FROM ROCK 'N 'ROLL TO HARD CORE PUNK - UKZN ...

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members. This did not seem to affect their functioning in any
way, and it was in fact, Wild Youth #2 (see Figure 1) which went
on to gain a reputation as the premier punk band in the country.
Wild Youth's impact can hardly be overestimated. Their raucous,
insulting stage act often invoked anger from members of the
public and the press, while at the same time it engendered
respect for their unflinching commitment and zeal. The same
cannot always be said for their musicality. Some critics found
their performance to be all hype and no music, while others
managed to salvage some semblance of musicality - even enthusing
at times about their originality and driving sound. What was
common, however, was that Wild Youth were never ignored, and this
was much to their liking. Their stage performance was best
described by a Sunday Tribune Reporter in those early days of
punk:
They play like they're possessed. I later find out
they are. Relentless drumming, pumping bass, guitar
sandpapering your spinal cord, defiant vocals ripping
at your brain. My eardrums felt like they were being
attacked by a crazy nest of hornets It's a
blitzkrieg of energy never seen in this country. The
energy output is amazing and infectious... Wild
Youth are visually mesmerising, and with better
equipment would be musically exciting ... Ringing ears
drive me out, and home, my head spinning with the
images of youth on the move, breakers of the
established orders and as always fired with the energy
of change . ... 'We're the beginning of rock'n'roll in
South Africa' says Johnny Teen. 'We want to destroy
music as it exists today ... I know I'm not normal,
I'm an evil genius. A product of the nuclear age ...
We play only for youth. Everyone else has been messed
up by the system. We're more than just punk. ,56
Wild Youth and a well-known Johannesburg band, The Radio Rats
played at a concert in Durban in April 1979. While Radio Rats
received a positive critique, Wild Youth were not as
fortunate:
It's hard to get excited about a band whose sound is
56 Sunday Tribune reporter, 25th of February 1979.