By Nedbones
Illustration by Tim Dorsey
What happened? How did I become alienated from a scene that punk rock helped create? I don’t get the fashion, all the bands sound the same, and don’t get me started on the lyrics. (Let’s just say, Bob Dylan would go “I don’t understand these lyrics”) Even though Fat Mike from NOFX wrote “The Separation Between Church and Skate”, about how punk rock was becoming safe, to me it still can be applied to indie-rock and the scene today. What punk stood for-- dissent, anti-authority, anti- conformity, individualism, and thinking for yourself-- has been replaced with noodley guitars, horrible metaphors of emotions, rehashed 70’s and 80’s sound (not to mention fashion and drugs) and worst of all, dance music. Indie music nowadays sounds like that mind numbing modern rock, TRL bullshit that made me like punk to begin with. Every show is the same. First some rip off of a Joy Division riff, then dancey drums, and some chant of “yeah” and finally getting the audience to clap hands in unison.
All the dance-punk bands sound like samples of the worst bands of the 80’s, jigsawed together by a Mac with lyrics more absurd than Camus. My mom put it best. “The 80’s sucked then and it sucks now.” I hate that formula shit. I know punk was known for just using three cords, but to us it is like what an old blues man said, “It isn’t how the notes are played, but WHY they need to be played.”
Content: That’s what indie rock is lacking. As Fat Mike said, “Confrontation and politics...Replaced with harmonies and shticks. When did punk rock become so tame? These fucking bands all sound the same!”
Punk was ideal, an attitude you could never lose. In middle school I was a nerdy kid who read sci-fi novels (Doom series, Animal Farm, Star wars: Extended universe, and Phillip K. Dick), comics, and played Magic the Gathering and D and D. So I got picked on all the time at school and on the bus. I was an outcast, a loner, unpopular, and I didn’t care. That’s when my friend Hunter let me borrow his NOFX CD. By the 9th grade I was a punk/ska kid. Nerdy kid no more, now I drank, talked shit, did drugs, and tried to get with punk girls (poorly). Punk was the Hulk of the nerd Bruce Banner. (Yes, a comic reference.) Punk allowed me not only to be an outcast, but also to be proud of one. More importantly, I was feared. Sure we fought about who was “more punk” and fashion played a part, but it was anti-fashion. It was a “fuck you” to preps and kickers, our mortal enemy. You could get beat after a show at Fitz for having blue hair or a mohawk, so it was more about individuality than fashion. The Houston punk/ska scene was fun and there was a weird feeling of community, filled with crazy bands like 30footFALL, Middlefinger, and Bickley, the first punk show my mom took me to at Fitz. I miss that. I miss going to a show and everyone knew everyone, no matter what school you went to. Reagan, Lee, Jones, Waltrip, HSPVA, whatever. (Except Lamar and St. John’s. That where all the poser and preps went.) It was singing “I wanna fuck the pink Power Ranger” (a Bickley song) at the top of your lungs with your best friend and stage diving into the pit. There was the raver scene, but most of the real ravers were old ska kids who were cool and enjoyed the same community feel, unlike the preps and poser who just wanted to get fucked up. Above all, I felt alive and part of something. How does this relate to indie-rock? Well the funny thing is that most of my punk friends from high school hate indie-rock and scenester shit. Most listen to grindcore/metal and hip-hop/dancehall. Also to note, I always noticed that punks always had a cool relation with the thugs. Both of us were poor (mostly) and we both hated the rich ass preps. No wonder that by the time I graduated from high school, I would bump Tupac, Biggie, Geto Boys, Fat Pat, Screw, Wu-tang, Eight ball and MJG, and of course N.W.A and Ice Cube. I could write a whole other essay on the parallels of punk and hip-hop, but lyrically for me, they dealt the same issues: drugs, poverty, making ends, seeing friends die, bitches, and of course bling. (Is there really a difference between an iced out watch and a spiked bracelet?) Indie-rock has no content, no songs about the real world and real life issues.
