11/15/01
Why Punk Rock Should Die
By E. Wordsworth

I played guitar in my first punk rock band in 1977, or maybe it was 1978. It was one of the seminal activities in my life. It was an incredibly freeing, emotive, and cathartic experience. To this day every morning when I wake up with ringing in my ears (from playing too loud and standing next to a drummer who was also playing too loud) I fondly remember those days. Punk was new, exciting, underground, and extremely rebellious. It gave us an identity that was clear of the hippie bullshit and corporate rock (the two extremes of the day). It gave us a way to express and be in our zeitgeist: that unique moment in time that is the confluence of political, social, cultural, personal, and spiritual events. It was what young people throughout the twentieth century -- from the lost generation through the beatniks, rockers, hippies, and punkers -- had done: Create a unique movement that allowed them to be them, allowed full expression of their generation. This is not to say I liked all those movements. I hate hippies. The goddamned smell of patchouli and incense makes me want to puke to this day. Beatniks were a little better. They bathed occasionally. But their drunkenness and poetry had a single purpose: to get laid. The beatniks were also a little too chauvinistic for my taste. Now the lost generation, I liked them. Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Paul Bowles...great artists who were interested in creating great art...but I digress

Punk rock came into existence at the perfect time for a perfectly appropriate reason. Today’s version is absolutely -- and ridiculously -- anachronistic. These young punks might as well be dressing up as beatniks. Or better yet as medieval knights and maidens, which would be just as anachronistic. The clothing has gone from being an original statement, to being a corporate marketed style. It has gone from being a rebellious underground movement to being the mainstream. In any mall in the U.S. you can find a shop which sells clothing appropriately punk. These stores might as well be labeled antique stores or costume shops. Punk rock is no longer about rebellion; it is nothing but a club. And like another club, the Boy Scouts, it has its own code and uniform. It is, in a word, passé. It has become what it once rebelled against and hated: corporate. It even has its own group concert tours with corporate sponsors. Wake up punks, you are nothing but a target group of corporate marketing. That makes you no different than your parents. A frightening thought, isn’t it? Instead of creating your own statement, you have been living and acting out somebody else’s. You think you are creative? You are just spewing out what has already been spewed. Spew anew! Find something fresh. I am tired of the same old shit, as you should be. Punk was great. But it is ancient history, and should be viewed and treated as such. Everyone should listen to TSOL, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Agent Orange, and The Dead Kennedy’s. But listen to them as historical documents, records of a given time. They are no more relevant to this generation than disco. They are certainly more interesting than disco, but no more relevant. Try being creative and inventing your own scene with its own mode of expression, instead of jumping on the bandwagon of regurgitation.

The definition of rebellion remains the same: but the mode of expressing rebellion doesn’t have to. In fact, the mode of expressing rebellion should change with every generation; otherwise -- by definition -- it is no longer rebellion. And rebellion is important. A healthy rebellion is what brings the creative into existence. (Visa versa, a pathological rebellion is what brings the destructive into existence.) By focusing on the creative, the societal evolution that ensues has the rebels to thank. This is why the mode of expressing rebellion should be constantly renewed by the creativity of youth, with the energy and freshness that only youth can bring to it. Right now the expressions of youth seem pretty damn stale, with only bits of light here and there. How do you want this generation to be remembered? As a generation of mimics? Or as a generation of creators? It would seem to be an easy choice, but I know: regurgitation is easy; creativity is difficult. I’ll use a corporate slogan in hopes that it will help you to understand: Just Do It. Let punk die. Or at least relegate it to such a role as, for instance, having a "sixties" party, or a "fifties" party. Once a year dress up all retro punk and reopen those piercings. Bow down before the altar of Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra. But make it once a year, rather than daily. Relegate the bands to an oldies tour, or maybe even Las Vegas shows. It is only appropriate. Get truly rebellious and leave the mainstream behind. Try creativity. You might make history. Instead of just repeating it.

To learn more about E. Wordsworth, go to www.angryvegan.com