The Punk Rock Thread

[SwimmingRiddles]

I just finished watching The Filth and the Fury, a documentary on the Sex Pistols. A quick search revealed that we apparently have never had a thread devoted to punk music, so without further ado...EVERYONE SPIT ON THE FLOOR!!!

But seriously...let's talk bands. I really like the Buzzcocks. I'm not sure if Bikini Kill really counts, but I'd like to get more into them. And of course, the old school stuff, Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, etc. But I find it hard to find good modern punk bands that haven't fallen into that Blink 182 black hole of pop-punk. Any suggestions?

Excuse me, I must go affix some safety pins to my person.

[frock75]

Rancid, baby!!!
Henry Rollins pretty much kicks ass, as well.
Does anyone remember The Dead Milkmen, I loved those guys.

[Bill H.]

Sorry for a bad start, but Buzzcocks were very adament that their name was "Buzzcocks," not "The Buzzcocks."

[mouthbreather]

Minor Threat and 7 Seconds.

Are both a couple bands I listened to way back when and have again recently given an ear to. You're not going to go wrong with any Minor Threat and 7 Seconds "Walk Together, Rock Together" is pretty good as well.

Good modern punk bands? hmm.... I got none.

[Robot Arm]

I'm not sure if they qualify, but I'm rather fond of Cub and Sleater-Kinney.

[elelle]

Umm, I fondly remember Iggy Pop sucking on my finger and spitting in my face back in the day. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, Iggy plays golf, and I tube-feed hawks. That ol' scoundrel Time's a bitch....

[Cisco]

Originally posted by SwimmingRiddles
But I find it hard to find good modern punk bands that haven't fallen into that Blink 182 black hole of pop-punk. Any suggestions?




Rancid's new album is fucking hardcore. Until recently I would have said Guttermouth but I'm not so sure about them since they signed with Epitaph. You best bet for punk is to stick to the 70's and 80's - Descendents, early Clash, Operation Ivy, Dead Kennedy's, Minor Threat...etc.

[erislover]

Always was a Minor Threat, Misfits, and Dead Kennedys man myself. Horror of horrors, I never got into the Ramones. I am often told that this alone is sufficient enough to not be considered punk. :shrug:

Modern punk isn't like old punk... but would you really want it to be? I have never knowingly heard blink 182 but I'm familiar enough with the pop-punk sound. I though NOFX pulled it off rather well.

For most new goo dpunk I look underground to local music, but Sleater Kinney's "Call the Doctor" is a fine example of what relatively recent music can bring. The OP mentioned Bikini Kill, I was a fan of Red Aunts so you might check out "#1 Chicken" which is a fun album.

I drifted to emo some time ago, and would recommend anyone who has the spare cash should pick up Cap'n Jazz's "Analphabeta..." something or other anthology.

In the words of a poster here, whose name escapes me, "punk snot dead." Wasn't that an SNL skit? :p

[Chas.E]

Originally posted by Cisco
You best bet for punk is to stick to the 70's and 80's - Descendents, early Clash, Operation Ivy, Dead Kennedy's, Minor Threat...etc.
I'd agree with these sentiments, but we seem to have been inhabiting different punk worlds. Let me pull out my laptop and see some bands that I like enough to keep instantly accessible on disk..
Adverts, Alley Cats, Black Flag, Buzzcocks, Cramps, Damned, Dead Boys, Devo, Dictators, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Husker Du, Ian Dury, The Jam, Johnny Thunders, Magazine, Gary Numan, Patti Smith, Penetration, PiL, Ramones, Rezillos, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, the Ruts, Sham69, The Slits, Slaughter & the Dogs, Stranglers, The Dils, D.I., TSOL, Vibrators, Wire, X, X Ray Spex, etc etc.

Oh yes, there is so much great stuff people haven't discovered in the good old punk era. And lots of it is now being reissued on CD. None of this new modern alleged "punk" comes anywhere close to it.

