101 reasons why punk sucks

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That's what I find interesting; the juxtaposition of punk being both entrepreneurial from the start, and also anti-establishment.

don't forget capitalism itself was pretty anti-establishment. by 1977 that establishment had largely been subsumed, but its image, its standing, its illusion, still loomed large. the deferent society! this was not a facet of capitalism, but internalized trappings of the establishment...know your place.

punk was against all this

so was capitalism. the deferent society...is not good for business!

― frankie driscoll, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

I'm thinking of comfortable British 40&50-something music journalists who would have considered themselves radical and revolutionary, etcetera, in their punk youths, now so content to write columns for The Times or bad lad-lit. or self-indulgent books about their relationship with Kylie Minogue? How is that punk?

As a 40&50-something who self identified as a punk in 77 let me explain the above phenomenon. These people are arseholes. Within their strident self-aggrandizement they may include their life-style choices as part of their definition of punk.

You don't need to include writing a column for the Times as being part of your definition of punk, most people don't.

― Sandy Blair, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

who the fuck listened to ska-punk anyway. oh yeah, everyone who wasn't on ilx.

I listen to ska-punk. My wife and I had our first date at a Ska Is Dead show.

― Mordechai Shinefield, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

The problem in the UK is that the definitions of punk that I've exressed above, those things ARE seen as punk, and that kind of punk is now seen as establishment.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 19 April 2007 08:47 (6 years ago) Permalink

people are using 'capitalism' to mean 'money economy'.

do you really feel punk is that 'present' nick? it seemed worse during britpop. i guess i've unplugged a bit but the kind of punk signifiers you get from razorlight or babyshambles or donny tourettes are so far removed from the late '70s it's unreal. in a way i think those bands make it *easier* to like actual punk records.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 08:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

"What is cool is driving a bimmer with your sunglasses pushed up on your head and drinking Moet with six nubile models squirming around in the back seat."

wish i was cool :(

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 19 April 2007 08:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

We might be getting some snow over the May bank holiday.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 19 April 2007 09:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

drinking while driving is NOT COOL

― blueski, Thursday, 19 April 2007 11:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

but is it punk rock?

― the next grozart, Thursday, 19 April 2007 11:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

Ask BBC 6Music, currently celebrating the 250th anniversary of the release of the first Clash album.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 19 April 2007 12:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

Funny, I've been thinking of listening to that album again, I haven't heard it in centuries

― Tom D., Thursday, 19 April 2007 12:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

The classic Clash album which was played so much on BBC radio when it was new.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 19 April 2007 12:12 (6 years ago) Permalink

I like the concept of punk, but find 90% of the so called punk bands just boring. And the first Clash album was of course punk, and I loved when I was 17, but now I'm over 30 and haven't listened it for years. So it goes.

― zeus, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

No, "So It Goes" was Nick Lowe, also much loved on BBC 6Music.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

I like the concept of punk, but find 90% of the so called punk bands just boring

So 10% aren't boring? That's a pretty good strike rate!

― Tom D., Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

Erm... 90% of the punk bands I've heard.

― zeus, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

When released in April 1977, The Clash reached #12 in the UK album charts.

Among the artists who kept the record out of the top ten were Barbra Streisand, Mr Acker Bilk, Smokie and the Muppets.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

I wrote a long intelligent post about a minute ago, but the internet ate it. The basic gist was: punk in it's ideal form didn't suck, but the repercussions of telling untold legions of special-ed students that "anyone can play music" are grievous.

I then found this snippet about the drummer from the Germs (underneath the Fallout Boy piece):

http://www.sdreader.com/published/current/blurt.html

It's the final quote that gets me. He sort of encapsulates the whole spirit of punk right there.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, 19 April 2007 15:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

1. Because it's pop music, but too many of the people who play it pretend it isn't.

2. Because instead of being the bold new revitalization of rock music that it promised to be, it was really just a reductive reaction to the more ambitious rock acts of the time.

post-punk is a different story. But is post-punk just punk music by people who can play their instruments?

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

is no wave post punk

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:43 (6 years ago) Permalink

ts: ilm "debates" on punk rock vs. ile "debates" on gun control

― pretzel walrus, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

ts: people posting generalities based on received "wisdom" about shit that happened 30 yrs ago vs. people that have actually been to an actual "punk" show in the last 5 years

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

ts: people using quotes for no reason vs. people actually responding to the thread's title

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

people who say "ts" but know the answer

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

transsexual?

― pretzel walrus, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

"people who say "ts" but know the answer"

vs. ?

