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My So-Called Punk...Book Report
What Is Punk?
Asking this question is like asking “What is art?” Punk is in the eye of the beholder. Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat, Fugazi and Dischord Records, says, “The subject becomes etherlike under the light of examination…The truth is, I celebrate the elusiveness of the term ‘punk’.” Agent M from Tsunami Bomb says, “Punk has changed so much over time, it’s difficult to even conceptualize what it’s become.” Matt Diehl, the book’s author, says, “For many the only hard, fast rule of punk rock is that there are no rules.” While Bouncing Souls’ Greg Attonitoi says, “Punk rock is whatever you want it to be. It’s a blank page for you to write on. It’s music and style that’s always ready for a new twist…It’s as shallow as the kiddy pool or deeper than the deepest ocean.” Yet, for Tony Bevilacqua, guitarist for the Distillers, punk revolves around individuality. To Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba, “Punk means being yourself and not letting someone else tell you how it is, or how it’s supposed to be…it’s not a hairstyle, but a frame of mind.” Diehl, the author concludes, “In the end, individualism appears to remain at the core of the ‘What is punk?’ question. But in the end, it’s unclear what it means to be an individual in this confused day and age.”
You may still be confused, and feel like I have not answered the question. I could tell you about chord structures and layers of sounds, and musical and cultural influences, but really that is not the point. The main point here is that punk is about individuality. Seeing that the author brings up how this “day and age” is confusing, more answers might be found in punk’s history than in discussing what it is or is not.
What Is The History Of Punk?
American punk started in New York City in the mid-to-late 1970s in Manhattan dive bars like CBGB. Punk was one of the first moments in pop music where a youth culture movement
self-consciously critiqued society and the style of musical and art movements within that society. It was very diverse in the beginning including retro pop, “New Wave” synth-pop, bohemian punks, and honky funk. Tony Bevilacqua enjoys that “They were all different. They all looked different. They all played different. That was punk rock. That was rad.”
The first wave of punk was from England and came in the form of the Sex Pistol’s Never Mind the Bullocks in 1977. Then, came the Ramones with their Do It Yourself (DIY) attitude, which became a staple in the punk world. Another band that came out of this first English wave was the Clash with a greater musical range, more intelligence, and a bigger political bite than the Sex Pistols.
In America, a key band to punk’s start was Bad Religion, the catalyst for the current punk movement. The creation of Epitaph Records, headed by Brett Gurewitz, which released albums from the Offspring, Rancid, and NOFX, challenged how the music industry works. By 1980, America was in its second wave of punk music. Black Flag was a faster, more raw and brutal band that was jazzily experimental. They created a subgenre called hardcore. Black Flag also epitomized the DIY philosophy, playing wherever, for whatever, and sleeping on floors of strangers’ homes. By the early ‘80s, Washington, D.C. was second to L.A. in stature and influence to the punk scene. Here, the “straight edge” movement was born, birthed by Minor Threat. This movement is anti-intoxicants, and anti-meaningless-sex. In general, these were Christian punks. Religion went from “under attack” in the punk scene to being a part of it. MxPx is another example of this. As is Jay Bakker’s, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, punk-oriented youth outreach ministry called “Revolution”. Punk faded out of the mainstream by the mid-to-late 1980s but stayed on “simmer”.
Sick Of It All formed in 1984, creating “out-of-control audience participation sweatfests.” “Golf punk” came out of the suburbs of palm trees, golf courses and chain stores. Ska developed from “bluebeat” or “rock steady” music out of 1960s Jamaica reggae subculture creating a punk resurgence of mid-to-late ‘80s, the “third-wave ska revival.” The term “skanking” began to be used to describe the jerky, arm-waving dance associated with ska music. Bands like Sublime, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and Goldfinger started accumulating a legion of fans. Even No Doubt started out as a ska band.
Then, in 1991, out came a band to change everything; Nirvana. The band’s Smells Like Teen Spirit created a grunge revolution that put punk into mainstream view on MTV and radio. Green Day followed in 1994 with Dookie and put real punk rock on the radio. Then, the Offspring’s Smash became the bestselling record on an independent record label ever released.