[Chas.E]

Originally posted by elelle
Umm, I fondly remember Iggy Pop sucking on my finger and spitting in my face back in the day. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, Iggy plays golf, and I tube-feed hawks. That ol' scoundrel Time's a bitch....
The closest I ever got to Iggy was standing in line behind him at the Ralph's grocery store on Sunset Blvd while he was buying a bottle of vodka. Oooh that woman that was hanging on his arm..
Yes, time's a bitch. I year or two ago, I was depressed for weeks after hearing of the suicide of Wendy O Williams (of the Plasmatics). She ran a "wildlife refuge" for squirrels in her backyard, and was known locally as "the squirrel lady." Oh what an ignoble end for a woman who once rode atop an unpiloted school bus loaded with dynamite into a wall of television sets.

[rackensack]

I'm not sure it's possible for anything to be punk anymore. Now, it's true that I'm becoming an old fart reactionary as the hair falls out and the bills come in, but it's not just that I think everything was better when I was a kid. It's also not that I think it's impossible to make interesting, fun, ground-breaking music anymore. It's that for me, the essence of punk was a reaction to a set of conditions that don't (indeed, can't) exist anymore: the bloated pretense of most popular music of the early/mid-seventies, the concentration of the music industry in the hands of a few major record companies, the smell of naivete and fuzzy-headed mysticism that still pervaded so much of popular culture at the time, and not least of all the economic malaise of the mid-seventies, the sense of severely circumscribed opportunity.

Today, any musical act that even approaches the level of self-importance and humorlessness achieved by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, and even (god bless 'em) The Who at times, is quickly taken down several pegs by the press and fans. The tendency is still there, of course, but (largely as a result of punk) no one will ever take it seriously again.

The current consolidation of the music business, and the "entertainment industry" in general, in the hands of a very few extremely large conglomerates, might seem to offer a new opportunity for punk, but it remains far easier for an upstart band to create and distribute their own CDs than it's ever been before. I railed against CD as a format for several years, when there were only a couple of plants in the world that produced CDs and their production capacity was monopolized by Sony, CBS, and Warner Bros. (et al.). I never anticipated the flood of rereleased material that would hit the market later, making long-unavailable music readily accessible again, nor the degree to which independent labels (and now individuals) would obtain the ability to produce and distribute CDs. There's no comparison with the pre-CD world, where producing and pressing even a 45, much less a full album, was a difficult and expensive proposition far beyond the means of any but the most successful bands.

During the first go-round, punk not only kicked over the walls, but also ripped up the foundations, of these conditions, ensuring by the mere fact of its having happened, for instance, that no one would ever assume that you had to have millions of dollars worth of gear and a major record deal to be regarded as force to reckon with, either in the music industry or society in general.

Finally, the relative prosperity of the last ten years or so means that the kids who're the age at which punk is a viable position have never had any reason to be other than optimistic about the future. They've never pounded the pavement trying to find someone who'll hire them for a minimum wage job. The essential frustration at the core of punk is missing today. Even the acts and stances that would have marked someone out as unhireable before the early nineties are just another fashion statement now -- odd hair colors and styles, facial and body piercings, and unorthodox clothing styles have been part of the mainstream business culture (at least in the Internet segment) for several years now, and no longer put those who sport them beyond the pale. The stakes are a whole lot lower than for a kid the same age with the same clothing, hair color and piercings in 1977 -- I daresay none of them has ever been offered a job making tea at the BBC. There are still kids who're angry at the world and who're looking for an outlet (always have been, always will be), and punk as a style will always appeal to some subset of them, but the targets for their anger are less obvious and less universal now than they've ever been.

Punk's not dead, but like a lot of us, it found out that sometimes being successful at what you set out to do is the first step toward becoming irrelevant.

[Why A Duck]

rackensack, nicely said. It's tough to be punk when the mainstream has stolen all of your attitude and repackaged it for mass consumtion.

There are other factors at play too. I for one blame the internet.

The same kids who twenty years ago were cranking out dissonant soundscapes in response to an unfeeling society are today sitting in front of a monitor downloading porn and cracking code. Think about it, if Joey Ramone and Lee Ving were young today, they'd probably be on the forefront of some web revolution.

And don't write off the porn theory too soon either. You give a rebellious dissatisfied youth broadband nooky and there's a good chance that the guitar is going to gather dust.

[Ich Bin's]

Very good comments from everyone.
For the record, I am 31, and missed the original onslaught of punk by about eight years.

