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Getting it on, of course, means love and sex, passions that old time rock 'n' roll had plenty to say about. But today's punk rockers have no time for euphemisms like Chuck Berry's "ding-a-ling." Four-letter words are not spared. And when Thundertrain bawls, "I'm hot, ho, hot, hot for teacher," there is no missing the point. The 1970s have been dominated by graduates of the 1960s rock era —Paul Simon and Paul McCartney moving out on their own, groups like the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship rambling on as before. The New Wave seems to be saying, "The superstars are dead. Long live the superstars." Down with the smooth confections of commercial rock, even the harmless purr of disco. Says one punk devotee: "Disco was the final straw." Willie ("Loco") Alexander, leader of a Boston band, revels in the studied toughness, calculated cool and throbbing boom-boom of the New Wave. Says he: "Punk looks right at you and says something."
That something has until recent months been too aggressive for the record companies, who in turn have to bear in mind the strictures of radio. Signing with Private Stock Records, the group Blondie agreed to change "sex-offender" to "ex-offender." Not all New Wave groups are going to be that docile. The aura of rebellion is crucial to punk's pleasure. Swing-bred parents of the 1950s may have found Elvis Presley corrupt (as did CBS-TV, which cut him off above the pelvis), but the kids loved him. Folk-and rock-bred parents of the 1970s may not love the Dead Boys, but a lot of the kids do. The biggest catastrophe for punk rock would of course be huge success. How does a rebel maintain his pose while earning $ 1 million a year?