Life isn’t about unicorns playing Crossfire with ninjas. Not everything is about girls, one-night stands, clubs, being cool, and partying. You know who cared all about that stuff? Preps. Hipsters are the new preps. So the scene is high school all over again, the preps make the music and I am yet again in the corner reading a Neal Stephenson novel and playing my Nintendo DS. Now I listen to metal/grind core, punk, and Hip-hop/screw/nerd core. Now I have gone back to what I was in middle school: A nerd.
That’s why I alienated myself from the scene. The scene isn’t a collection of poor (keyword) misfits, losers, and rejects who just wanted to skate and read comics. It’s all the preps in high school that went to college, finally read a book or two and pretend to be intellectual with music. So, in a real punk rock fashion: THE SCENE CAN FUCK OFF!!!!!!!
16 comments:
Jesus, I spent last night hanging out with dudes that were like the alpha-preps at my school in Pearland. It didn't take long for me to realize we were all not that different all along growing up. And now, we are all worried about the same adult shit, and don't really care about who wore what in high school or what we listened to. We all have families, houses, and distinct lives away from a high school or a supposed "scene" that didn't exist anyway.
Grow up, Nedbones. The cool thing about being a teenager is that it makes you tougher for the life ahead. When you are an adult all you worry about is paying your bills, having food, and keeping your good friends. If you choose your friends based on their clothes and what they are into, you are just as bad as the "preps". If I had done that, I wouldn't have the familial support I have with my circle of friends.
In the end we all wind up in the same place. Scared, broke, and wondering where the time went.
Stop watching "SLC Punk" and open your eyes. And since when was Fat Mike the end all be all of philosophical discourse?
Ned is old and bitter and thats why we like the article--because despite the articles childishness it captured many of the social inhibitions that many of us still hold on to but don't say out loud. Now, personally, I was always the clutchest, most popular kid at school and can't relate to my many friends who see high school as 'the worst 4 years of their life'.
"Not everything is about girls..." i beg to differ.
ha!ha! fun read. tanx.
Can I repost my hands up comment, too?
But before I do that, Rosa - I agree completely.
ok:
I didn't recognize the name, but he obviously is around my age and came up with some of the same people as me just from the description of his experiences, I wish I could figure out if I know him or not.
Anyhow, as similar as our "coming up" phases may have been, my distaste for the current mainstream's take on punk is "no duh it sucks, NEXT!" And this is where me being close in age to this guy becomes crucial, I personally can't remember the last time I gave a thought to "jocks" or "preps" (ok, I'll cop to describing the dude Jeoff bounced Friday night as a "prep" but just b/c it true in the caricature type ways). In fact, I have gone a long time without giving any thought to any type of high school-styled divisions between me and other people. I've worked in my current job longer than I was in high school. It makes it seem pretty irrelevant at my age putting it into that perspective. So why would a man of nearly 30 (I'm assuming) still give such a shit about what the jocks and preps are doing? I guarantee these false punks don't give a shit about Screeching Weasel or the Queers, you have no fear of losing "your punk". Big whoop. I can't care because I'm not in high school anymore and my "punkness" doesn't have to compete with their's.
Personally, instead of dwelling on all the kids in the flat-iron club, I'm far more interested in the younger kids that actually share my outsider spirit, rather than the music genre of my teen years. I guess it's evolution, maybe? I'd compare the younger kids of today's scene doing the outsider game to to the ones around when I was under 20, but that would be a disservice to the hella talented kids of today. Young bands are better today and we all know it. And instead of being bummed by the kids who are doing poor imitations of music that I'm so totally over (it's like lullabies and nursery rhymes for older babies, you sing "Linoleum" to put teenagers to bed nowadays, it's a scientific fact.) I guess I'd rather be inspired to keep on evolving by the younger kids that are actually cool and blowing my mind with their awesomeness.