There are, however, some great bands out now that I would consider punk, though my definition may be a bit broad.

My favorite punk band right now is Refused; their masterpiece is The Shape of Punk to Come. Made as a one-off after the band decided to break up to pursue other interests, this record brings all of their divergent energies into one disc; anyone disenchanted with the state of punk today should get this. This is what the Nation of Ulysses could have been if they'd held it together (another essential band, by the way....) There's plenty out there, we just don't have the benefit of hindsight to make it easier to see.

Some other good ones are Les Savy Fav, Q and not U, !!!, Dismemberment Plan, ................

[Mr. Billy]

Love Ramones.

Love Clash.

Also, Social Distortion. Lame lyrics, but the guitars rip.

Do the Pixies qualify as punk? Surely a guy who writes the lines "Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know/Girlie so groovy, I want you to know/I am un chien Andalusia" deserves a mention. What -- by the way -- is "un chien Andalusia?"

What about early Replacements? I saw Husker Du in one of the other posts. If Bob Mould makes the list, then let's not forget the 'Mats. One of the Replacements is in Guns and Roses now. I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad one, punk-wise -- or for whom -- but there you have it.

Every time I hear a song by Pearl Jam on the radio, it makes me want to cut out my own spleen with a jagged piece of shale. I can't explain that, really, but it feels good to get it off of my chest. Thanks.

[pezpunk]

Originally posted by Ich Bin's
Q and not U, !!!, Dismemberment Plan, ................

Q and not U are friggin incredible! I have been trying to spread the word on SDMB for awhile now. Dismberment plan and Burning airlines (ex Jawbox) too. Is there any new Q and not U coming out soon?

[pezpunk]

Originally posted by Mr. Billy

Do the Pixies qualify as punk? Surely a guy who writes the lines "Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know/Girlie so groovy, I want you to know/I am un chien Andalusia" deserves a mention. What -- by the way -- is "un chien Andalusia?"


Debaser is a song about a short film 'Un Chien Andalou' cowritten/codirected by artist Salvador Dali in 1928. The Pixies aren't so much punk as indie rock. They lead the way for bands like pavement and sebadoh. Basically Pixies took what seventies bands like VU or even television did and injected some serious rock feel to it. I love the pixies.

[woodstockbirdybird]

The first band that popped into my head when I read the OP was Sleater-Kinney, but since everybody else has mentioned them I guess I'll shut up.
As far as punk in the Buzzcocks/Clash/Ramones tradition, the only examples I can think of are the aforementioned Rancid, the Queers, Chixdiggit!, Screeching Weasel (are they still around?), the Mr. T Experience, and Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, all of whom are somewhat one-note and/or gimmicky, and leave a lot to be desired, IMO. I'm more interested in the offshoots of punk, what has been called emo or just indie rock - Yo La Tengo, Luna, Built To Spill, Boyracer, Jawbreaker (now Jets To Brazil, basically), like that. Most of my favorite punk bands - Husker Du, The Clash, The Replacements - eventually moved beyond punk into more varied musical territory, and that's the stuff that's had a more lasting impact on modern music, as far as I'm concerned. I don't think the political and social elements that begat punk's first wave are in place anymore, so we're not likely to get the same kind of momentum these days (plus it's all benn commodified, as has been stated). But there's still a lot of vital music that originated with punk, and I think there always will be.

[mouthbreather]

pez spread the Q & ! U to me already, and I love it.

What -- by the way -- is "un chien Andalusia?"

Un chien andalou (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0020530) was a film in the late 1920's, directed by Salvador Dali. "Debaser" is in reference to the film.

[mouthbreather]

And not only does pez hook me up with the new music, he's quicker on the draw with Pixies trivia than I am.

[Sofa King]

I'd like to give a big wave to all those folks who helped me rip my sweaters and enjoy the finer vintages of Thunderbird in the alley behind Ford's Theatre. Here's to:

Bad Brains
Government Issue
Scream
Marginal Man (Double Image re-released (http://www.inyoureye.com/)!)
Black Market Baby
The million incarnations of Ian and Alec


The U.K. might be punk's birthplace (unless you count MC5), but DC made it what it isn't today.

