I was thinking about the progression from exponent to godfather to grandfather status in a movement (literary, musical, etc.). It seems fuzzy when someone goes from an “Exponent” (a more gender neutral term for “Father”) to a “Godfather” (no gender neutral term, maybe “Elder Statesperson?”) to potentially “Grandfather” (“Grandparent”) of a movement. To help clarify my thoughts, I made the progression in pictorial form, using Lou Reed’s relationship to punk rock as a subject. In the Velvet Underground he was a Father of Punk (sort of, but not really). Then in the 70s (Transformer era) he was more in Godfather stage. Now he could be called a Grandfather of punk because many generations have bore his influence. Any Velvet Underground-related lineage has to include my personal favorite Velvet: John Cale. He had more active engagement with early punk, in that he played regularly at CBGB (cf. “Sabotage!/Live”), but he was always slightly off and on the fringes of punk. Thus, he’s the crazy uncle that you love because of his eccentricities, not despite.
To quote Kevin Barnes: “But no matter how hard you try / you’ll never be as weird as Uncle Alice.”
