So this writer (professional troll?) for LA Weekly writes a column called “Unpopular Opinion”. Sometime the articles are pretty funny, and sometimes they piss me off.
This is his new article, which I find to be in the former category. Thought a couple of you other old farts might too.
[url http://www.laweekly.com/music/unpopular-opinion-punk-rock-is-for-old-farts-6441722]“Punk Rock Is For Old Farts”
Thoughts?
To a certain degree, yes.
I’m an old metal guy and I like old man metal for old men.
But I still act like a retarded teenager at the shows.
And I really am glad when there are a good bunch of younger people there to keep things fresh.
But, no, I don’t particularly think I’m challenging the establishment or making any statement with the music I love or anything.
I do think that kids, for the most part, are terrible and that they all like terrible stuff. That’s why it makes me feel good and hopeful when they are enjoying and/or supporting the same dinosaurs that I follow.
Eh, maybe I think it’s funnier because I go to these shows and see the old guys still trying to hold on. Dude’s practically bald, still using glue to stand a few thin strands of hair up. Belts, chains, 16 studded armbands, etc. Why are you trying so hard? I saw a guy on Sunset not long ago, had to be late 40s. He was so studded and belted and layered, it must take 30 minutes for him to ungarb.
I’m old and bald too. I still wear band shirts. But I’m not playing dress up any longer. I will be wearing comfortable shorts and shoes and I’ll be over by the bar enjoying the show and not the parade.
HAHA!!! I did get a kick out of the article. But maybe I also have a bit of compassion for those silly old farts playing dress-up.
I mean, I put on my metalhead uniform before going to the gigs. I feel like I’m myself when I wear it and I enjoy advertising what I’m about (you can see from my jacket what bands I like and that I like to drink beer and party).
But making a “punk rock” statement on its own is a bit silly, I suppose. I’ll see a BMW or a Mercedes parking and then some 50 year old comes out to put on his studded leather jacket with “Fuck The System” on the back or something.
I hope I don’t inadvertently re-phrase points from the article here, since I just read the headline.
If you think about it, an angry young kid in 2015 listening to “Class of 1977” punk rock would be like a kid in 1977 listening to…Jimmy Dorsey’s swing bands. Yep it is indeed a 40-year old genre.
And that’s fine I suppose. If something from 40 years ago speaks to you better than something from the present, that’s your choice to make. One of the pluses of the Interweb age is that you can access to pretty much every previous era of recorded music, and so there’s no point in limiting yourself to 21st century styles if they’re doing nothing for you.
Now, as for the capital-P Punk people who still go around insisting that punk rock irreversibly changed the game forever after - those people I feel sad for. For something like 3 decades now, EVERY new cultural movement that has combined self-determination, high energy, and disregard for ‘professionalism’ has been labeled as the “new” punk.
So…
SUPER-8 film making is the new PUNK!
GRUNGE is the new PUNK!
RAVE is the new PUNK!
HACKING is the new PUNK!
…and I guarantee you they’re not done yet.
It’s insulting to me when I manage to do something without a lot of money or institutional help, and people congratulate me on how “punk” that act was…as if my main intention was to pay tribute to a 40-year old cultural movement instead of to make my own way in the world.
And finally, punk wasn’t even the only “do-it-yourself” movement around at its time. There were parallel movements like industrial culture and mail art that had different aesthetics and philosophies but got lumped in with “punk” because that’s what looked the best in magazines, I guess.
@Gunnar: I’ve seen your uniform, and I’d hardly call it a uniform. It’s a jean jacket vest and a bandana. It’s your thing, and it does convey your party guy nature.
Perhaps it’s the intention of the uniform?
I don’t know. Maybe I’ve lived in Hollywood too long. You should see some of these guys. It just reeks of Trying Too Hard.
My point is: Enjoy your Elder Statesman stature. You earned it. Let the kids worry about what “looks cool”.
If you think about it, an angry young kid in 2015 listening to “Class of 1977” punk rock would be like a kid in 1977 listening to…Jimmy Dorsey’s swing bands. Yep it is indeed a 40-year old genre.
The difference is, how much angry/aggressive/abrasive music for young people really existed prior to the 1970s? I think if you’re into punk/metal/industrial/noise/etc., the music that most appeals to you will span from the '70s to the present, whether “the present” is 1977 or 2016.
The difference is, how much angry/aggressive/abrasive music for young people really existed prior to the 1970s? I think if you’re into punk/metal/industrial/noise/etc., the music that most appeals to you will span from the '70s to the present, whether “the present” is 1977 or 2016.
Good point - though i think a lot of the 60s bands as compiled on the ‘Pebbles’ and ‘Nuggets’ compilations had all the necessary ingredients of what became punk (distorted / dirty sound, nihilistic outlook etc.) And free jazz from that era still sounds intense as anything now on the market.
I think that even though something like big band / swing was certainly not confrontational and anti-establishment, kids who were into it at the time still thought it was their own unique expression and parents were generally sure that liking it was going to unleash immoral behavior.
Interestingly enough, there’s a book called ‘Teenage’ by Jon Savage who also wrote ‘England’s Dreaming’, one of the best overviews of punk. In it he discusses ‘swing kids’ in Germany who were looked down as degenerate by the Nazi regime.
HAHA!! This is gonna take me back to 1994.
The Internet was just born and there were terminal rooms with these old clickety-clack keyboards and ASCII only black and white monitors.
You’d scroll through the newsgroups alt.dogs, alt.football, alt.music, alt.punk . . . ahh, there we go. There would always be three topics that would never die . . .
What is Punk?
Who was the first Punk?
