# Punk Died Today, Didja Notice? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 29, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355 "2002-05-29T15:35:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/41 "2004-03-01T01:38:05Z")
Punk will officially be dead the day “I Kill Everything That I Fuck” by GG Allin is used in a commercial. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/42 "2004-03-01T01:38:56Z")
You bumped a two-year old thread to tell us that? You’re well on your way to fighting ignorance! Welcome to the SDMB! Punk’s still dead. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/43 "2004-03-01T01:42:56Z")
> [@crass33](#): > > When i was in a punk band, we didn’t do it for the money, we barely made enough to buy gas. It was for the fun. So yeah, i think the stranglers did ‘sell out’ but we probably would have done the same thing. Drugs, cigarettes, and beer aren’t cheap. Was that really worth a two year old resurrection? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/44 "2004-03-01T01:42:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Water- the Dead Kennedys selling a song for Army recruiting wouldn’t be unprecedented! > > A lot of people are unaware of this, but the Who actually did several Army recruiting advertisements in the U.S.- at the height of the Viet Nam war, no less. A hijack, but was it with their approval? I ask because I heard that “Dawning Is The Day” by the Moody Blues was used in an Air Force ad. That aired only once. Supposedly the band was not happy. Apocryphal? Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/45 "2004-03-01T01:47:58Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Was that really worth a two year old resurrection? How soon they forget! ---
**Author:** ![htns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@htns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/htns)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/46 "2004-03-01T01:52:54Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > When you hear “Black Dog” in an Efferdent ad, or the Ramones’ “Glad to See You Go” in an Ex-lax commercial, > THAT will be the time to worry. No, I’ll worry when I hear a Cyndi Lauper track in a commercial for adult undergarments or a Belinda Carlisle track in a commercial for a retirement home. At that point, I’ll probably die from depression and angst. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/47 "2004-03-01T01:59:13Z")
If this thread can come back from the dead, then so can punk. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/48 "2004-03-01T02:01:38Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > What, **again**? > > _yawn_ That post, from 17 months ago, although accurate, does not explain why this is in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/49 "2004-03-01T02:11:10Z")
I think both the musical ethos and the social ethos of punk is returning. Punk was both a musical movement and a social movement - most of the bands were also part of the greater scene, and even when bands I liked were given contracts from a record company, the bands stayed in the scene. I don’t begrudge anyone success - so I was always happy when people I knew were able to make enough money to buy more than beer & gass to get to the next town to play. Selling out - naw! Only people I ever called sellouts were the ones who pretended they didn’t know you once they made money. > [@](#): > > Punk fans don’t seem to have grown up to the same extent. The fact that the Stranglers FINALLY got a chance to make a buck or two outrages them! As if the Stranglers CHOSE to have zero fans and sell zero records. As if they got into the music business in HOPES of spending their lives playing for a tiny cult audience, and living in poverty! Again, you need to understand that the punk scene is a subculture, and many bands played 8 cities in 2 weeks - and getting a bigger crowd was great most of the time, but it could be bad too. Fights could start and too much drinking & excess could lead you to never be allowed to play there again. Far more fun to play to a group of people who were up there skanking away - and all were part of the same culture as you, rather than to a mixed crowd where you could almost guarntee that someone would take offence to some 14 year old’s hair and start fighting. > [@](#): > > An Expression of the Underclass’ Anger at “the system”? Naaah! Too many of the leading punk bands (especially in America) were apolitical, for this too make much sense, and too many of the leading lights of punk wouldn’t know the Underclass if they tripped over it (Joe Strummer, like many of the politically-minded punks, was a rich brat POSING as a proletarian). Apolitical? Even by choosing not be part of the mainstream and playing punk is a political move. By being punk, you are political by the simple act of rejecting the dominant culture. By going against the mainstream, all your actions are political in that you have reject the cultural mores you therefore are outside the dominant code. > [@](#): > > A Rebellion Against “Pompous, Pretentious” Art-Rock, and a Return to Simple, Three-Chord Rock." Naaaah! First of all, just like the art-rockers, most of the “punks” were wimpy, cerebral, pompous, art-school dropouts to begin with (geez, can you imagine the grief Keith Emerson would have gotten if he’d changed HIS name to “Keith Verlaine”?). Second, only a few punk bands (like the Ramones) fell into the simplistic three-chord pattern. Blondie and the Talking Heads, for instance, played every style imaginable BESIDES three-chord rock. Yes there were art school dropouts in the scene, there were also many kids from blue collar homes, from white color upper class homes, and all these people thought the same thing. That they did not want to partake in conformity. The music created by these people was rejecting mainstream rock not out of spite towards the talent of the art rock musicians, but out of a desire to create something new, and something of thier own, and as many say … something dangerous. The 70’s & 80’s was a “safe” saccrine culture, and in the act of rebellion - they were liberating themselves from the standards for music of the day. > [@](#): > > Guys, I’m 41. I am in my mid 30’s - and most of the people I am involved with working on a canadian punk history site are much older than you. There is no age limit on punk rock. The bands I speak to, and the old punks I speak to, although they have day jobs, almost everyone is still involved with punk in one way or another 15 to 25 years later. As someone who was never part of punk, I am sure you have no way of understanding the social dynamic of punk, so quite simply I can’t see how your own progressive art rock culture and the knowlege you gain from it can cross over into knowledge of punk. One thing I always loved about the punk scene is after a gig, the band would grab a couple beers (or not - if they Minor Threat) and hang out and get to know thier audience. There was no real classism in punk rock, the scene spanned many strata - it was about a spirit that was open and accepting. A kid could come from the burbs and go to a show, and the next day - everyone would remember his face, and he was part of the scene. I don’t agree with those who find anything that is rebelious to be punk, there were influences which created punk, and many things later have been influence by punk, but punk was and is about questioning the system, thinking for yourself, and DIY - and that spirit is the core of punk. ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/50 "2004-03-01T02:25:00Z")
