Ladies and Gentlemen: The Nurse With Wound List:

[RandomKoolzip]

In 1978, the British avant-rock group Nurse With Wound put out their first album. In the liner notes was included this list.

The list is a catalog of all the artists who had influenced Nurse With Wound or had simply made daring, experimental music before 1978. In a way, the NWW list, which has gained almost mythic status in record collecting circles for the nigh-insane level of obscurity and rarity in its choices, gives lie to the theory that Punk Rock was a kind of musical ground zero; Punk wasn't created in a vacuum...in fact, here's three hundred or so artists who made challenging, likeminded music long before there was such a genre.

Check it out:



ALL-7-70 ALTERNATIVE TV ALVARO AME SON AMM MUSIC AMON DUUL AMON DUUL II ANIMA ANNEXUS QUAM ARBETE
OCH FRITID ARCANE V ARCHAIA ARCHIMEDES BADKAR AREA GILBERT ARTMAN ART BEARS ART ZOYD III ARZACHEL
ROBERT ASHLEY ASH RA TEMPEL ASSOCIATION PC IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO BANTEN FRANCO BATTIATO HAN
BENNINK JACQUES BERROCAL BIGLIETTO PER LINFERNO BIRGE GORGE SHIROC BLUE SUN RAYMOND BONI
DON BRADSHAW LEATHER BRAINSTORM BRAINTICKET BRAST BURN BRAVE NEW WORLD ANTON BRUHIN
BRUHWARM THEATRE FRANZ DE BYL JOHN CAGE CAN CAPSICUM RED CAPTAIN BEEFHEART CHAMBERPOT
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE CHENE NOIR CHILLUM CHROME COHELMEC ENSEMBLE JEAN COHEN SOLAL
COLLEGIUM MUSICUM ROBERTO COLOMBO COMPANYIA ELECTRICA DHARMA COMUS CORNUCOPIA
CREATIVE ROCK CRO MAGNON DAVID CUNNINGHAM DADAZUZU WOLFGANG DAUNER DEBRIS
DECAYES DEDALUS DHARMA QUINTET DIES IRAE DOODOOETTES PHILIPPE DORAY
JEAN DUBUFFET DZYAN EILIFF EMTIDI EROC ETRON FOU LE LOUBLAN EXMAGMA
PATRIZIO FARISELLI FAUST LUC FERRARI FILLE QUI MOUSSE FLOH DE CLOGNE FOOD BRAIN
WALTER FRANCO FRIENDSOUND FRED FRITH GASH RON GEESIN GILA GOD IN DISGUISE
GOMORRHA GONG JOHN GREAVES AND PETER BLEGVAD FERNANDO GRILLO GROBSCHNITT GROUP 1850
JEAN GUERIN FRIEDRICH GULDA GURU GURU HAIRY CHAPTER HAMPTON GREASE BAND HENRY
COW HERATIUS HERO HUGH HOPPER HORDE CATALYTQUE POUR LA FIN IBLISS LINFONIE
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER ISKRA ISLAND JAN DUKES DE GREY KING CRIMSON BASIL
KIRCHIN KLUSTER FRANK KOLGES KOLLEKTIV ROTE RUBE KOMINTERN KRAFTWERK KROKODIL
STEVE LACY LARD FREE LE FORTE FOUR LILY LIMBUS 3 AND 4 BERNARD LUBAT ALVIN
LUCIER MAGMA COLETTE MAGNY MAHJUN MAHOGANY BRAIN MALFATTI AND WITTWER
MICHAEL MANTLER ALBERT MARCOEUR MASCHINE NO 9 MATE AND VALLANCIEN
COSTIN MIEREANU MIN BUL MODRY EFEKT ANTHONY MOORE MOTHERS OF
INVENTION MOVING GELATINE PLATES FRITZ MULLER THIERRY MULLER MUSICA
ELECTRONICA VIVA MUSIC IMPROVISATION COMPANY MYTHOS NAPOLI CENTRALE NEU
NICO NIGHT SUN NINE DAYS WONDER NOSFERATU NU CREATIVE METHODS OKTOBER
YOKO ONO OPERATION RHINO OPUS AVANTRA OUT OF FOCUS OVARY LODGE TONY
OXLEY PARKER AND LYTTON PATAPHONIE PAUVROS AND BIZIEN PERE UBU
PIERROT LUNAIRE PLASTIC ONO BAND PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE
POLE POP GROUP MICHEL PORTAL RED CRAYOLA RED NOISE REFORM ART UNIT
STEVE REICH ACHIM REICHEL RESIDENTS CATHERINE RIBEIRO AND ALPES
TERRY RILEY ROCKYS FILJ RON PATES DEBONAIRS ROTH RUHM AND WIENER RAY
RUSSELL TERJE RYPDAL MARTIN SAINT PIERRE SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA GUNTER SCHICKERT
SECOND HAND SECRET OYSTER SEESSELBERG SEMOOL SONNY SHARROCK SILBERBART SILOAH
SOFT MACHINE SPERM SPHINX TUSH KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN STOOGES DEMETRIO STRATOS
SUPERSISTER TAMIA TANGERINE DREAM TECHNICAL SPACE COMPOSERS CREW MAMA BEA TEKIELSKI
THIRD EAR BAND THIRSTY MOON THIS HEAT JACQUES THOLLOT THRICE MICE THROBBING GRISTLE
PAOLO TOFANI TOMORROWS GIFT TON STEINE SCHERBEN TRANS MUSEQ ULI TREPTE TWENTY SIXTY SIX
AND THEN XXXX UNIVERS ZERO CHRISTIAN VANDER VELVET UNDERGROUND VERTO PATRICK VIAN MICHEL WAISVISZ
IGOR XXXXXX WAKHEVITCH TREVOR WISHART WOORDEN ROBERT WYATT XHOL CARAVAN XHOL LA MONTE YOUNG FRANK
ZAPPA. ZWEISTEIN ZNR AGITATION FREE PEKKA AIRAKSINEN AIRWAY ALBRECHT D ALCRATAZ ALGARNAS TRADGARD

