Whats
Wrong With Punk? by
Bryan Feheley
As you read
the top of this most of you will be jumping to the conclusion
that I will be whining about Pop-Punk and the little girl
invasion of the last couple years. But to your everlasting
amazement I am not, the thing that is wrong with Punk in
my mind are the people who take it way to seriously. The
people that think that bands like Good Charlotte and Simple
Plan are destroying punk, the truth is people they are not.
I am not a huge fan of bands like these but I have an amazing
power, it is not the power to complain and bitch about these
bands, it is power to turn off the radio or change the channel
on the television. It is simple if you don’t like don’t
watch/listen to it. I am sick and tired of people calling
them posers and frauds and every other name they can think
of. Do you really believe that they really care what you
think about them, of course they don’t, they are not going
to stop making music because some kids say they are losers
for making bad music. I was watching Much Music the other
day and there was an interview with Simple Plan, and they
raised a really good point. By them playing the type of
music they do, it doesn’t erase all the bands like the Ramones,
the Sex Pistols, The Clash and later day bands like Rancid
and Black Flag that have come before them. Now I have a
varied taste when it comes to music, in my disc holder I
have everything from Dashboard Confessional to AFI and everything
in between. I don’t want to just limit myself to post hardcore
eastbay punk or acoustic emo; I can choose what I buy and
what I don’t, what a notion!!! If you don’t like a band
then don’t LISTEN TO THEM. But just bad mouthing bands is
not the only think wrong with punk these days, no it is
the people who get so caught up in being “punk.” I am talking
about the people who get mad when a band they “discovered”
gets big, or refer to themselves as hardcore, here is a
tip if you tell your self or other people that you are hardcore
then you are most likely not, or count scene points or do
a hundred other pointless little things in the quest to
be punk. Now I like music that is labeled as punk and I
dress how I feel comfortable which is mostly in band shirts
if somebody asked me if I was punk I wouldn’t say yes. I
like punk music, but it is very facieses to refer to yourself
as punk. Who says what is punk and what isn’t? Is a three-stud
belt more punk then a two-stud belt? Is a trucker hat more
punk than a normal hat? The point I am trying to make is
that nothing really matters. Punk means a different thing
to each person; to one it might be a release from a shitty
home life or it could be a way for a person to express himself
or herself. So the moral of the story is twofold, don’t
hate bands because of the music they play, if you don’t
like it just don’t listen and don’t get caught up in being
punk and just do what ever you want.
Bryan Feheley