hmm…sorry, didn’t know it was that easy to bring a thread back to life. I’ll need to search for more. If it’s so old that you don’t care then don’t reply. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/51 "2004-03-01T02:33:32Z")
> [@crass33](#): > > hmm…sorry, didn’t know it was that easy to bring a thread back to life. I’ll need to search for more. If it’s so old that you don’t care then don’t reply. Just so’s you know, it’s generally considered to be bad board ettiquette to bring back threads that no has posted to for more than a month or so. There are a few perrenial exceptions (the board wouldn’t be the same if someone didn’t bump **Cervaise** ’s telemarketer thread every four months or so), but for the most part, if you see something in an old thread you need to respond to, it’s a better idea to start a new thread, lay out your premises there, and have the debate in that thread. Bumping an old thread can be annoying because it’s not immediately obvious that it’s an old thread, and people feel cheated wasting their time on a stuff people said two years ago. Hell, I didn’t realize this was an old thread until I came across a post from myself. Plus, the people you’re responding to might not still be active members of the board, or their opinions might have changed since the thread was first active. At any rate, although you might get some snarky comments, it’s not a _huge_ deal. Pretty sure it’s not a banning offence, or anything. Oh, and welcome to the boards. ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/52 "2004-03-01T02:57:40Z")
Has anyone caught the use of “Lust for Life” to sell fucking _cruises_? Another nail in the coffin. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/53 "2004-03-01T03:10:15Z")
> [@toque](#): > > Has anyone caught the use of “Lust for Life” to sell fucking _cruises_? Another nail in the coffin. No, that would be another past-50 rocker on the shuffleboard deck. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/54 "2004-03-01T03:16:20Z")
As long as I can ogle cute guys with spiky primary-coloured hair on the metro, I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/55 "2004-03-01T03:47:21Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Punk will officially be dead the day “I Kill Everything That I Fuck” by GG Allin is used in a commercial. Hahaha…That would be great. I really hope punk IS dead though, because I really hate having my lifestyle and belief system of the past 25 years co-opted by the likes Good Chrarlotte fans and the mall. I almost miss those generic punk years of the 90s. Anyways…punk CAN’T be dead…The Exploited just put out a new album last year and as long as Wattie is still around… ---
**Author:** ![crass33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@crass33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crass33)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/56 "2004-03-01T03:48:31Z")
again, i’m sorry, i was looking for an old post and didnt’ realize this one was so old, but i dont’ understand why it would annoy anyone. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/57 "2004-03-01T03:56:58Z")
I am in awe of people who are so sure that punk is dead because no one is like the Sex Pistols anymore. That’s preposterous. The bands are still out there. Punk is people on their guitars and drums, a DIY spirit, and being pissed. If you don’t feel the punk in Fugazi, what the hell did you ever see in Minor Threat? So we can name-drop Black Flag that we listened to when we were younger and say we knew what it was about, but back then when no one had heard of them and you could pop in a tape to introduce someone new to them it was part of their appeal. You can still do that, only not with Black Flag, or the Sex Pistols, or the Ramones. If that’s all you have to fall back on for punk, you just stopped listening. It happens as we age. I have a hard time finding new music, but now and again it happens, I stumble upon some local band or another that just wows me like underground music should. Anyone who thinks all musicians are in it for the money is being a little naive themselves. While I’m sure everyone would love to have a ton of money for doing what they love, you can’t go into a bar that caters to local punks and think, “You know, those guys are only doing this so they can make the big bucks.” Punk dies only for those who stop listening. While I’m sure there were a million Beatles fans who wished rock would die right then in there, and like I’m sure there’s 80’s punk fans who think everyone should stop so their favorites stay on top, it ain’t gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/58 "2004-03-01T04:08:27Z")
Punk’s dead because people like you didn’t realize that the slogan ‘punk’s not dead’ was invented to make you buy more music by some bands that just wanted to make money. Punk’s dead because you feel the need to explain to us why it isn’t. Punk was dead as soon as the mass media discovered it and packaged it, which was from the very start. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/59 "2004-03-01T15:10:13Z")
Can emo be dead now too? Check out this beauty from this week’s Best Buy ad: “EMO MUSIC–artistic, deeply emotional music laced with anti-commercial undertones. It has gained its popular appeal through modern-day punk and indie rock enthusiasts.” Thanks for clearing that up, Best Buy! I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Either way, I think my head just a-sploded. Can you imagine the ad writers fretting over this? “Come on guys, the boss wants us to get older folks to buy some Get Up Kids and Yellowcard. How can we explain their music to them?” ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355/60 "2004-03-01T15:58:40Z")
> [@gluteus maximus](#): > > Punk’s dead because people like you didn’t realize that the slogan ‘punk’s not dead’ was invented to make you buy more music by some bands that just wanted to make money. What is there, some punk conspiracy now? Jesus christ. > [@](#): > > Punk’s dead because you feel the need to explain to us why it isn’t. That means you killed punk by claiming it was dead, which is still preposterous. A scene isn’t dead because someone says it is… if you think punk is dead, it is only because you stopped caring or listening. > [@](#): > > Punk was dead as soon as the mass media discovered it and packaged it, which was from the very start. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. It’s music. It is still being made. What more is there to say? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-died-today-didja-notice/111355.md?page=4)