Tuesday, April 10, 2007

What I Know About Punk

one: I worked in the East Village, in a video store on St. Marks, for a little over a year. Of course, this was in 2005, which means that East Village was more punk-themed than actually punk. Still, I think that there were enough skinny, crusty-looking guys wandering around in a daze to at least get a little of the how-it-used-to-be flavor. Also, since I worked at a place where I was the one... literally, the only... employee not in a band, I feel that gained enough musical experience just through osmosis to qualify me to be, at minimum, the bass player for The Cramps.

two: Girlfriend and I watched Sid and Nancy last night. I'd thought I had seen it already, but it turns out I was thinking of Milo and Otis. It was good; Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb were both clearly having a blast with their characters and it did a nice job of evoking the scummy, drug-sick vibe of that particular moment in time. Oh, and it was nice to see Courtney Love before she had all the work done.

three:


four: These are the punk bands that I can name off the top of my head. No Googling here, yo... The Cramps, The Dead Milkmen, The Stooges, Richard Hell and The Voidoids, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Talking Heads (sorta), The New York Dolls, Stiff Little Fingers, The Ramones, The Pogues, G.G. Allin, and The Plasmatics.

five: Though I've always been fascinated by the whole concept of punk and the assorted devious behaviors that surround it, I know in my heart that I am about as far away from punk rock as you can possibly get without joining a Baptist choir. For one thing, you don't see a lot of chubby dudes on the punk scene. It's all skinny, greasy jeans, ripped clothes and pale, sickly skin. While I've got the paleness down (staying out of the sun is a specialty of mine), and I've certainly got my fair share of ripped-up clothing, I'm way too in love with burritos and cheeseburgers to ever attempt an entrance into the world of punk. Also, being a punk these days is just silly. While I admire the dedication and effort it takes to get up every morning and work your hair into a series of two-foot spikes, it's still a bit like walking around town wearing a top hat or dressing, always, like a circus clown. I do, however, have a world-class sneer and nothing can take that away from me.

six: The music is just okay. But the music was always secondary, right?

20 Comments:

Blogger lioux said...

Here's a fun fact:

Sid Vicious was the original drummer for Siouxsie and the Banshees.

10:22 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Another fun fact:

The original lead singer for The Cramps was El Boring Boringson.

10:34 AM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Lioux... Which is funny, seeing as how Sid Vicious had absolutely zero musical talent.

Midwesterner... I knew I'd seen that guy somewhere before! Man, he's really let himself get lame.

10:57 AM  
Blogger lioux said...

The Banshees came a LOONNNGGG way.

11:02 AM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of those bands that I've always been at least peripherally aware of, but I couldn't tell you a single song that they sing. Not that that's a reflection on their quality or anything... I just never got into them.

11:17 AM  
Blogger Digital Fortress said...

Siouxsie and the Banshees had a few good songs, the most popular was "Kiss Them For Me". Video played a lot on MTV back in the day. Plus Robert Smith from the Cure played guitar with them for a bit.

Didn't El Boring Boringson die of herion overdose? Maybe I'm thinking of the lead singer from Blind Melon.

11:37 AM  
Blogger Clinton said...

No, no... El Boring Boringson is very much alive and kicking. Ironically, he DID try to sell me some heroin the other night.

11:43 AM  
Blogger Digital Fortress said...

Oh El Boring Boringson! Will he never learn?

11:44 AM  
Blogger Big Daddy said...

Fun fact: 'Kiss Them For Me' is actually about Jayne Mansfield getting killed in a car accident.

1:20 PM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Digital... No. He will never learn. Because that is not the way the Boringson clan.

Big Daddy... You don't see enough car-crash songs anymore. I can only assume that means that no one is dying in car crashes any more.

1:32 PM  
Blogger Digital Fortress said...

Crash Test Dummies, both the invention of and the band, ruined it for everyone.

1:45 PM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Were Crash Test Dummies a punk band? Because I've got that one album of theres... the one everyone had... and it's very NOT a punk album. What am I missing?

1:53 PM  
Blogger Jonathan T said...

Good job including heroin in the comments. I was worried when I didn't see it mentioned..in a post about Punk. Sheesh. Heroin needs to get out there more and hire better PR people. Like Wal-Mart.

1:55 PM  
Blogger Digital Fortress said...

Crash Test Dummies are the antithesis of punk rock.

My tie in was that crash test dummies have prevented serious injury to automobile occupants thus limiting the genre of car crash songs and that the band by the same name sucks.

I apologize for the mix up.

2:08 PM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Well I was trying to steer away from heroin in the actual posts themselves, lest I get red-flagged by the DEA. But in the comments, heroin will live on.

2:08 PM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Digital... Ah, gotcha. I liked that one album of theirs. The one that, as I mentioned, everyone had. But I can't think of the name of it and I'm too lazy to look it up.

2:10 PM  
Blogger lioux said...

Was that CTD album the one with the Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm song on it?

Talk about lazy lyricists.

2:32 PM  
Blogger Clinton said...

Yeah, that's the one. I remember thinking it was a pretty solid album, all things considered, but I haven't really listened to it in quite a while.

2:37 PM  
Blogger lioux said...

Yea. My brother really liked it.

2:42 PM  
Blogger Big Daddy said...

I liked the Weird Al parody of that song better.

5:12 PM  

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