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

mothra?

actually fake quotes are a bullshit tactic! i shouldn't have used them.

if anything, this thread to me just proves that saying any genre is "dead" or "sucks" is generally wrong...it always seems to me that most of the people that thing [Genre X] is "dead" are people that don't pay attention..like people thing modern country is some sort of vast wasteland, except all the dudes actually discussing it on the rolling country thread or my friend nate who just made me a mix CD of a bunch of good modern (not alt) country doodz that's actually really great....Jazz is "dead" except to everyone freaking out about the new Ornette Coleman record....metal "sucks" except to everyone who actually knows what's going on in the rolling metal thread...

so yep, punk sucks, except there's like 8 million punk bands making music now that DON'T suck and bunches of cool people doing cool things all over the US and around the world. The only punk that sucks is the punk that...sucks...and just ignore that shit and yr fine.

fuck, i just used a bunch more fake quotes, i gotta damn problem with that :(

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 19 April 2007 20:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

2. Because instead of being the bold new revitalization of rock music that it promised to be, it was really just a reductive reaction to the more ambitious rock acts of the time.

Isn't this a myth too?

In fact, punk was considerably more of a reaction against Stadium AOR than against progressive rock. Plus, to most punk fans, it was first and foremost an alternative to disco.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 19 April 2007 20:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

"alternative to disco"

I'm sure all those punks would be listening to Sabbath if punk wasn't around, not disco.

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude ‫茄蕃‪, Thursday, 19 April 2007 20:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

"In fact, punk was considerably more of a reaction against Stadium AOR than against progressive rock. Plus, to most punk fans, it was first and foremost an alternative to disco."

I consider stadium AOR and disco to both be very ambitious.

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 19 April 2007 21:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

punk isn't a style of music, its a method of production

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 19 April 2007 22:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

gay

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 02:22 (5 years ago) Permalink

(directed at the thread, not the genre)

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 02:24 (5 years ago) Permalink

punk is gay too, though.

― pipecock, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 02:45 (5 years ago) Permalink

Only if you're Pansy Division

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 02:45 (5 years ago) Permalink

or any number of other flaming bands. though it is gay in the other bad way, too.

― pipecock, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 02:47 (5 years ago) Permalink

I like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Black Flag. Most punk is dull and drunk and thuddy. I prefer taut and sinewy and volatile. In college I used to get annoyed at the cultural hegemony of punk among non-frat white kids, but I went to school in lolJersey.

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 03:19 (5 years ago) Permalink

Every once in a while I'll throw on ramones first album, dead boys, stooges, germs. It's all dumb fun, and mixes things up from the other stuff I listen to.

― filthy dylan, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 04:33 (5 years ago) Permalink

I obviously missed this thread (I was out of the country) but I would have said probably a lot of the same stuff I said here:

are there still punks?

I think USA people have a really different experience of current punk subculture because our scene's origins and history are as much 1980 hardcore explosion as 1977 Britain. Also, especially in the peace punk world there have been a lot of feedback loops over the years between scenes. I like hurting's analogy and prefer stuff of a similar stripe, or else weird political peacecore like Crass or Poison Girls.

The house I co-own booked all-ages alcohol-free punk shows for the last six years. We just stopped (not really for any particular reason other than general burnout) although we would still do some shows under very special circumstances. It has been very interesting for me as an older dude (41) to deal with shows involving lots of kids (and their parents! and grandparents! and younger siblings!) and to watch them grow up and find their own voices. The punk experience is in large part what you make of it and it was cool to watch these kids check it out. Lots of frustrations (drunkenness, apathy, boring bands, idiocy, but notably almost no violence) but also rewards (successful benefits for people in prison, great random bands, turning people on to information/history/music).

There are many reasons why it sucks. It still has a lot to offer as history, as music, as philosophy and aesthetics. And perhaps more importantly, it is a potential gateway to a vast world of subculture, some of which might still have something of value to offer in the face of world-blighting commodification.

― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 04:50 (5 years ago) Permalink

it is a potential gateway to a vast world of subculture

― robotsinlove, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 04:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

yeah, dada, situationism, that whole weird Autonomous Mutant Festival thing, you know.

― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 05:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

Another reason punk sucks is this horrendous new CD single by Mick Jones and Tony James' new band whose name I will not speak.

― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 05:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1978-Now-Subway-Sect/dp/B000PHVXTA

― dan selzer, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 05:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

I was born in 1979

Well, there's your fuckin' problem right there, twerp.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 15 November 2007 00:13 (5 years ago) Permalink

Yeah real punks are old and reverent for old music

― filthy dylan, Thursday, 15 November 2007 00:59 (5 years ago) Permalink

I don't recall saying that.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 15 November 2007 01:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

Has any musical movement had as many books written about it, aggrandising it as some kind of revolutionary force, as punk?

Try Hip Hop.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 15 November 2007 01:07 (5 years ago) Permalink

the idea of not liking genres is sort of weird in itself.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 15 November 2007 01:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

"Punk."

Lol @ "hating punk."

― roxymuzak, Thursday, 15 November 2007 02:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

a young kid starting a crappy punk band and calling it Minor Threat without having heard of the more famous Minor Threat is way more punk than anything on this thread will ever be.

― latebloomer, Thursday, 15 November 2007 02:19 (5 years ago) Permalink

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