Juidos ‘n’ Decaf Italians: Irony, Blasphemy, and Jewish Shtick

Abstract

Where did punk begin? In the piss-hole of CBGB? The cross-haired scars of Iggy Pop’s chest? The sturm und drang of the Velvet Underground? Jim Morrison’s cry? Lenny Bruce’s smirk? Most would pin the prize on the pin-head brow of the Ramones and the Big Bang moment of their first aural assault at CBGB. Yet no event is without its precedent, and no precedent to the Ramones is clearer than one established by an album that came out a year before that band’s own debut, foreshadowing it right down to the selection of songs and comic content.