[Bill H.]

Has anybody seen this? Kinda punk rock. Mostly hijack.
http://www.boortz.com/oswald.htm

Note the Dead Kennedys logo in the background

[Bill H.]

I started making a list and realized I really don't know what punk rock is. Maybe some of these don't belong here:

Clash
Sex Pistols
Iggy Pop
TSOL (and is that True Sons Of Liberty or Songs?)
Dead Milkmen
Ramones
Black Flag/Henry Rollins
Joy Division (I don't think I could rationalize New Order as Punk, but maybe Joy Division)
Bauhaus/Love & Rockets/Peter Murphy
Social Distortion
Sublime
T Rex
Violent Femmes
Stranglers
Buzzcocks
Cramps! (gotta love the Cramps)

[Mr. Billy]

Did anybody else ever used to like The Godfathers?

Punk, or something else?

Anyway, I listened to 'Hit By Hit' and 'Birth, School, Work, Death' until I wore them both out.

I don't have anything to add, but it's fun to say all of the names again and feel the frission of rebellion that I don't ever experience any more.

Like drinking Rumpleminz in the parking lot before Dead Milkmen, in Rochester, in the dead of winter, at the age of 17, circa 1988. Not doing my homework.

I am such a big, fat loser. I suppose the plausibility of rage as lifestyle choice is greatly diminished when you turn out to be an evening MDiv student with a big boy job and a fancy car and a flush 401k plan.

I guess it's already been said here. Maybe punk just grew up. Now all that's left is...Fred Durst (?!)

And thanks, all, for the clarifier on "chien Andalou".

[bdgr]

To me, punk wasn't about the music, it was a lifestyle, a philosophy. The music was about punk. I liked the Dead Kennedys, the ramones, the pistols, the exploited, and Bad Brains, but when I think of punk, I think of people I knew. I think of waking up in the morning and finding 20 people(litteraly) asleep on living room floor(and only knowing about half of them). I think of sleeping in burned out houses, and violent confrontations with the skins, or the rednecks, or the yuppie larve that had to come down to the Rocky show and beat up on those fags with the funny looking hair. Getting harassed by the redneck police, and being called racist and satan worshipers by black people at whataburger in two in the morning(people who had apparently seen one two many talk shows, and just didnt know any better). I think of the comfort of knowing that any time, day or night, that I could find someone who was willing to do something incredably stupid and dangerous with me, just for a laugh. I think of a bunch of kids, many throw aways, and runaways, who felt that they had absolutely nothing to lose, and just didn't give a fuck, so they were game for anything we could come up with. I think of going to funerals for friends, and having the family glare at us, just like the scene in the original suburbia.

Punk to me was a lot of bad times, and a lot of great times. Most of all it a lot of insanity. I wouldnt trade that part of my life for anything. I have storys to tell my grand children that they will never believe in a million years(There gonna look at me like grandpa on the simpsons).

The music was an excuse to get togeather sometimes. It was the soundtrack to the scene, but was rarely, if ever, the center of attention. I knew punks who never listened to punk music. I remeber one of the punk clubs in fort worth, that was built in a condemed house belonging to some heroin addict that someone knew. Every one would gather there, on the weekeds, and there would be a band, of some sort. IF not punk, often it was a metal band, no body cared because the band was just window dressing, evey one threw a buck or two into a donation can to pay off the band and the junkie who owned the place, but a lot of people never even went inside. Hell, most of the punk clubs there were more people out in the parking lot than inside. One day, the junkie let a skinhead band play there, and that was the end of that. The place was tainted, and no punk would set foot there, no matter who played.


I don't mean to hijack this thread, I know the op was talking about punk music in particular, just there have been a lot of talk around here of late about punk bands, like that was what it was all about. It wasnt. At least not where I was.

[Bill H.]

Mr. Billy wrote
Did anybody else ever used to like The Godfathers?
Yeah, in fact I met them. They had opened for (was it?) Oingo Boingo. I still have the lead singers autograph somewhere. Very cool guys.
Every day's a thrill when you're living like me
Don't read Baudelaire's poetry
And I don't need no Ph.D.
'Cause I'm ten times smarter than you'll ever be
'Cause I said so
'Cause I said so
'Cause I said so
'Cause I said so

[Rock-n-Rolga]

How about the Dwarves, New Bomb Turks, the Nomads and Turbonegro?

