Recognition of Rusted-On Aesthetics

[tcpip]

In my youth - about twenty five or so years ago - I found a strong association with that genre of music known as 'punk rock'. I blame, at least in part, people like reddragdiva and his journal "Party Fears" for assisting in this along with venues like The Red Parrot.

My particular tastes in this genre weren't terribly obscure. I was incredibly impressed by the musical diversity and socialist politics of bands like The Clash, especially the Sandinsta! triple-album. But from the other side of the big pond, I really liked The Dead Kennedys; although they weren't as musically diverse (usually sticking to a hard and fast delivery), they were musically very competent and, of course, I found much in common with their left-anarchist politics.

The final song on their second album, Moon Over Marin (youtube) I found particularly striking. A more melodic combination of surf music and punk rock the mental image of the lyrics portrayed environmental dystopia on the scale of science fiction (shades of John Bruner's "Stand on Zanzibar"). 'Marin' of course, is the rather beautiful coastline and peninsula of California that includes the Bay Area.

French punk band Les Thugs do an absolutely superb cover of 'Moon over Marin'. I've been playing it like a heartbroken or angry teenager today. I may as well just admit it; I'm an aging punk who never gave up on its values. No wonder a young shop assistant expressed pleasure at my Clash hoodie a couple of weeks back. I was a little surprised and slightly embarrassed; I guess young people today, like young people then, respect those whose stick to sound principles in politics and taste and don't sell out. I hope that will always be the case.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_zombiemonkey/]

Punk always broke down to two things for me - telling me about things going on in the world I didn't know about, albeit mainly in the States or the UK (Reagan and Thatcher still piss me off mainly for that reason), and no other form of music really struck a passionate chord with the exuberantly angry way I felt about a lot of things at the time.

Rock was incredibly ball-less, and with few exceptions rap was mainly about poppin' a cap in yo homie's ass so you could get down with his skeezer and smoke some crack yo. When I migrated into the goth thing, I found it more varied emotionally, but otherwise somewhat devoid of content. I still slide back to punk if I want music that actually makes me feel something strong and real. I'm developing quite a fondness for the Dropkick Murphy's because of the crossover with Irish music, which I have a bit of a soft spot for as well.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

What you say is certainly true; for the most part gothic music didn't quite resonate with the same passion as punk (although it was often better constructed) and certainly its politics were a lot more subtle.

What's your take on EBM?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_zombiemonkey/]

I haven't heard a LOT of EBM. Some I like, some I'm ambivalent. That being said APB's 'Bitch' song was pretty cathartic when I went through my divorce...