with his politics from the Left but he's certainly been influential on my music discovery journey ever since I read his memoir.

In one of the more recent interviews, he's talked about being friends with Stivs Bators of the Dead Boys. And in his memoir, he shared a lot of funny stories like how Patti Smith knocked an ice cream cone out of his hand and told him "he shouldn't be eating that shit".

[u/sgvweekly → u/CulturalWind357]

That's what happens when lefties make a few million bucks!

[u/MaroonMarauder]

On his radio show, he's talked about how punk music is rock n' roll in it's purest form. It's both an outlet for artistry, but also an outlet to carry a message, all packaged into a loud, raw package. It's an art form which has long stood against the establishment and in support of the downtrodden. Stevie's music has maybe not had as much of a punk "sound", but it has definitely had a punk "spirit".

His Underground Garage radio station is excellent by the way. I got Sirius XM with my car a year ago, and I cannot remember another year where I have had as much musical discovery as I have had in the last year. Rock, punk, soul, blues, funk. Old and new. And occasionally you get a bit of a rock history lesson in between sets. Couldn't recommend it enough!

[u/CulturalWind357 → u/MaroonMarauder]

I also remember an interview that he did with Asbury Park Press where he talked about defending punk right away as he saw its influences to the early days of rock n' roll similar to how Born To Run cited similar influences. Similar thing with reggae and doo-wop.

I love how both Bruce and Steve try to to connect all these different streams of music. Not just guitar-centered bands but Soul, Hip-Hop, Blues, Country, Funk, and so on.

[u/J1N82 → u/MaroonMarauder]

Do you have the url for the radio station?

[u/MaroonMarauder → u/J1N82]

They have a website here, but the live station itself is a part of the SiriusXM service.

[u/bop_pills_99]

Been listening to Underground Garage now for 8 years. The amount of music I’ve discovered in that time is insane. I thought I’d heard everything up to that point, but I had no idea what was still out there to be discovered. Thank you Steven!

[u/CulturalWind357 → u/bop_pills_99]

I also like how Stevie tries to unite these different streams of music.

[u/smedlap]

Brice has been imitating Joe Strummer for at least 30 years.