(And I liked the Godfathers too. The intro to "I Want Everything" is unholy stompin' good!)

[China Guy]

There were so many good bands out there. I saw literally hundreds of shows and did lots and lots of interviews.

DOA, Big Boys and the Dicks were among my favorites, and all of the band members were pretty righteous folk.

[Anamorphic]

A post on punk almost a page long, and no one mentions Fugazi!? What's this world coming to!?

Other than that, I'd just like to further push Dead Kennedys, The Clash, and Buzzcocks.

[Joyfulgirl]

Originally posted by Anamorphic
A post on punk almost a page long, and no one mentions Fugazi!? What's this world coming to!?


I was just going to say this! Thank God someone else noticed. I like Fugazi. Alot.

[Cisco]

Originally posted by Joyfulgirl
Originally posted by Anamorphic
A post on punk almost a page long, and no one mentions Fugazi!? What's this world coming to!?


I was just going to say this! Thank God someone else noticed. I like Fugazi. Alot.


A few people mentioned Minor Threat. IMHO Ian didn't have much to say after that.

[Typo Negative]

My personal faves are:
the Dickies
Agent Orange
SNFU
Bad Religion
Face to Face
Screaching Weasel
Lagwagon
the Cramps
All

[Junior Spaceman]

I'm not going to bother entering the 'what is punk rock?' discussion, because to me it's about as interesting as the discussions I used to have ten years ago over whether Annihilator's first record is thrash metal or power metal.

Here are ten records that, whether they're punk or not, lots of punks seem to like, so you might too.

1) The Electric Eels - GSFU (I'm not typing the full name). From 1975, one thing this band were definitely not was pre-punk. They were over the top, insane, obnoxious punk rock at its best. Sample song titles "Agitated" and "You're Full of Shit". Actually, pick up anything you find with them.

2) Black Flag - First Four Years. Even though only the first four songs are great, they are as good as it gets. Beats the pants off the later Rollins line up.

3) Urinals - Negative Capability. The best band of the punk era - 3 perfect singles on this compilation, with some extra live stuff (missing their cover of 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy' unfortunately). As covered by Yo La Tengo (twice!).

4) V.A. - Killed By Death vol 1. OK, it's less than legal, but it still shows how wide ranging original punk could be. There's dozens of volumes of this, but only a few worthwhile ones. Check out This Fine Page (http://plaza.v-wave.com/paul/punk_comps.html) for details.

5) Iggy and The Stooges - Raw Power. Either the Bowie or the Iggy mix - who cares. Still stands as the best heavy metal record of all time, and the only HM record which can appear so high on punk lists!

6) The Birthday Party - BBC Sessions. If you don't own any BP, or if you have everything except this, rush out right now and buy it. Nick Cave proves he was once one of the scariest punk singers ever, rather than one of the scariest crooners ever, as he is now.

7) The Saints - Wild About You. The first three records plus b sides and outtakes from Australia's finest. Their first single was reviewed as "Single of this and every week", and it still sounds great today. Buy one for every room in the house.

8) The Sick Things - My Life's A Mess. Another Australian band, this one never released a record (like the Electric Eels) until years after they split. Killer killer killer raw raw raw. Features Mick Turner from the Dirty 3, too.

9) Suicide - Suicide. Synth duo from New York. Nightmare music, and they have a similar connection to the Velvets than the Birthday Party do to the Stooges. Pity 'Synth duo' became a dirty word.

10) Pere Ubu - Modern Dance. Art punk from Cleveland, and along with Dub Housing, all you really need to know about them. Captain Beefheart meets Joy Division (and breaks the window).

[Chas.E]

Originally posted by HenrySpencer
5) Iggy and The Stooges - Raw Power. Either the Bowie or the Iggy mix - who cares. Still stands as the best heavy metal record of all time, and the only HM record which can appear so high on punk lists!

I don't know if you were intentionally flamebaiting, but calling The Stooges heavy metal is utterly ridiculous. Iggy himself called the Stooges the first punk band. You are a heretic!