It was not until the commercial success of Green Day’s Dookie and the Offspring’s Smash that “the mainstream pop culture” was left “punk drunk” again. Grunge music, such as Nirvana and Green Day, was the bridge to punk’s initial commercial acceptance. The Offspring had toured for years in the underground circuit of basements, rented veteran’s halls and dive clubs, building a substantial cult audience through grassroots, DIY efforts off which “a mass-market phenomenon could springboard”, as is common in punk rock.
Diehl calls 1994 “The Year Punk Really Broke.” He mentions simpatico bands that created local scenes in backyards, all-ages clubs, churches and VFW halls. A couple years later, in 1996, Rancid gained a spot on Lollapalooza, slotted right before the Ramones. In 1998, the Offspring’s Americana kept punk alive on the pop charts with hits such as “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” and “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” Rancid saved neo-punk’s commercial viability in 2000 with their self-titled album. Also in 2000, the Distillers began as “three women losing their mind on stage.” In 2004, neo-punk was artistically redeemed by Green Day’s American Idiot. Diehl calls it “arguably, the first masterpiece of the neo-punk genre.” By 2005, the Offspring and Green Day became neo-punk’s “classic rock” and the Offspring’s release of a “Greatest Hits” album reinforced this notion.
You may be wondering what neo-punk is, or more importantly, how does one distinguish between neo-punk and punk? The neo-punk that is seen on MTV and in indie music derived from four influences; the Clash, the Buzzcocks, U.K. ska bands, and tuneful California punk. So, if a band seems to share a sound connection with any of the above, or a combination thereof, chances are that it is neo-punk. Diehl says that “Some of the most interesting neo-punk explores both the roots of rock and roll and folk music tradition.” Furthermore, that “According to Gurewitz, connecting to music history is what made punk rock vital in the first place.” Diehl states that bands like “The Distillers, the Bronx, the Icarus Line, Green Day, the Dropkick Murphys are all acknowledging the past while remaking punk in their own image.” Yet, he states that My Chemical Romance’s 2006 rock-opera album The Black Parade is neo-punk’s most ambitious effort since American Idiot.
In the wake of Green Day, the Offspring, and Rancid, came AFI and Dropkick Murphys. Also, another subculture was created; the “mall punks” who shop at Hot Topic, and listen to Blink-182, Sum 41, Good Charlotte, Yellowcard, and Simple Plan. Blink-182 started this subculture of mall punks with 1999’s Enema of the State containing the breakout single “What’s My Age Again?” Then, came Sum 41’s “Fat Lip”, followed by Good Charlotte’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”
This brings us to punk pop. The original punk pop progenitors were the 1970s’ the Buzzcocks. Following in punk pop’s footsteps is “emo” from bands such as Dashboard Confessional. Emo really began in the mid-to-late 1980s, however. Other emo bands include Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, and the Used. Other subgenres that were born out of punk include psychobilly, metal punk (Avenge Sevenfold), neo-hardcore, ironic retro garage, street/gutter punk, Christian pop punk (Reliant K), proto-punk revivalists, noise punk, and indie-rock-influenced punk.
The only thing to do now is wait to see the future of punk music. Wait to see who will create the next masterpiece that will define the genre. Diehl feels it may be Brody Dalle of the Distillers. He says, “Brody and the Distillers are an ideal case study for where punk has come and where it is going.”
Who Is Brody Dalle?
Brody Dalle was born Bree Joanne Alice Robinson on January 1, 1979 of Irish and Sicilian descent. She grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and Brody was a school nickname. Her mother started off as a single mother who worked as a nurse, photographer, sculptor and painter. Her mother was eventually married, giving Brody a stepfather that she saw as being her real father. Her big influences were Cyndi Lauper and Nirvana. In Kurt Cobain, Brody found “a kindred spirit”. This is a bit curious because later she would discover Hole, and relate to Courtney Love, and even later would be compared to Cobain and Love when she hooks up with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. Sourpuss was the name of Brody’s first band, and it was when this band played Summersault with Rancid that she met Armstrong. They had an instant connection and were very natural together.
It was after the Summersault show that record labels like Sony started courting Sourpuss in hopes of securing the female Silverchair. But as the oft-too-heard tale of bands goes, a few months after Summersault, Sourpuss broke up and went their separate ways. This sent Brody into a time of terrible depression resulting in living in a women’s shelter, on the streets, experimenting with drugs, and a failed suicide attempt.
