new punks vs. old punks

[wenzel.hellgren]

Punk is dead. It died 1977.

Didn't Crass release Punk is Dead in 1978?

Yes that's right, punk is dead,
It's just another cheap product for the consumers head.
Bubblegum rock on plastic transistors,
Schoolboy sedition backed by big time promoters.
CBS promote the Clash,
But it ain't for revolution, it's just for cash.
Punk became a fashion just like hippy used to be
And it ain't got a thing to do with you or me.
Movements are systems and systems kill.
Movements are expressions of the public will.
Punk became a movement cos we all felt lost,
But the leaders sold out and now we all pay the cost.
Punk narcissism was social napalm,
Steve Jones started doing real harm.
Preaching revolution, anarchy and change
As he sucked from the system that had given him his name.
Well I'm tired of staring through shit stained glass,
Tired of staring up a superstars arse,
I've got an arse and crap and a name,
I'm just waiting for my fifteen minutes fame.
Steve Jones you're napalm,
If you're so pretty (vacant) why do you swarm?
Patti Smith you're napalm,
You write with your hand but it's Rimbaud's arm.
And me, yes I, do I want to burn?
Is there something I can learn?
Do I need a business man to promote my angle?
Can I resist the carrots that fame and fortune dangle?
I see the velvet zippies in their bondage gear,
The social elite with safety-pins in their ear,
I watch and understand that it don't mean a thing,
The scorpions might attack, but the systems stole the sting.
PUNK IS DEAD. PUNK IS DEAD. PUNK IS DEAD.
PUNK IS DEAD. PUNK IS DEAD. PUNK IS DEAD.
PUNK IS DEAD. PUNK IS DEAD. PUNK IS DEAD.

[wing]

Punk is dead. It died 1977.

Didn't Crass release Punk is Dead in 1978?

well then I guess they were a little late.

[wenzel.hellgren]

The other day I go into a pizza joint and there is a girl with a sleeveless demin vest, with Op Ivy and Conflict patches, spikes, saftey pins, etc. all over it. And she's wearing those fucking flared bell bottom type pants that are so popular with the fasionable young girls these days, and a pair of nikes. Then she put Evanescence on the juke box.

Punk as fuck.

They said that we were trash
Well the name is Crass not Clash
They can stuff their punk credentials
Cause it's them that take the cash
They won't change nothing with their fashionable talk
Their RAR badges and their protest walk
Thousands of white men standing in a park
Objecting to racism like a candle in the dark
Black man's got his problems and his way to deal with it
So don't fool yourself you're helping with your white liberal shit
If you care to take a closer look at the way things really stand
You'd see we're all just niggers to the rulers of this land

Punk was once an answer to years of crap
A way of saying no where we'd always said yep
But the moment we found a way to be free
They invented a dividing line, street credibility
The qualifying factors are politics and class
Left wing macho street fighters willing to kick arse
They said because of racism they'd come out on the street
It was just a form of fascism for the socialist elite
Bigotry and blindness, a Marxist con
Another clever trick to keep us all in line
Neat little labels to keep us all apart
To keep us all divided when the troubles start

Pogo on a Nazi, Spit upon a Jew
Vicious mindless violence that offers nothing new
Left Wing violence, Right Wing violence all seems much the same
Bully boys out fighting, it's just the same old game
Boring fucking politics that'll get us all shot
Left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot
Keep your petty prejudice, I don't see the point
ANARCHY AND FREEDOM IS WHAT I WANT

[ryan_c]

I gotta say that punk is alive and well over here in the US. And the thing is, it's not just whiny rich kids. The Pittsburgh punk scene is among the best I've seen anywhere. There's an amazing nonprofit/DIY performance space: http://www.therobotoproject.org, there are tons of bands, and there are people of all ages in the scene. Of course, it's mostly white, but that's punk for you.

Now me, I'm not really partial to most of the music. I like my rock more processed, but I've had a string of people involved in the scene come through my classes, and I have much much respect for them.

Best,
--JES

My old band played the Roboto Project. It's a very cool space. An old friend of mine that I went to high school with out here drums for Intense Youth. Another friend from out here helps set up shows at Roboto. You guys do have some very cool bands, and all the people we met out there were really nice. DIY spaces are awesome.