[jack@ss]

I haven't been punched by a redneck for having blue hair since 1987.
I don't think punk was about music either. I still shop at thrift stores and pull stuff out of trash cans even if I own a home in a nice middle-class neighborhood. I don't miss the 20 teenagers on the living-room floor, sending the betties out to panhandle while I jammed blues with 3 other guys on the street corner to scrape together enough money to see a gig at the speedway cafe, or coming to dopesick and broke (with 20 teenage strangers passed out on the living-room floor), And I'm not saddened by the loss of the conditions that brought punk about.

Some of the bands I really loved in the 80's were the Butthole Surfers, the Dead Milkmen (I like you, Stuart!...do you know what the Queers are doing to our soil?), The Cramps, X, The Vandals, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, The Misfits.

I've been out of the scene for a long time and I don't listen to much radio music anymore. I really liked NoFX a few years ago, when half the radio songs were starting to sound like the Ramones.

Fugazi are some of the nicest poeple I've ever met, none of that "Fuck me, I'm a rock-star" attitude.

I know everyone considers Iggy Pop the godfather of punk, but what about the Velvet Underground?

[casdave]

Whoever mentioned Trex and punk in the same thread needs to get out and watch a few bands methinks.

Haven't seen any mention of a few leading edge punk bands in their day such as

The Stranglers
Stiff Little Fingers
Angelic Upstarts
Vibrators
Sham 69
Rezillos
X-ray spex
The Pratts

[Chas.E]

Originally posted by jack@ss
I know everyone considers Iggy Pop the godfather of punk, but what about the Velvet Underground?
This is why I keep telling people to read "Please Kill Me." the first part of the book is the story of the godmother of punk, Nico, as she goes through various lovers from Jim Morrison to Iggy Pop, spreading destruction and syphilis. Legs McNeil somehow attributes the early trail of punk as going through Jim Morrison and the Doors, but they're about as hippie as it gets, and that's exactly what the punks rejected.
Ya know, my older sister in NYC works in the music scene, I told her about this book and she said funny I should mention it, she just bought an option on the book and was departing the next day to shop it around hollywood, she wanted to make it into a movie, focusing mostly on the early days of MC5 and Iggy. I talked to her a few weeks later and asked how it went. She said that once they heard the subject matter, every door in hollywood was slammed in her face. I think this was a good thing, some things are just not intended for a mass audience.

[Junior Spaceman]

Regarding my supposedly heretical statements about Iggy Pop, I was using 'Heavy Metal' in the sense it was used at the time. If you look at contemporary reviews, it was considered HM, rather than punk (seeing as 'Punk' didn't really exist). I was only being a slight smart-arse, but more towards heavy metal fans (of which I used to be one). And Iggy says lots of things about the Stooges, lots of them not being quite true (like about him writing every note and every word, and the others being a bunch of idiots).

In the early seventies, the line between heavy metal and what we might now call proto-punk was non-existent. Magazines like Back Door Man covered both, and used the terms interchangably.

I think that the Velvet Underground were influential on punk, without actually being punk themselves. For every 'Heroin' there was a 'Femme Fatale', and for every 'Sister Ray', there was an 'I Found a Reason'. They also happen to be my favourite band of all time. I think they're still musically underrated, considered mostly for their influence and image rather than incredible music.

[Mercutio]

I still laugh everytime I hear "pop-punk". That's like calling R&B "pop-rap". I wrote an article about this a while ago but, I'm too damned lazy to dig it up. Long story short, poppy sounds just makes you a rock band. If you have no message you're not punk. Therefore, Blink = Rock. NOFX = Punk. It's quite simple really.

Basically, not too long ago I sat back with my friend, Tim Gallegos, from Wasted Youth and Bad Religion fame, and we talked about the scene when it was up and running. Back when epitaph was a sticker and a P.O. Box and teens were becoming socially conscious and taking to the streets and living it through their music. People from Bad Religion, Wasted Youth, Red Kross, Circle Jerks and Black Flag went to my high school. Reagan was hated, PMRC was censoring. Nowadays the conditions are growing to the same. A hated president is in office, people are mad as hell and not sitting on their hands anymore as shown at Seattle with the WTO and Quebec with the FTAA. The corporations are basically selling "Punk-in-a-box" and the uprising against them has started growing. Punk, to me, has always been a lifestyle, way of, questioning what has always been and being politically aware as a youth so not to be fucked as an adult. I protest for my rights, I make myself heard when I feel that my rights are being stepped on. You don't have to dress a certain way or listen to certain people to live a punk lifestyle.