It was not until a call out of the blue from Tim Armstrong asking her to follow Rancid on the summer 1996 Lollapalooza tour that things started to turn around for Brody. The tour included the Ramones, Metallica, Devo, Soundgarden, and the Screaming Trees. It was also on this tour that she met her current husband, Josh Homme, the “love of her life”. After Lollapalooza, Brody and Tim parted, and she sank into depression again, even halfheartedly attempting suicide. When Armstrong did finally call her, it was with a proposal to move to California to be with him. They eventually bought a house and got married in the summer of 1997 in Nevada in a “reportedly” witch-led Wiccan ceremony. Brody never expected to be someone’s wife, and admits the marriage had more to do with her visa running out, though it is what they wanted.
In 1999, she started the first version of the Distillers that “was all about the women rocking up front, in defiance of silent neo-punk chauvinism.” Tony Bevilacqua started off as their roadie and guitar tech before becoming their second guitarist. Of the first record, he says, “It’s just superfast, rad punk shit with three girls singing, and it just sounded awesome.” The lyrics of the song “Sick of It All” explored the roots of Columbine-style violence and anorexia.
The Distillers were asked to join an arena tour opening up for Garbage and No Doubt. It was their first tour with a bus instead of a van, and it alerted major labels to the band’s potential mainstream appeal. Labels such as Warner Brothers started to approach the band. The band eventually signed with Warner Brothers, and put out 2003’s Coral Fang. This was their major label debut, and dealt with the divorce from Tim Armstrong and the growing attachment to Josh Homme. At this point, Distillers songs were being played on the radio and on MTV. In part due to the divorce from Armstrong and the growing romance with Homme, the Distillers dropped out of playing Van’s Warped Tour with Rancid, and swapped it for Lollapalooza with Queens of the Stone Age (Homme’s band). The Distillers are on a permanent hiatus.
What Is The Van’s Warped Tour?
Agent M calls Warped “a traveling punk convention” while Diehl calls it “the umbrella for all the wayward genres and bands of the neo-punk era.” I describe Warped as a touring music festival that strongly caters to punk and alternative, and a little bit of indie. Warped takes a tour of some 50+ bands across eight different stages, giving each band a 30-minute set, and keeping it fair by reshuffling the lineup every day. “Nearly every current punk band of any significance has joined the Warped caravan at some point,” says Diehl. In 2004, Warped marked its 10th year, making it the longest-running festival-style tour in pop music history.
There is a clear symbiotic relationship between Warped and Epitaph. Epitaph needs Warped to promote its bands, and Warped needs Epitaph bands to fill its lineup to give the tour punk credibility. As Diehl reminds us, for punk bands, “touring is the most important aspect of what they do.” Pre-Warped, punk bands had to perform in improvised venues; rented Knights of Columbus halls, churches, and rural pizza joints such as Marty’s Pizza in Mankato, MN. These venues had to be all ages, as that is very important to the punk community. Punk bands believe in the need to make the music available to teenagers. Also before Warped, bands had to rely on grassroots music industry guerrilla tactics to get their name out there. Now, Warped has made it so much easier to be noticed. As Diehl puts it, Warped gives bands “the ultimate showcase for a band’s promotion, giving them a viable platform with a national reputation and a built-in audience.”
Independent Punk Labels And Other Business Ventures In The Punk World
The indie punk record label has always had an important place in the punk community. Punk fans are known to buy albums simply by the labels. Labels such as Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords have fans that will buy any artist that label puts out because they trust the label to produce viable, good punk music. Many of the punk indie labels formed to document regional punk scenes. For example, Dischord Records only puts out punk music from its Washington, D.C. environment. Other punk indie labels include Vagrant, Kung Fu, and Side One Dummy.
There are a whole slew of punk professionals. Andrew Ellis started Ellis Industries, a booking agency that handles Brand New and New Found Glory. Steve Martin has the publicity firm Nasty Little Man that handles Radiohead, Rancid, Alkaline Trio, Jimmy Eats World, and did the publicity for the very first Warped Tour. Jim Guerinot is a manager for the Offspring, Gwen Stefani, No Doubt, Tim Armstrong, and Trent Reznor. Booking agent Stormy Shepard works with the Offspring, Rancid, NOFX, Sick of It All, and the Aquabats. Shepard is known for her integrity, and Brody Dalle considers her “den mother to all those punk rock bands.” Shepard has also won many industry awards.