The additional list...

ANAL MAGIC AND REVEREND DWIGHT FRIZZEL AQSAK MABOUL STEVE BERESFORD PHILIPPE BESOMBES XXX CABERET
VOLTAIRE HENRI CHOPIN CRASS COME DEEP FREEZE MICE DER PLAN DEUTSCH-AMERIKANISCHEN XXXXXXXX FREUND
SCHAFT DOME CUPOL ROGER DOYLE FAMILY FODDER FLYING LIZARDS FREE AGENTS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX JEF GILSON
GLAXO BABIES GOOD MISSIONARIES GRAND MAGIC CIRCUS RAGNAR GRIPPE PIERRE HENRY XXXXXXX JUAN HIDALGO
HORRIFIC CHILD MARTIN DAVORIN JAGODIC OSAMU KITAJIMA LEMON KITTENS MAGICAL XXXXXX POWER MAKO MAMA
DADA 1919 MARS MNEMONISTS MOOLAH NEGATIVLAND NEW PHONIC ART NIHILIST XXXXXXXXXX SPASM BAND ORCHID
SPANGIAFORA POISON GIRLS PUBLIC IMAGE LTD BOMIS PRENDIN BOYD RICE XXXXXXXXX CLAUDIO ROCCHI SMEGMA
SALLY SMMIT SNATCH TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS GHEDALIA TAZARTES TOKYO KID XXX BROTHERS TOLERANCE L VOAG
LAWRENCE WEINER JAMES WHITE AND THE CONTORTIONS WHITEHOUSE WIRED XXXX IANNIS XENAKIS YA HO WHA 13

And a link with more info on the artists and further explanation of the theories behind the list:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ultimathule/nww/nwwlist.html

[DS1]

1. ANAL MAGIC & REVEREND DWIGHT FRIZZELL

BEYOND THE BLACK CRACK

Love that record!

[RandomKoolzip]

3. I'll trade you my first born son for it.

Actually, I've been looking for that record for almost a decade...do you really have it? Can you transfer it to CD-R for me for a few bucks?

[DS1]

4. No, sorry

It just caught me eye. Can't imagine why. Good luck finding it.

[Misunderestimator]

7. You can try this:

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/preorder/new/B00005YOTR/ref=sdp_po_u/102-5786185-6530548/102-5786185-6530548

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Wow, I had no idea it had been re-ished on CD!

Thanks, Misunderestimator! :thumbsup:

I bet it was a real hoot looking for "Anal Magic" on amazon.com.

[Misunderestimator]

11. LOL... I never miss an opportunity...

to type "anal" in any search engine... :D

[swag]

2. Steven Stapleton did a pretty interesting performance

involving some pretty innovative disk-jockeying with CDs at the Doug Fir Lounge here in Portland a few months ago. It was something to behold. Wouldn't say that it was all worthwhile (just like with Nurse With Wound's catalog), but I'm glad I was there.

[RandomKoolzip]

5. dupe/double post

.

[RandomKoolzip]

6. IMO, since the NWW/Current 93/etc. crew embraced electronica...

..they haven't made a single piece of worthwhile music. Again, that's just my opinion. I preferred them back when they were imitating a cross between Throbbing Gristle and the Residents, using organic textures..

[Squeech]

8. Exactly

Thanks for this list, I'm proud to say I have records by at least 10% of these artistes.