As for the bands...

Dead Kennedys, Millions of Dead Cops (Why hasn't anyone mentioned them, yet?) Fear, Bad Religion, Minor Threat, 7 seconds, Black Flag, SubHumAns, Crass, Conflict, Lard, Misfits

[Bill H.]

VU is one of my faves, but are they really punk? I think of "Lisa Says" and "I'm sticking with you" and "Stephanie Says": most of the songs I think of aren't really that raw punk edge. Like I say, I'm not even sure what punk is.

I remember seeing TSOL, and when they played "Code Blue" the singer walked off the stage and handed the mike to some random guy in the audience who sang it. The singer just sat on the side. It was very cool. I met them before the gig and they were great guys.

[bdgr]

Originally posted by Mercutio
Punk, to me, has always been a lifestyle, way of, questioning what has always been and being politically aware as a youth so not to be fucked as an adult. I protest for my rights, I make myself heard when I feel that my rights are being stepped on. You don't have to dress a certain way or listen to certain people to live a punk lifestyle.



Well said. I had friend we called Scotty the prep. This was absolutely punk, yet he drove an audi, dressed like a preppie, complete with the izod shirts, and the hair style etc. We were talking one time and he explained. His parents, who were rather affluent, told him that if he would dress like that, they would buy him a nice car, and pay his tuition, etc. He, being the rather twisted individual he was, thought this was the funniest thing he had ever heard. SO he did it, got this really nice audi, which he proceded to trash the inside of it completely, and would go hang out poolside at the country club with a portable radio playing the DK's and killing joke as loud as he could....Generally making life miserable for his yuppie parents. He was accepted as one of our own, all though most people considered him an asshole(and he was). I never had wierd hair, and didnt dress that strange either. It was about who you were, not what you dressed like or listned to.

[erislover]

Originally posted by Mercutio
If you have no message you're not punk.
As for the bands...

... Misfits...
Err, The Misfits had a message? Pray tell, what metaphysical or philosopihical message do I get from "20 eyes in my head-- and they're all the same, they're all the same!"

:p

erl, who loves the misfits

[Crafter_Man]

I was into some fringe punk band in the 80’s. Favs include:

MDC: Originally from Texas. Very left wing, more so than most other punk bands. Famous for “John Wayne was a Nazi”; other good songs include Corporate Death Burger and Chicken Squawk. Most album titles (and some songs) could be abbreviated as “M.D.C.”, e.g. Millions of Dead Cops, Millions of Dead Christians, Multi-Death Corporation, Metal Devil Cokes, etc. I even saw these guys play in Cincinnati – minus their bass player. (He was in jail in Zanesville, which is where they played the night before. He got busted for possession of pot…) Musically they weren’t that great, but their lyrics were occasionally funny.

The Crucifucks: Fairly short-lived band from Lansing, MI. Fronted by Doc Dart, who has a voice and singing style that must be heard to be believed. Politically they were pretty much identical to MDC (i.e. very anti-establishment), but much better musically. Their first album is a classic. I believe their drummer went on to play for Sonic Youth.

The Dayglo Abortions: A great punk band from Canada. I believe they’re still around. Heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, this is some of the funniest stuff out there. The lyrics on their first album are sick, sick, sick, but funny, funny, funny.

I also liked the Dead Milkmen and the Ramones, though I wouldn’t classify the latter as a “punk rock band.”

[Sofa King]

Oh, God, I loved the Crucifucks! They just had a "complete" cd released about five years ago and the damned thing got pulled before I could grab it. Anyone know where I can get it?

I keep waiting for the riff from "Rope Swing" to find its way into some B-picture.

The story I heard was that their drummer was eleven years old when they recorded their first album.