Punk even has its own media network with website punknews.org, Alternative Press magazine, and Fuse television. There are also fanzines such as Maximum Rocknroll, Profane Existence, Slug, and Lettuce. Amidst all this business opportunities, is the issue of the band “selling out” to big business. Punk fans have claimed that Simple Plan sold out, yet they have experienced self-built success “using lessons learned in the DIY trenches in the sharky big business world of the majors and MTV”. Furthermore, they still refuse to get a merchandise deal, preferring to do it themselves. To Bryan Kienlen, “To do something that felt really wrong in my heart, that would be selling out.” I like his take on the idea of “selling out” better.
Politics, Gender, And Race In Pop-Punk
Diehl has three important remarks to say about politics and punk. The first is, “The political aspect of punk is what gave original punk some measure of its real charge.” The second is, “Dalle’s lyrics truly represent someone who trawls through history looking for truth and roots, for a better way to understand what’s happening around us today.” And the third is, “Despite its radical bloodline, much of today’s punk remains apolitical, despite the massive turbulence in postmillennial society.” Basically, punk started in part as a political movement but has lost a lot of its political message. However, the punk community has been active in American political elections through the website punkvoter.com. Further, Warped Tour allows political causes of all kinds to have tents at the festival.
Bryan Kienlen makes the case, “If punk is a movement of the mind, an endeavor of young people to change what they are not content with, the find themselves through self-expression, then it is a positive movement and a political movement.” Further proving this point is the cooperation of the band Anti-Flag with Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) in 2006 on the song “Depleted Uranium Is a War Crime”. They collaborated on the song, and launched a petition drive, showing that Anti-Flag is “willing to put their money where their mouth is”. Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day adds, “Music can make a difference in people’s lives. It’s not just there for entertainment.” Final comments on the subject from Diehl are that “punk rock encourages reading and cultural literacy more than most popular youth movements” and that “punk is the real CNN for the young and not-so-useless.”
Though “openly indebted to black music” such as reggae, Motown girl-group soul of the 1960s, and jazz, punk music is white, male dominated. However there are some bands that break this white male dominance. Go Betty Go is a quartet of Latinas from the L.A. suburb of Glendale. Whole Wheat Bread is a trio of African-Americans from Jacksonville, FL. Diehl states, “Punk’s ideological melting pot remains a relevant prism through which to see today’s world and process the traumatic events of contemporary life.” He also says that “what is most political and threatening about punk is its embrace of the concept of freedom and liberation.”
Not to mention, punk is expected to live on in other parts of the world. One good example is Singapore-based Opposition Party. Diehl believes that war-torn areas of the world such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China have viable reasons to embrace punk and its original values. These values still exist and mean something to, and in, these areas.
Punk Porn?
SuicideGirl is an “online punk equivalent of Playboy, a punk ‘erotica’.” On the site, young women called SGs pose nude and maintain blogs. A SG has one name, usually fake, much like a stripper’s name. The website started out of Portland, OR’s punk and art scene. It has become more than just a punk porn site by offering a variety of online networking capabilities that has created a whole online punk community.
What Will the Future Be For Punk?
One thing about punk that will never change is one of its basic tenets; thou shalt play thine own instruments and write thine own songs. Another thing that is likely to continue for punk in the future is the use of churches and recreation centers as venues. Such venues “are actually a release valve, sacred places for teenage expression.” Bryan Kienlen reminds us that “We are all to some degree ‘outcasts in the high school of society’.” Diehl adds that exposure to different ideas could make punk kids into better future adults. So, punk has the possibility to create better human beings by focusing on individuality, on “being whoever you want to be and staying true to your ideals.” Who knew? Now all we can do is wait to see who will be next in the punk hall of fame, and ask, “Who will save punk?”
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PUNK IS: the personal expression of uniqueness that comes
from the experiences of growing up in touch with our human
ability to reason and ask questions…PUNK IS: a movement
that serves to refute social attitudes that have been perpetuated
through willful ignorance of human nature….a process of
questioning and commitment to understanding that results in
self-progress, and by extrapolation, could lead to social
progress…[It is] a belief that this world is what we make of it,
truth comes from our understanding of the way things are, not
from the blind adherence to prescriptions about the way things
should be.
--Greg Graffin, “A Punk Manifesto”
Comments
Great Book Report! You get an A++
