Post by Bret Walker on Nov 21, 2002 9:54:17 GMT -5
It's been said many times that Punk is fake, and going by examples of recent years, I'd have to agree. But when you look at pure Punk, or what I like to call Punk Zen, you will find that there is a depth that transcends mere music. Recently, Max the Dork acquired two new bandmembers, and this is a huge step for a band that has had only one member since its inception in 1989. And so, in an effort to reaffirm my own faith in Punk Zen, I'd like to share my ideas on what Punk Zen is truly all about.
1. Punk as such is not a fashion trend. It really doesn't matter what clothes you wear or what you do with your hair. You can wear a three-piece suit and still be punk; but the point of your choice of clothing is non-conformity. Therefore, to wear a three-piece suit to a punk club would be the ultra in non-conformist action, even moreso than wearing a denim jacket with patches all over it, a green mohawk and a wallet on a chain. Once you put on a set of threads to try to fit into the mold of Punk, you are no longer living Punk Zen.
2. Music is just music, it's not the cornerstone of Punk Zen. However, in the beginning, music was our rally point, the banner to our cause. The hippies couldn't get it done with their Give-Peace-A-Chance-Where-Have-All-The-Flowers-Gone wimp-ass bullshit. The establishment looked at the hippies and laughed. Who gives a fuck about a bunch of whiny little bitches crying for the environment, the establishment was out to make some dough! So what we in the Punk community did was we changed the music to be more kick-you-in-the-crotch-punch-you-in-the-face attention getting. What we were saying with the music was HEY! Listen up, coz this is fucking important, dickhead!!! No more sitins, no more non-violent protest. We were pissed off at being ignored and we wouldn't have it anymore. So just like Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary were the icons of the hippie movement, so The Ramones, MC5, Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedies became the icons for the Punk movement. And it didn't matter how well you played your instrument, or how convincing your stage presence was; all that mattered was that you were loud enough to make people notice you and that you had a clear-cut political message.
3. Despite the exclusionist actions of some of the fringe punksters, Punk Zen is never about barring new people from joining the movement. We welcome all types. Hell, that's the main reason the Punk movement started in the first fucking place; to give the outcasts a place to gather and be social. Who are we to try to keep people out of the "clique?" Fuckall, to even mention a CLIQUE in regards to the Punk movement is a contradiction in terms. But somewhere along the way, the fashionably trendy fucks infiltrated the movement and decided that they were the only ones allowed to participate, and that's not what we're all about. If you believe, great! Jump in, the water is fanfuckingtastic. In reality, it's the trendy fucks that don't belong. But like the twelve step programs, Punk Zen means that you belong when you say you belong. And it doesn't matter what your tenure is or how many pits you've been in. And refer back to precept #1 - It doesn't matter what clothes you wear either.
4. So what is the message? The message we carry is that the system is totally FUCKED. I don't consider myself an Anarchist in the puritanical form of the word, but I have to agree that the current government system is way out of whack. But I also think that we can effect more change from inside the system than we can beating on the system's walls from the outside. Still, it helps to have a voice, and often it's a voice you will lose while screaming in the face of the establishment just how completely fucked up their way of thinking is. We're tired of having to clean up their fucking mess. We're tired of having to deal with the same bullshit day after day. We're tired of having to call those self-serving panty-wastes in Washington our so-called "representatives." Who the fuck do they think they're representing? Not me, Jack. And they'd better fucking wake up and realize that the same people who voted them into office can just as easily vote them out.
{...continued...}
1. Punk as such is not a fashion trend. It really doesn't matter what clothes you wear or what you do with your hair. You can wear a three-piece suit and still be punk; but the point of your choice of clothing is non-conformity. Therefore, to wear a three-piece suit to a punk club would be the ultra in non-conformist action, even moreso than wearing a denim jacket with patches all over it, a green mohawk and a wallet on a chain. Once you put on a set of threads to try to fit into the mold of Punk, you are no longer living Punk Zen.
2. Music is just music, it's not the cornerstone of Punk Zen. However, in the beginning, music was our rally point, the banner to our cause. The hippies couldn't get it done with their Give-Peace-A-Chance-Where-Have-All-The-Flowers-Gone wimp-ass bullshit. The establishment looked at the hippies and laughed. Who gives a fuck about a bunch of whiny little bitches crying for the environment, the establishment was out to make some dough! So what we in the Punk community did was we changed the music to be more kick-you-in-the-crotch-punch-you-in-the-face attention getting. What we were saying with the music was HEY! Listen up, coz this is fucking important, dickhead!!! No more sitins, no more non-violent protest. We were pissed off at being ignored and we wouldn't have it anymore. So just like Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary were the icons of the hippie movement, so The Ramones, MC5, Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedies became the icons for the Punk movement. And it didn't matter how well you played your instrument, or how convincing your stage presence was; all that mattered was that you were loud enough to make people notice you and that you had a clear-cut political message.
3. Despite the exclusionist actions of some of the fringe punksters, Punk Zen is never about barring new people from joining the movement. We welcome all types. Hell, that's the main reason the Punk movement started in the first fucking place; to give the outcasts a place to gather and be social. Who are we to try to keep people out of the "clique?" Fuckall, to even mention a CLIQUE in regards to the Punk movement is a contradiction in terms. But somewhere along the way, the fashionably trendy fucks infiltrated the movement and decided that they were the only ones allowed to participate, and that's not what we're all about. If you believe, great! Jump in, the water is fanfuckingtastic. In reality, it's the trendy fucks that don't belong. But like the twelve step programs, Punk Zen means that you belong when you say you belong. And it doesn't matter what your tenure is or how many pits you've been in. And refer back to precept #1 - It doesn't matter what clothes you wear either.
4. So what is the message? The message we carry is that the system is totally FUCKED. I don't consider myself an Anarchist in the puritanical form of the word, but I have to agree that the current government system is way out of whack. But I also think that we can effect more change from inside the system than we can beating on the system's walls from the outside. Still, it helps to have a voice, and often it's a voice you will lose while screaming in the face of the establishment just how completely fucked up their way of thinking is. We're tired of having to clean up their fucking mess. We're tired of having to deal with the same bullshit day after day. We're tired of having to call those self-serving panty-wastes in Washington our so-called "representatives." Who the fuck do they think they're representing? Not me, Jack. And they'd better fucking wake up and realize that the same people who voted them into office can just as easily vote them out.
{...continued...}