[aurelialuz]

henry rollins would pound some hurt into those kids, and he would do it with only his voice and scary muscley tattoos.

the same henry rollins of "50 Sexiest Video Moments" and the"VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards"?

yeah, he's punk.

alex

[trodden]

Here are a few awesome recent punk bands (from just looking at my iTunes library, which is decidedly unpunk). Note that some of these bands may be broken up, but all existed within the last few years or so:

1. Assault
2. Asshole Parade
3. Assuck
4. Black Print
5. Born Dead Icons
6. Bucket Full of Teeth
7. Cavity
8. Crucial Unit
9. Dillinger Four
10. Down In Flames
11. E150
12. Find Him And Kill Him
13. From Ashes Rise
14. Fugazi
15. Gauze
16. Guyana Punchline
17. High On Crime
18. His Hero Is Gone
19. I Hate Myself
20. In/Humanity
21. John Brown's Army
22. Lack
23. Left For Dead
24. Los Crudos
25. Organ!
26. Pelican
27. R.A.M.B.O.
28. Red Scare
29. Reversal of Man
30. Tragedy
31. Twelve Hour Turn
32. Wake Up On Fire
33. Yage

So there are 33 awesome punk bands that have been active over the last three or four years, and leaves off dozens of older bands and a few bands I left out for various reasons and all of the tons of other cds that I haven't bothered to put into iTunes yet and my hundreds of vinyl records. I am pretty sure that with the exception of D4, you'll probably never find any of those other cds at the mall, and you definitely won't see any of them on MTV.

Ryan! good list buddy. The band i'm playing in possibly will be releasing a split 7" with wake up on fire. Our new drummer played bass in Assuck for awhile! The red scare along with orchid, the blood bros., rocked my house back in kansas like its never been rocked before.

Punk is alive and well. Unfortunately we have the mass of corporate sponsored "punk" bands and kids that get in the way and just piss the hell out of me. I worked as a stage hand the other night for two bands, yellow card and something corporate.... supposedly, they are punk... what the fuck!I felt like i was at a new kids on the block concert... no i'm sorry, that is not punk, you lose.

Hellgren , you made my day with the CRASS lyrics. Their records were a crucial part of my life, between the ages of 16 and 20, they were all i listened to it seems...

[penelec]

It's nice to hear about the Pittsburgh scene -- last I had heard, the 814 posse was putting on some good shows and sponsoring some sick dodgeball tourneys.

I miss Half Life, though. One of my favorite bands, Pittsburgh notevenwithstanding.

http://www.eightonefour.com/

[argosyinflames]

Here are a few awesome recent punk bands (from just looking at my iTunes library, which is decidedly unpunk). Note that some of these bands may be broken up, but all existed within the last few years or so:

1. Assault
2. Asshole Parade
3. Assuck
4. Black Print
5. Born Dead Icons
6. Bucket Full of Teeth
7. Cavity
8. Crucial Unit
9. Dillinger Four
10. Down In Flames
11. E150
12. Find Him And Kill Him
13. From Ashes Rise
14. Fugazi
15. Gauze
16. Guyana Punchline
17. High On Crime
18. His Hero Is Gone
19. I Hate Myself
20. In/Humanity
21. John Brown's Army
22. Lack
23. Left For Dead
24. Los Crudos
25. Organ!
26. Pelican
27. R.A.M.B.O.
28. Red Scare
29. Reversal of Man
30. Tragedy
31. Twelve Hour Turn
32. Wake Up On Fire
33. Yage

So there are 33 awesome punk bands that have been active over the last three or four years, and leaves off dozens of older bands and a few bands I left out for various reasons and all of the tons of other cds that I haven't bothered to put into iTunes yet and my hundreds of vinyl records. I am pretty sure that with the exception of D4, you'll probably never find any of those other cds at the mall, and you definitely won't see any of them on MTV.

Ryan! good list buddy. The band i'm playing in possibly will be releasing a split 7" with wake up on fire. Our new drummer played bass in Assuck for awhile! The red scare along with orchid, the blood bros., rocked my house back in kansas like its never been rocked before.

Red Scare was from my hometown in Knoxville. I went to several shows to try and see them, but they always cancelled for some reason, but I caught them once at an arcade that did shows, and they were the loudest band I had ever heard live (this was before I heard Mogwai live), but they fucking rocked... Man I wish they were still around. Knoxville has a small scene again, but man, alot of the bands are just rehashed shit.

[phalex]

Punk has progressed very little since its creation. Don't get me wrong, I pump Ramones, Stooges, the Clash and Buzzcocks as much as the next guy. However when I see those kids wearing punk clothes with their Op Ivy and Misfits pins it makes me sad for them, they are a part of something that happened long ago. Punk won't come back. One of the most respected(at least in Jacksonville) punk bands, Rancid, just sounds like a bad imitation of the Clash.