Or maybe it just boils down to the fact that I don't give a shit because, in spite of being "weird" I actually was popular in high school, my slings and arrows suffered not at the hands of cheerleaders and football captains, but rather OTHER GIRLS IN THE SCENE. (Surprise!) So maybe I'm not hanging on to the hurts of high school, cursing the fact that are now money changers in the temple of my salvation (Fitzgerald's?) So maybe I can't relate to people who had shitty high school years, but even friends I have who I know did have a hard time back then don't carry this type of bitter resentment for people a decade younger than themselves.
But yeah, I recommend not so much "get over yourself" but "get over it".
oh the whole "life isn't about..." is fucking bullshit. your life is not the same as mine or anyone else's life.
music isn't supposed to entirely revolve around you. it's up to YOU to find the music that does, but there are other people in the world that need music to reflect their lives too.
music doesn't make you cool. music is sometimes an attempt to reach out. but there's much more to it than that and some may not care at all. but it's not music's job to reaffirm your existence. i might like 2pac but aside from maybe reference to a few things as i was growing up, his lyrics aren't particularly pertinent to my existence. i don't live in that world. and not everyone does. but if he can make me understand then he's achieved at least part of his goal.
so whether someone is talking about nintendo, bmws or having several baby's mommas the point is for you to either nod your head in recognition of the same feelings, or put yourself there so you can try to feel it.
we have enough "don't"s and "no"s. so maybe you can fuck off with your what is and should be and what has gone wrong. i think kleenex is having a sale btw.
i, the great robot say...deal with it. when i was a teen i was so annoyed by the the 30footfall/NOFX/Bickley pop-punk kids for the same reason you hate the dance punk dorks... theres gonna be lots of asses out there, lots of em will grow out of it, some will od, some will will be pretty cool people you misse out on. if you feel like there is to be any sort of countercultural movemnt you will need to get along with everyone including the jocks and preps that will have you, if they dont who cares, but be the bigger person and try..oh yeah, grindcore came from punk as much as underground metal
The problem with this essay is not that it will get people talking (it will) or that it is poorly written (it’s not); the problem with this essay is simply that the author is talking about a scene he is not involved with, follows, or cares about resulting in some pretty ignorant categorizations.
The key is this line:
“Indie-rock has no content, no songs about the real world and real life issues. Life isn’t about unicorns playing Crossfire with ninjas. Not everything is about girls, one-night stands, clubs, being cool, and partying.”
OK, I’ll grant you, the unicorn line is funny (and, mind you, I love the Mathletes) but, that aside, that thinking displays an ignorance of what is really out there. Getting beyond the songs about girls thing (sorry, but Rock and Roll has always been about girls be it Buddy Holly singing about Peggy Sue or a woman behind the Guitar like Crissy Hynde…but that’s another topic) who the fuck is singing about clubs, being cool, and partying? Seriously! That line shows he’s not listening to what he is critiquing. Bands like Papermoons, Buxton, and Hearts of Animals (to name a few) all write songs whose lyrics are hardly shallow party party. What he is doing is simply labeling the kids “Hipsters “ and then dismissing their work accordingly. That’s pretty typical old dude thinking which I find often times comes with someone who used to be involved in the scene but now rarely steps away from their huge wide screen TV.
What’s funny is that when I do speak with Old school Punks (I’m talking way before this guy’s “Golden Era”), they are much more generous to the young kids. Bob Weber (Really Red) will rave about Room 101, The Mydolls will rave about The Wild Moccasins, and Kyle Gionis (Sugar Shack) gives massive props to Born Liars. But guess what, those people still go out, play shows, see what’s around them, and recognize that Houston is one big timeline from Peacock Records, to Love Street, to the Island, the The Axiom, and so on. They may be elder statesmen and women but they don’t have that old-timer thinking also known popularly as “Hey, You Kids Get off My Lawn”.
Lawrence Block pegs this Old Timer Thinking perfectly in his foreword to Dave Van Ronk’s Biography, The Mayor of MacDougal Street. He’s writing about Greenwich Village but it can be applied anywhere. He writes;
“Whenever you got here, it was better ten years ago.
That’s what people say now, complaining about gentrification. It’s what they said twenty years ago, complaining about tourists. It’s what they said forty years ago complaining about hippie kids.