Another very big favorite of mine was Dr. No:

--El Duce! Hey, El Duce, how would you like to bend over for me and let me shove my arm straight up your ass?

--(Duce voce) Well, ALL RIGHT!

That's another one I sorely miss since I ditched records and tapes.

[Crafter_Man]

Originally posted by Sofa King
Oh, God, I loved the Crucifucks! They just had a "complete" cd released about five years ago and the damned thing got pulled before I could grab it. Anyone know where I can get it?



Was this a new CD or a compilation?

I agree the Crucifucks were great. After all these years their songs are still swimming around in my head. Hinkley had a vision…

[Mercutio]

Originally posted by erislover
Originally posted by Mercutio
If you have no message you're not punk.
As for the bands...

... Misfits...
Err, The Misfits had a message? Pray tell, what metaphysical or philosopihical message do I get from "20 eyes in my head-- and they're all the same, they're all the same!"


Touché. But, they're a given. They couldn't really fit into anything except the musical sound. They were just mostly DIY I guess.

[Sofa King]

Well, I'll be, Crafter_Man. There it is at Amazon. Title is Our Will Be Done. It has stuff from both their self-titled first and from "Wisconsin." I'm getting it.

Looks like the cover has been changed, which I think was why the CD originally got pulled off the shelves way back in '92.

Oh, and that song title is "Down On My Knees," not "Rope Swing."

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Another vote for the Dead Kennedys. A co-worker gave me a tape of their Fresh Fruit... album back in 1983 and I couldn't understand a thing they were saying. You have to admit, Jello Biafra's voice takes some getting used to. However, I finally got it after a few listenings. Another co-worker commented that the band's name was "sick and perverted", to which I replied, "Well, duh. That's the point." Too bad that money and egos destroyed the band like so many others.

Side note: despite the fact that punk rockers aren't supposed to know how to play, the guitar work on many of the songs is very impressive.

[Francesca]

Just a very quick hijack - Sofa King - the link to your homepage doesn't work. It links to http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/www.pechanga.net rather than http://www.pechanga.net

[/hijack]

Carry on with your punk self.

[Crafter_Man]

Originally posted by Sofa King
Well, I'll be, Crafter_Man. There it is at Amazon. Title is Our Will Be Done. It has stuff from both their self-titled first and from "Wisconsin." I'm getting it.

Looks like the cover has been changed, which I think was why the CD originally got pulled off the shelves way back in '92.

Oh, and that song title is "Down On My Knees," not "Rope Swing."

Oh, I've got that one. (I thought you were referring to a new release.)

Have you heard the album "Wisconsin?" It's good, but doesn't hold a candle (IMHO) to their debut album. I mean, musically it's good - in fact, it's probably better than the debut. But it's not quite as radical, which is what I really liked. Still, there are some good songs. "Pig in a Blanket" comes to mind. And "When the Lid Comes Off," which is about the plight of fishing worms. "Concession Stand" is also pretty good. And the song "Wisconsin" has a really cool acoustic guitar intro.

I heard Doc Dart put out a solo album a few years back. Haven't heard it, but one reviewer gave it a thumb's down, saying it was "dark, brooding, and pessimistic."

[Sofa King]

Thanks, Francesca. I'll fix that right now.

Yeah, I used to have "Wisconsin," and I liked it pretty well. There's one line in one song which I'm sure I've misheard, but nevertheless it has stayed with me in its warped form ever since:

"There's a terminal clause in taking a healthy dose of LSD."

Can't possibly be correct.

Here's an interesting little tidbit: When Scream did a reunion show (http://www.lumberjack-online.com/emusic_torque.html) at the Black Cat over the holidays in '96, Dave Grohl hopped on the drums for the song, "Hygeine." He's completely uncredited, but the tune made it onto the release. Nobody at the show gave a shit, anyway--Grohl's post-Scream fame is greeted largely with indifference around here.

[The Big Cheese]

I don't think I saw any mention of an all-girl band, Lilliput.

Just touching the roots of punk too were Violent Femmes. I said just touching, no flames por favor.

Before they made us stop, at work I used to listen to interent radio(not sure if I can mention it, so I'll just say it rhymes with 'winner'). The 'classic punk' station was one of my faves. Ahh, the good ole' days!