"Punk's not dead, it just deserves to die..."-Jello Biafra
It's true. What Jello said. He said it, like, almost 20 years ago. Now "punk" is a really stale cartoon. Sometimes I think I imagined all the good things about the punk scene. Or, that I was just so fucking naive that I didn't know any better. I always make fun of people (especially that I grew up with) who spent their teenaged years trying to be "popular" (in a town of 6,000 people)or focusing on fitting in so much that once they got out of high school they couldn't even remember who they once were...maybe couldn't even remember that they couldn't remember who they once were. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the Risky Business haircuts, and ugly pastel clothing and McCarthy-like reverence for conformity was really the right path. I mean, here I was, as a 12-year old on, discovering unique and interesting bands, reading books to try to counteract the public school mindfuck, seeking out cool people who had their own identities...for what? So the post-Nirvana MTV sheep could hijack "alternative" fashion and mimic "alternative" music and produce plastic shit? So I could go through thousands of profiles on the stupid-ass My Space and see people with piercings and dyed hair who listen to The Killers (or worse) and proclaim proudly that they don't read (unless they're pretending to be educated and write down some names that they think makes them appear intelligent even though they don't even comprehend the ideas of the writer they list). I thought the Nineties were bad enough as an "Exterior Counter-Culture" (see my article on this here website titled "Who Do They Think They're Fooling?" in Unfathomable Misc.)with stupid grunge music. Now all you need is the money for a few tattoos, a piercing or two and "Whammo!"...you're punk! Or Emo! Or Rockabilly! Or whatever's cool this week. Fuck you! If I thought that punk would end up this way, I would have been practicing conformity instead of listening to Corrosion of Conformity. Anyway...
What kills me almost as much as the poser punks (who embrace consumerism and materialism) are the so-called "gutter punks". Here we have another extreme that pisses me off. Not showering, living in a "squat", and being so socially retarded that even I can't tolerate you, doesn't make you punk...it makes you a borderline homeless, change scrounging, a-political, hippie that's no better than the capitialists you claim to revile. If all you care about is seeing how much you can "get" from other people, what separates you from a greed-sucking capitalist? I just don't get it. I hate the Warped Tour contingent and I despise the overpass dwelling scum. Why do these people gravitate towards punk culture? Is it because punks of old were open-minded and accepting? Punk is more than nihilism...isn't it?
Another thing I'm sick of is the anti-intellectualism that's so prevalent in the scene. Who do you think the first punks were? Let's skip The Stooges/Velvet Underground/MC5/Seeds origin debate, a center on when "punk" became a valid moniker for a group of bands. That was in the mid-Seventies in New York. That was the Richard Hell (who the Sex Pistols were modeled after). That was Patti Smith. That was the Ramones. That was Talking Heads. That was bands from Ohio such as DEVO and Pere Ubu. These were intelligent and diverse bands. Richard Hell and Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine (named after French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine) wrote/write poetry. The Ramones were intentionally dumbed-down to make a statement. DEVO and Pere Ubu were art school dropouts. That's punk. How many so-called "punks" today read or write or paint?
Even a lot of today's so-called "artists" piss me off. How much of an individual can you be if you and everyone you hang around with listens to the same bands, have the same haircuts and so on? Being "intellectual" just seems to be another fashion accessory. Is this generation that shallow? It's early, and I'm complaining about the same things I was ten years ago. That's frustrating. And, it's sad. And, probably, no one cares. But the reason I mention it is because I see it. Maybe other people see it, too. There...have some validation.
Sometimes I wonder why I do things...like this website. I'm glad people have contributed to it. My friends in Murray, KY being the greatest and most enthusiastic about doing so. And I'm happy I've come into contact with people like Loryn and Charles Colyott and Corinna a.k.a. Corinna, and Shawndra--even though I haven't had the chance, yet, to get to know any of them. But I feel like it's all destined to get sucked into a void. I guess that's why I'm doing this...to prove that these people and what they write about aren't all in my imagination. AND I'M NOT WHINING like The Elusive Leather Pirate! I think I should probably just avoid fucking My Space. And television. And writing unfocused diatribes at 7:30 a.m. Anyway, what was the point of all this? I don't remember. Oh yeah, I HATE PUNK ROCK! So quit trying to get me to listen to stupid bands that sound like bands I used to (and kind of still) like such as The Fall and Gang of Four! All I like listening to, now, is Merle Haggard and Molly Hatchet and The Kingston Trio's early stuff, and Johnny Paycheck and the Paint Your Wagon soundtrack (from the Motion Picture...with Lee Marvin) and Waylon and Shooter Jennings and the CD Rachel made me that has Eddie Rabbit and Slim Whitman on it! Well, Buckaroos, that's all for now. Why doesn't anybody comment on these? And read The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterson. As ever, your Silk Upholstered Chair, FELIX.
"I was saying let me out of here before I was even born/ It's such a gamble when you get a face"--Richard Hell

¶ 8:11 AM   

Evelyn Dawn said...
anarchy for sale!
t-shirts only 10 dollars
badges only 3.50  

Loryn said...
I'm not a figment of your imagination. Most of the time anyway.

I started reading your assignment. I am steadily working on it. I am currently reading 3 other books as well so it is a bit slow going but I will finish eventually.

Oh, and hey- I promise to read your blog if you read mine. (Well, I will read yours anyway but you can read mine if you want.)

;)  

Anonymous said...
Hey, I like The Killers and I don't read. But I never (ever) thought The Killers were punk (because they're not), and at least I don't lie about my lack of reading.

Speaking of reading, I refuse to give in to your reading assignment, 'cause I'm a nonconformist! pUnK rAwK 4-eva! =P (that, and I'm too lazy/busy to go do it)

Ironic: A mass-produced T-shirt with the word "Different" on it. Sold at your friendly neighborhood JC Penney.

~*CORINNA*~  

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