I suspect they’ve always said it. I suspect they said it to Edna St. Vincent Millay and Floyd Dell.
It seems to me - because I was around then, because I remember it fondly, because it was gone alas with my youth, too soon – that Greenwich Village was a very special place during my first ten years in it. And the people who just moved here yesterday will probably think the same themselves, when their youth is remote and as inaccurately recalled as is mine.”
Dammit Ramon- you say you don't have time to write and then bust out this splendid 800 word diatribe! Hahahahah- Your the best man, and you have done a fine job of dissecting Ned's rant. Which is all it is, a rant.
Anyways- I must conclude that this guy has touched a nerve. In this issue we have covered ArtStorm closing, gentrification, mayoral race, mid east, and more. Nary a word on those topics but if you bring up hipster and punk rock, people fight to the death over semantics. It really boggles my mind.
Yeah, I hear ya. The article on Wilshire Village article was excellent and you'd think would garner some commentary. I guess people don't comment on that as much becasue all we do is read it, sigh, and offer a sad "Hear, Hear."
omar: maybe it's because you have more people agreeing over those topics. in other words, some of those topics are just preaching to the choir. get a conservative writer on your staff and you'll get more responses to those subjects, maybe.
Good point Shoe. Now where can I get a conservative writer to work for free? Hehehehe..
But seriously, Ned is by no means conservative, he merely dared to make a comment on the 'scene'..whatever that is.
But we all "dare" to make comments on the "scene", I think that we're more up in arms that he "dared" to make a comment on the "scene" that "revealed" a terminally out-of-touch "point of view" that serves little other intent other than to "willfully poison the populace" with "negative ideas" on "non-issues" when we should all be worried about what kind of "free stuff" we'll all be getting at the next "cd release".
ok, i got carried away with the quotes there.
I feel old now. Hearing NOFX being called punk is funny to me. It sounds tame and boring to me, as modern 'punk' does to you, the author.
My 'punk' was local shit like Deadhorse, Spunk, Retarded Elf, El Flaco/Bouffant Jellyfish, plus national acts like Rollins Band, Ministry.
My older brother used to laugh at me because he actually did listen to punk--Circle Jerks, Weathermen, Black Flag.
I guess it is all just a matter of perspective. I finally learned to stop trying to categorize music and to just listen with an open mind. Ever since the early-80s, punk has been a nonsense term. Ever hear of the documentary "1991: The Year Punk Broke"? This sarcastic reference is based on the fact that punk was already over a decade old, and kids thought bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana came out of nowhere and sounded like nothing before them.
So applying the label 'punk' to music now is a meaningless as applying it to NOFX, or Sonic Youth, or basically anything since the early 80s. It is like calling The Minutemen and blues band.
Good point GRW. I had this great conversation with punk scumbag archetypes Ralph and Dom at Next Door yesterday. We all seemed to agree that punk is no doubt not a dangerous thing anymore. There is still great music, maybe better than before, but gone is the paradigm shifting cultural force it once was. Same goes for hip-hop. Ultimately, this styles or genres we stupidly praise so much allegiance to are merely the vessels or mediums for good songs...There is nothing more safe then punk rock or hip hop. I hate to say it. I am primed and ready for the next pole shift in underground music, which hopefully involves kids with heart and soul coupling that with an insanely tedious study of their instrument and craft. And hand claps need to fucking die like yesterday.
thats funny, what did you come of age in like 1998. thats not punk. fat mike (nofx)talking about lesbian fisting and 3footfall singing about butt plugs wasn't punk to me either. punk is more than that. take ian mckay's newest band the evens. very mellow, but his lyrics hit harder than ever. and they played sitting down. it was punker than any mohawk bending leather jacket on a summer night punk show. while i think the term indie is ever more laughable than emo. I shutter ever time my band is called indie. I don't like being placed under such a wide and ridiculous umbrella. if you are going to quote substance as an issue to "indie" music (god i can't believe i am defending this), you need to do better than quoting a band whos biggest hit is about kosher skinheads. i envy me.
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