[bobbydj]

Punk has progressed very little since its creation.

But how is that different from any other genre? You say it as though that's somehow anomolous, and strange. But take club music back to its inception in the early-mid '80s. What was the BPM? 120-130. What was the beat? Four to the floor. Well - that's pretty much the same almost 20 years later.

Now, you might argue that, in fact, because dance music has given rise to all sorts of other types (like drum 'n' bass, jungle, garage, gabba, handbag, etc. etc.) it has changed a lot. But, in one sense, it also hasn't changed much, 'cos even though the 'super clubs' (ministry e.g.) are struggling, there's still that 4 to the floor thing out there. I think there're still people who spend a weekend getting wrecked to that 130bpm thing.

Punk's like that in a lot of ways. Loads of smaller off-shoots still keep emerging - like emo. Which, admittedly, has been hoovered up. But even so.

When people say punk's dead they tend to mean that the latest off-shoot has been co-opted. But that doesn't mean the more committed underground of punks has disappeared. That's always been very small - right from the start.

[ryan_c]

It's weird that you'd say that, Phalex, as Florida has been home to some of my favorite bands ever, all of them light years apart in terms of sound from the Ramones, the Clash, the Stooges and the Buzzcocks.

Awesome Florida bands off the top of my head:
1. Palatka
2. I Hate Myself
3. Hot Water Music
4. Asshole Parade
5. Cavity
6. Assuck
7. Spoke
8. Floor
9. Combatwoundedveteran
10. Clairmel
11. True North
12. Burnman
13. Twelve Hour Turn
14. The End Of The Century Party
15. Reversal Of Man
16. Waltz
17. Eurich
18. Ansojuan
19. Scrotum Grinder

and those are just off the top of my head. Most of those bands helped define an entire regional sound in the late '90s. I'm probably missing a ton of older bands, and I'm sure that there are probably still lots of awesome bands that I haven't heard yet. It's criminal how many amazing bands have come out of Florida. And not one of the ones on my list sound remotely like the Clash. Whether or not you like any of them is another story, but there has been (and still is) a lot of awesome punk rock that's in your own backyard.

If you're interested in checking out some Florida stuff, a large chunk of the bands that I listed have releases out on No Idea records, you can find their website here. You can click on the MP3s page and check some of them out.

[wing]

Awesome Texas bands off the top of my head:

1. Destiny's Child / Beyonce Knowles
2. ZZ Top
3. Geto Boys
4. Swisha house
5. LeAnn Rimes
6. Scarface




Ok, kidding, there are some great ones from Austin, like Spoon... and of course there's always Jandek.

[ryan_c]

[JGriffin]

of course there's always Jandek.

Yeah, but is he as punk as Beyonce? I think he's more Prog.

Prog/Punk/Countrycore, maybe. that's Jandek.

[phalex]

Punk has progressed very little since its creation.

But how is that different from any other genre? You say it as though that's somehow anomolous, and strange. But take club music back to its inception in the early-mid '80s. What was the BPM? 120-130. What was the beat? Four to the floor. Well - that's pretty much the same almost 20 years later.

Now, you might argue that, in fact, because dance music has given rise to all sorts of other types (like drum 'n' bass, jungle, garage, gabba, handbag, etc. etc.) it has changed a lot. But, in one sense, it also hasn't changed much, 'cos even though the 'super clubs' (ministry e.g.) are struggling, there's still that 4 to the floor thing out there. I think there're still people who spend a weekend getting wrecked to that 130bpm thing.

Punk's like that in a lot of ways. Loads of smaller off-shoots still keep emerging - like emo. Which, admittedly, has been hoovered up. But even so.

When people say punk's dead they tend to mean that the latest off-shoot has been co-opted. But that doesn't mean the more committed underground of punks has disappeared. That's always been very small - right from the start.

Excellent point. I am just really tired of all these kids walking around acting punk, thinking it is an excuse to be an asshole to everyone. Especially when they have their mom's cart them around in SUV's. It is pretty out of hand. To me, punk had the most meaning when it was new, because it was fresh, there was a need for fast, short, simple songs to stop Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd from making long bloated songs. Punk in Jacksonville has become emo-hardcore-screamo, or jesus punk. Both styles get on my nerves. I hate that bratty voice that emo kids have, and their lyrics and guitar playing bores me as much as Pink Floyd. Jesus punk irritates me because punk is supposed to be rebellious, not an evangelical force, designed by born-again republican christian zealots.