It is not much remembered, for example, that Johnny Rotten wanted the Sex Pistols to sound more like Captain Beefheart. But there was a staunch avant-gardist strain in punk, coming from many quarters. I got to talk to Tom Verlaine once, who compared one of Television's songs to Schoenberg. And it worked the other way too-- when my favorite band on this list, Henry Cow, broke up, their keyboard player started a punk band called The Work.

Now I gotta take out my L. Voag album... man, those were the days!

[RandomKoolzip]

9. It's also been forgotten that major labels used to traffic in the avant

occasionally. Case in point: The Flying Lizards album, on Virgin records, is a still-astonishing piece of dadaist dub/noise.

L. Voag: I had a radio show I co-hosted in Nashville for a while, and my co-host used to want to play L. Voag all the time. Only heard a couple of things by them, but I liked it.

I was only three years old in 1978, but I could imagine that those used to be some incredible years to be aware of what was going down musically, below the surface.

[Squeech]

13. I say

there were two years when you could sound exactly like you wanted to sound and still get a record contract: 1967 and 1977.

There's a bit in The Real Frank Zappa Book that talks about this phenomenon. Initially, the Mitch Miller-era guys didn't know what to make of rock'n'roll, they knew only that the kids liked it-- so they went out looking to sign up artists that looked sufficiently freaky. Some of them were genuinely innovative. Some of them were just glad to have a steady gig, or posturing for the groupie action. Some of the latter got hired by the labels for A&R, and got to make the big decisions, and got shockingly risk-averse in a big hurry. Punk rock happened in part as a reaction against that numbing conventionality, but got co-opted just as quickly (Zappa said punk became "new wave" by sterilizing its own safety pin).

Virgin Records was an indie when they started, but a well-financed one-- the record stores generated the cash flow to keep the label solvent. They were also lucky, as Tubular Bells was a surprise hit. But note how many artists on this list were associated with Virgin early on: Henry Cow, Can, Gong, Robert Wyatt, Tangerine Dream, John Greaves and Peter Blegvad, Captain Beefheart, Fred Frith... probably a couple more I'm overlooking. (Comus?)

Certainly there was a lot about the '70s that sucked-- between disco and the zillions of bands that wanted to be the next Led Zeppelin, there was plenty of numbing conformity out there. But there were people who didn't want to settle for the same old same old, and this list consists of many of those. And there were informal networks whereby you could find out about this stuff. (I remember hitchhiking through Iowa in the '70s and having one kid grill me about the then-new King Crimson album.) Such networks must still exist, but I don't know where they are any more-- the perils of growing old, I guess.

[GirlinContempt]

12. Nice

However I think you can stop rubbing your nipples counterclockwise and saying "Oh yeah sugar, thats the shit" now.

[RandomKoolzip]

14. Is that a typo?

I was saying, "Oh yeah sugar, that's shit." There was no "the" in my nipple-rubbing paean.

[GirlinContempt]

15. No

no typo. Be honest

[RandomKoolzip]

16. Be honest? Allrighty then:

I'm made of clay and I'm only twenty-one inches tall. My father was a pubic crab-herder and my mother was Ernest Borgnine.

Sometimes I confuse mayonnaise with Preparation H. I stole a pack of gum from Waldbaum's when I was three. I've never seen "The Matrix." I agree with Kucinich on most of the issues, but think Clark has the best shot at taking on Hillary in the 08 primaries.

I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom. The capital of Swedenbourg is monkfish.

[GirlinContempt]

17. Thanks, Humpty

And thank you for your honesty

[GirlinContempt]

18. The real question is

did you eat up all my crackers and my licorice?

[RandomKoolzip]

19. Sure did. And I drank that bottle of Hennessy you had on your shelf.

So just let me introduce myself.


This one time, I used a word that don't mean nothing, like "looptid." That was fun.

[GirlinContempt]

21. RKz

:rofl: I love you

edit:
And you made me listen to that fucking song. My room mate just walked in and was all 'wtf'

[RandomKoolzip]

24. Would you still love me if I told you that I like my oatmeal lumpy?

Or that certain fellows have told me that I "look like MC Hammer on crack?"

[GirlinContempt]

26. I would even love you

if you told me your nose was big like a pickle. And rear-ticklin'

But, to be honest, I wish you were a little bit taller, I wish you were a baller.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

22. But you actually DID grab me in the biscuits.

The settlement netted me a whole can of Cheez-Wiz. Boy.

[RandomKoolzip]

25. After you told the judge to "Duwhatchalike," your appeal got

thrown out of court AND you were fined for contempt. Didn't the Iran-Contra trials teach you nothin'?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

20. Yawn. Boring!

[RandomKoolzip]

23. You're right.

Boring as fuck-all.

How you doin, bi the way? Haven't heard from yuz in a while. You got DSL back yet, golden boy?

[asthmaticeog]

27. It makes me very happy

that a thread about Nurse With Wound got to over 20 posts.

That is all.