My goal this week is to get no one to read this at all, since last week was an underwhelming success, no, I'm not going to talk about Pokemon this week. Can't have fun every week. Today we are going to talk a lot about punk. I've been listening to a lot of old school punk rock this week. It reminded me of so many things from my high school days. I listened to punk, but wasn't really involved in the scene. The reason for that is, that at that time in the punk rock era was when skinheads started taking over the scene. Maybe I should give you a little history of the punk scene to explain why this was a big deal.
Ok, as you may or may not know, punk rock began as a protest of the excess of mainstream and particularly glam rock. Although a lot of people perceived it as a hatred of all things, it was just antiestablishment. Punk stood up for the nobody. It was a diverse scene that accepted all, but it did have some requirements, like going against the status quo. I mean you wouldn't wear a disco shirt to a punk show. Punk soon picked up where protest rock left off. They weren't just going against mainstream music, but mainstream in general, and that meant question the government and what it stood for. That was all mid 70's into the early 80's. Around the mid 80's when I was in high school, the dude bros got a liking for the aggressive style of punk and took the antiestablishment message and corrupted into hate. That is when the skinheads came into the picture. They had a specific look with rolled up jeans, suspenders, white t-shirt, shaved head, and last but not least, Dr. Martins with red or white laces. To this day I will never wear red or white laces in my Docs. Those laces signified just how involved in racist beliefs they were. White was for white supremacy and red was for pure nazi fetishization.
When I was in school there was a small faction of skinheads. For the most part they just wanted to stand out in a crowd and really had no idea what skinheads were all about. They liked punk rock and the growing trend at that time was being a skinhead to show your loyalty to punk. That all changed one day when one of them, who knew what the skinhead movement was about decided to post little signs all over the school. I won't say what it said, but it had a cartoon image representing a skinhead performing a racist act with verbiage to put emphasis on what was going on. My school was very diverse at that time, I'm pretty sure it still is. I grew up on a diverse community. Well, word spread fast of what was going on, and a large group of people got together to protest the skinheads, who were really few in number ( I think there were 5 of them in all ) and basically surrounded them at their lockers ( I'm talking around 100 students ) and shouted "we are here you want to spit on us". Sorry couldn't leave that part out since that was the proclamation on that day. This went on between periods, and I was already in my classroom that had a window to the area they were. Teachers eventually came out and dispersed everyone. One skinhead that happened to be a friend of mine finally came into class and I asked him what was happening. He told me about the crowd and how they all (the skinheads) all claimed their innocence and how someone was setting them up. He then told me that it really was one of them that posted the signs. I asked him if he believed all that garbage, and he just said he was scared. Yeah dude, you just tried to start a race riot, you should be scared. Shortly after that whole incident, he grew his hair out and stopped wearing suspenders. He didn't stop wearing his Dead Kennedys t-shirt though.
That brings us to the Dead Kennedys which is where all this was going in the first place. The Dead Kennedys were one of the front runners in the punk scene. Maybe even the original antiestablishment bands. They would not have approved of the local skinheads attempt at racism, and probably would have beaten the shot out of him for wearing their shirt. They were very much about diversity and treating all people with respect (to a point. Gotta throw fists when necessary). They even made shirts with their logo and the word "Nazi Punks Fuck Off". As you can see they wanted no part of skinheads.
There were a few bands that capitalized on the whole racist agenda, and those bands didn't last. The Dead Kennedys are still playing live shows, not with the original line up though, and let's face it the godfathers of punk The Ramones are still one of the most iconic bands of all time. I'm not even getting into the whole British punk invasion. I mean the Sex Pistons come on.
There was a resurgence of punk in the late 90's early 00's with bands like Green Day, Sum 41, Ocean Ave, so on and so on. This was that punk style but lacked the antiestablishment message. The vibe was there but it wasn't the same. They were more party punk or punk light if you will. Eventually Green Day began doing more protest songs and albums which is probably why they are the most successful of that punk era.
Anyway, all of this punk got me nostalgic and remembering all that punk gave us. You may think it's simplistic riffs with angry lyrics, but they gave us critical thinking in music, slam dancing and the mosh pit. Now, you can see a mosh pit at the oddest of shows. Back when the pits started happening, it was a healthy way to get aggression out. It was fun and full of energy, then came the nazis and it became about trying to hurt as many people as possible. The retaliation of that was enforcers that would hunt down the nazis and take them out. The pit was never about hurting people intentionally, sure you would get hurt, but when you did there was always someone there to pick you up and get you out of the pit so that you could rest up and get back in. Punk also gave us one of the most iconic voices in music and that belongs to the original lead singer of the Dead Kennedys, Jello Bialfa (no that's not his real name). Jellos voice is truly unique and the only way to describe it if you haven't heard it, is to think of Fred Schneider of the B-52s with much more aggression. If you don't' know the B-52s then I really can't help what is wrong with you.
What is all this talk about anyway, well it's a way to get to my Favorite Song of the Week, and yes I'm picking an old classic from the Dead Kennedys. This is probably their best knowns song, for the sole reason is that it is the only one that got any airplay and only on college radio stations. I think it gets some cult attention no a days whenever some station wants to do a retro night or something like that. It may also be the most mainstream like song. Yes that is very much a stretch in using mainstream but it's the closest to a for everyone palatable song. For just a few moments live on the fringe of mainstream and enjoy a little punk. I proudly present to you the Dead Kennedys with "Holiday in Cambodia".
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