Viewing Thread:
"It's my job to keep Punk Rock elite"

Hi, I just hear from other Punkers. What bands are you listening to at the moment, what games are you playing and what is your favourite album at the moment?

I am listening to:
Pennywise (So-Cal Power Punk)
Capdown (UK Ska'rdcore)
Bad Religion (one of the biggest US Punk Rock bands of the 80's and 90's)
GreenDay (C'mon you've heard of these guys... haven't you?)
Descendents (early pop-punk with an 80's hard-edge)

PS Limp Bizkit, Korn and their ilk do not qualify as punk, so (at the risk of being unpopular) I don't want them discussed here...

I also want to hear from people who maybe hate punk rock and get their views and angles... just as long as it doesn't resort to pointless namecalling...

Does any1 else have All Live Plus One? It is an awesome CD of All (basically Descendants with a different vocalist, and not as hard an edge) playing live, and a FREE BONUS CD of Descendents playing live. The Descendents isn't a short CD either. over 20 tracks of more betterness! I must admit that I've actually listened to the Descendents CD more than the All one but All still rock.

Also the new Bad Religion album is out in January and I think it's gonna be a corker. Finally the return of Mr. Brett!

Mouldy Cheese wrote:

Sibs - I used Bizkit as an example.

OK, but what did u mean? Something about swopping CDs around and one selling as good as the other or sumthing? Maybe I'm just dumb but can u explain it a bit more???

Uh... Who mentioned Limp Bizkit ( I know I
> did but I said NOT to talk about them) I didn't say don't talk about them cos I
> beleive they are sell outs, or for any reason that I may not like them etc. I
> said it cos they ARE NOT A PUNK BAND!!! They are usually called Nu-Metal, so y
> discuss them in a punk topic???

Sibs - I used Bizkit as an example.

I agree that Punk is a genre which should be kept on a street level (available to everyone) but what do you do when there are so many people who want to see you play live? If Greenday, Offspring, etc. played in a little venue it would be so cramped unless the venue put very strict limits on no.s of tickets sold and then u get people buying tickets just to sell em for extortionate prices when the usual outlets run out. And also if a band isn't in an area (like the UK) for very long they can't play lots of gigs so have to play one big one where just about everyone (okay, everyone who can afford to...) can go to see them. I'll agree with you that playing at Wembley charging over £20 per person isn't exactly something which is considered punk, but I don't know what else you can do when you are a 'punk' band who has become so popular. Otherwise it's like you aren't allowed to be popular (on any large scale anyways) and be considered punk at the same time.

Also the Dead Kennedys were in the 1st Tony Hawks sound track with 'Police Truck' (just incase u didn't know).

Just to clarify tho I don't actually like Blink182 cos I feel their style of pop-punk is stuff that has been done before and much better. GreenDay is pop-punk and give me that any day over Blink or New Found Glory.

Oh and does anyone else think that 'stepping stone' by Minor Threat is an awesome song! If it had been made with better, more recent production it'd sound even better, cos it sounds too muffled at the start. But it's still awesome!
Oh, and has any1 else heard Pennywise's cover of Minor Threat on their 'Live @ the Key Club' album?

Today I have been mostly listening to Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables and Out of Step/Salad Days.

Sibs wrote:
Minor Threat
Dead Kennedys
Varukers
Descendents
Fugazi

---

Awesome bands Sibs, awesome.
I'm glad you knew I wasn't having a pop at you at all.
And I can't say whether a band "qualifies" as punk, but these ones certainly hold the punk ethos true, as well as the mighty Black Flag.

Punk is about sticking a finger up at the "stale" middle class system thing, doing what the hell you want because you want to and not conforming at all, because that's too lame.

Which is why, and I don't criticise bands like Blink 182 and Green Day etc etc, I don't see how you can call them punk ("You" in the generic term).
You can't be punk and say "Hello Wembley! £26 to see us play! Punk Rock!".

It's not about "selling out" as much as it is keeping the music on a street level, so anyone can hear it.
To think that a punk band would price themselves out of everyone by playing somewhere like Wembley is ridiculous.
Same as you can't call yourself punk and then go make a video for MTV, if there is anything more corporate minded and playing by the rules, it's making a nice video for constant rotation.

The Clash played Hammersmith back in 80-something, and went round the back and opened the fire-doors and their dressing room windows so people could get in to see them if they couldn't afford a ticket.
THAT is punk, playing your music to "real" fans, not swanning in to play stadiums when you're not on MTV or featuring in a Playstation sports-game soundtrack.

I'm not saying the bands you originally listed are crap,I'm just saying that they are not punk (only to me though)

Forgot these:

Black Flag
Operation Ivy

PS

just 2 clarify:
Sold out does not necessarily mean successful
AND
successful doesn't necessarily mean sold out

Greenday ( u r probably getting sick of me talkin bout em now aren't u!?! ) are now considered sell outs by many, but I don't beleive they r cos they haven't changed their music to be popular. Warning hasn't sold anywhere near as many copies as Dookie or Nimrod, even though they are better known now (though maybe not the flavour of the week exactly...) so how is that selling out? If they wanted sales they'd have released a 'more of the same' album, and not made such a change in direction. I don't know (or care about) Limp Bizkits history so I can't comment on whether they r sell outs or not, but a band could change to become popular (nowadays that would mean becoming a Nu-Metal band) and never acheive much success because they just aren't that good.

PS Goatboy do u qualify these as punk bands?

Minor Threat
Dead Kennedys
Varukers
Descendents
Fugazi

Mouldy Cheese wrote:
> Sold Out = Sucsessful.

There is no one definition of sold out (especially in the punk rock world) and I won't bore you with my personal definition (yet)...

Face it - if Limp Bizkit swapped the releases of his
> first and last albums around and they still sold the same, you'd still be
> calling them sell outs.

Uh... Who mentioned Limp Bizkit ( I know I did but I said NOT to talk about them) I didn't say don't talk about them cos I beleive they are sell outs, or for any reason that I may not like them etc. I said it cos they ARE NOT A PUNK BAND!!! They are usually called Nu-Metal, so y discuss them in a punk topic???

Sold Out = Sucsessful.

Face it - if Limp Bizkit swapped the releases of his first and last albums around and they still sold the same, you'd still be calling them sell outs.