I don’t man, I don’t consider them punk punk but pop punk, but still doesn’t change your statement.
I’m still surprised punk hasn’t made a come back. We are dying of old age and this is the right environment for punk to flourish.
classifying in genres is by definition gatekeeping. somewhere you have to draw a line between punk and everything else, otherwise the term punk loses all meaning.
I’m down with you being all in on the statement but I have a question for you.
What would you consider Punk in 1990 or even 94?
I grew up in (what I perceive as) the heyday of punk, but mostly ignored it. Lately I’ve been tempted to take a closer look at some of those old punk bands I always heard about back in the day.
I will do - can you recommend an entry point or two? Heavy on the political/social messaging is fine with me, but a more understandable lyrical style than what I remember of a lot of those old punk bands would be preferred.
Those kids were right. Not so much as adults anymore some of them. John Lydon in particular having become a bit of a disappointment. But it’s still a fun era and easy to listen through. Seeing as it really encompassed about a 5 to 6 year span.
Post Punk/ dance Punk is having a bit of a Resurgence again though. Lots of good new stuff coming out. Though not as much political necessarily.
it’s still a fun era and easy to listen through
Posing the same question as I did to someone else - can you recommend an entry point or two? Heavy on the political/social messaging is fine with me, but a more understandable lyrical style than what I remember of a lot of those old punk bands would be preferred.
Not punk but industrial. Though KMFDM has always been political. But there’s a few tracks on the new album that are far less subtle than usual.
Also forgot to point out that punk was a product of its time. And it’s environment. Very much a DIY ethic. Which lent to its sound. DIY today is going to sound a lot different. Unless people are going to ape the sound without any of the influence.
Even many of the iconic punkers got tired of it and moved on when new things became available. As mentioned John Lyden AKA Johnny rotten. Left the pistols for Public Image limited. Last I heard Jell-O was still trying to get into California politics?
Huh, TIL. He’s a shitbag, but I really think guys like him do it because being a backwards ass hat is unpopular now and he only knows how to be against things, not for them.
I was like that in my teens and early 20s. Not conservative, just hated anything that appeared popular. I was insufferable. This dude really seems like an old ass pizza cutter. All edge, no point.
TL;Dr: Long, rambling old man shit incoming.
You’re absolutely right. The DIY landscape is so incredibly different. Now you can get an electric guitar with reasonable QC and an amp with modeling and a hundred presets that plugs directly into your computer to record. There’s loads of free lessons online that show people how to play instruments. There are tabs for almost every song put out by any semi-popular artist so you don’t have to try to reverse engineer them anymore. There are backing tracks. We didn’t have any of that shit. We had a solid state amp with two channels, one of which was poorly distorted.
And I’m here for it. It’s not my dad’s punk. It’s not my punk and pop punk. It belongs to new people and I’m excited for them to look back at it the way I look back at the bands that excited me when I was a kid. They’ll have new genres built upon the shoulders of the ones I listened to, which stood on the shoulders of those that came before.
Yep at the time an old guitar and a beat-up drum set was realistically what you’re getting. Maybe a basic organ / keyboard. Which is what led to the distinct sound along with General lack of production and mastering.
Now you can pick up second hand synthesizer sequencers etc etc etc. The Landscapes opened up a lot more and as you said with digital audio workstations Etc pretty much make any sort of sound you want.
Lyden did some rather deadpan adverts for Country Life a few years back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hzQsvxtLTM
And honestly? I think it was pretty funny.
The day Trump was elected I was excited for a new wave of anti-government human-rights protest music. The best we got was “This Is America”.
Edit: I appreciate the few examples you’ve offered but I was thinking of the movements of the 60s and 80s. It wasn’t just the hippie peace love anti war music or rap music, it was poetry, fiction, movies, documentaries. It was the culture around the people rising up to protest their government. Now any shmoe can tweet at the president.
Dead milkmen made a comeback.