Is Green Day Punk?
People would yammer on for months on end, page after page. The most common (and self-righteously presented) position was always . . . “Punk is NOT a music, okay!!! It’s an attitude and a way of thinking!!! It’s doing what YOU want to do and not what authority tells you to do! It’s thinking for yourself and not caring what others think!!”
Then it would escalate to . . . uhhhh, okay. So, is Harry Connick Jr. punk? Is Beethoven punk? Was Galileo punk?
It was tiresome and lame. But, yes, I did spend many hours in those computer labs doing . . . . uhhh, okay, pretty much the same schtick I do now. Sorry.
@Gunnar: I’ve seen your uniform, and I’d hardly call it a uniform. It’s a jean jacket vest and a bandana. It’s your thing, and it does convey your party guy nature.
Perhaps it’s the intention of the uniform?
I don’t know. Maybe I’ve lived in Hollywood too long. You should see some of these guys. It just reeks of Trying Too Hard.
My point is: Enjoy your Elder Statesman stature. You earned it. Let the kids worry about what “looks cool”.
Nah, there’s really no intent to my “uniform”. And I’m not sure about my choice of title for it. My vest is so much a part of me that it even has a name. EL CHALECO. Everyone that knows me online or from the shows knows my vest. I don’t put it on to convey a message really. It’s just “who I am” and feels very natural.
I even explained before to some others that it’s very much NOT a costume for me. If I wasn’t a Joe-Blow white collar schmuck and didn’t embarrass my wife with such accoutrements I’d probably wear it every day.
It’s kind of the story of my life, right there on me. It makes me feel happy, tells others about me, and also is a great conversation piece, haha.
The last dozen years or so have seen a big influx of reunion gatherings, typically based on particular bars or clubs, here in Chicago. The first couple of years it was just one or two reunions per year and it was fun, even if some people were still playing dress up.
It’s kinda sad and even less flattering.
I gradually stopped showing up and haven’t attended any in the last 6 years or so.
You know what would be really great? To hang out with old friends and listen to the music we listen to now.
Meh… I never really dressed like a punk anyway.
What is Punk?
Who was the first Punk?
Is Green Day Punk?
People would yammer on for months on end, page after page. The most common (and self-righteously presented) position was always . . . “Punk is NOT a music, okay!!! It’s an attitude and a way of thinking!!! It’s doing what YOU want to do and not what authority tells you to do! It’s thinking for yourself and not caring what others think!!”
Then it would escalate to . . . uhhhh, okay. So, is Harry Connick Jr. punk? Is Beethoven punk? Was Galileo punk?
It was tiresome and lame. But, yes, I did spend many hours in those computer labs doing . . . . uhhh, okay, pretty much the same schtick I do now. Sorry.
What’s great is that hardly anybody during these exchanges would ever say “oh, i get it now…punk is just the latest in a series of anti-authoritarian culture movements throughout history.”
Instead there were these goofy attempts to show how the history of human rebellious nature was all just “pre punk,” and culminated in the moment when Wattie and the Exploited first played “Barmy Army.”
I still wear band shirts. But I’m not playing dress up any longer. I will be wearing comfortable shorts and shoes and I’ll be over by the bar enjoying the show and not the parade.
I never played dress up. But ive always been the guy in band t shirts and comfortable clothes. Always considered the dress up a uniform and fuck uniforms
But surely that is your uniform?
Wear whatever you want. If someone feels good wearing a leather jacket with Antisect, Amebix and Rudimentary Peni patches at the age of 55, fair play to them. Not something I’d do, but live and let live.
[reply]
What is Punk?
Who was the first Punk?
Is Green Day Punk?
People would yammer on for months on end, page after page. The most common (and self-righteously presented) position was always . . . “Punk is NOT a music, okay!!! It’s an attitude and a way of thinking!!! It’s doing what YOU want to do and not what authority tells you to do! It’s thinking for yourself and not caring what others think!!”
Then it would escalate to . . . uhhhh, okay. So, is Harry Connick Jr. punk? Is Beethoven punk? Was Galileo punk?
It was tiresome and lame. But, yes, I did spend many hours in those computer labs doing . . . . uhhh, okay, pretty much the same schtick I do now. Sorry.
What’s great is that hardly anybody during these exchanges would ever say “oh, i get it now…punk is just the latest in a series of anti-authoritarian culture movements throughout history.”
Instead there were these goofy attempts to show how the history of human rebellious nature was all just “pre punk,” and culminated in the moment when Wattie and the Exploited first played “Barmy Army.”[/reply]
I didn’t care about the punk newsgroups at the time, but I did spend a lot of time on rec.arts.music.industrial, alt.music.nin, whatever the Ministry one was called, etc. Lots of similar discussions.
It’s too bad Google is the only gateway to all that Usenet content now and they don’t seem to care about making it accessible.
^
HAHAHA!!! Yep! Those are the ones!
I never followed Marilyn Manson, but there was a long continuing presence of some drama about “Stop NIN and Marilyn Manson - They Kill Chickens!!!”
I don’t remember the backstory on any of it, but I thought it was pretty funny nonetheless.
^
HAHAHA!!! Yep! Those are the ones!
I never followed Marilyn Manson, but there was a long continuing presence of some drama about “Stop NIN and Marilyn Manson - They Kill Chickens!!!”
I don’t remember the backstory on any of it, but I thought it was pretty funny nonetheless.
As Alice Cooper laughed…
But surely that is your uniform?
That would make clothes in general a uniform.
You should be a real non-conformist and run around naked!
But then you’d be wearing the nudists’ uniform.
No real way to be punk rock.