[crucialfelix]

Just like many punks before him, he did know chords, but he wanted that classic punk naive sound and in interviews he claims he doesn't know anything. It's about moving up and down the neck and finding the sweet, sick and weird sounds.

I don't know why the article claims this was a Nirvana discovery. It started in the 70s. Discharge, Wire then Fugazi, Minor Threat. These people are smart, just raw, and they like blunt aesthetics.

[kimi]

Don't forget Ramones.

[crucialfelix]

I like the Ramones, but they definitely aren't smart. I used to produce radio shows and I edited an interview with Joey Ramone. He said "uh" like "uh" every other word. Because I like him, I removed most of the "uh"s so he wouldn't sound so daft.

The Ramones were pretty standard with tonality. There's a good chance that Colin Newman knows what a chromatic mediant is, but probably nobody else in punk did.