Random list of punk related items at work

[J to the H]

Draft 1. Compiled Oct 26, JH

The following punk shirts are worn by crazies

Agnostic Front - boots shirt
Straightedge - crest logo
Sick of it all - weird multi colored

Also the dude in room 335 has a Born Against patch on top of his TV. Yes, I have thought of stealing it but i figure it would be a very lame thing to get fired for.

Oh, yeah reminder to all: RENT IS DO SOON!!! the 1st is less than a week away. I havnt sent my rent check out yet, yeah im slackin. Landlords - taking money from me, dont even live in the city, My check goes to hayward california.

[xnickx]

where do you work? a psychiatric ward?

[hahaha]

haha

[smellygirl]

we have a Clash on Broadway cd and a ton of "punk" books and graphic novel

the library is as punk as it gets, really

[emily]

Oh man, the library is so punk. In addition to the obvious "Punk: A History" type books, we have an assortment of losers, vagabonds, people who read, and little kids, which as far as I'm concerned is as punk as anything gets. Maybe with the exception of Jesse's work... Go crazy, folks! It's totally DIY!

[smellygirl]

I think that "Please Kill Me:A History of Punk" is also somewhere in our system, but very hard to get ahold of being that it is SO POPULAR and is ALWAYS checked out

[willtheplasticman]

If it's so popular, it sounds more like POP.

I've read it. It's really good for a history of NY Punk, but fucking skewed and ultra clique-oriented...

You know, an entire section dedicated to Patti Smith and her single punk album, then... NOTHING about the Testors, who played with all of those bands and came from New York. And how about that single fucking chapter dedicated to the Dictators- who had a lot more to do with punk's development than Patti Smith and the chapters dedicated to "street poets," hustlers and junkies. Most of their chapter is about a fight, nothing about their music. Then you get to the meager 2 or 3 chapters about the UK punk scene- which are basically the New York yuppies dissing the Clash and the Sex Pistols. I'm not denying that New York punk had a huge influence on the UK, but the book makes the UK punk scene out to be copycat fakes who "don't get it." The fact that their punk scene was more socially aware and (mostly) more youth-oriented proves that they did "get it" (early on), but chose not to concentrate on ripping off Rimbaud.

Then of course, in true dinosaur fashion, the editors choose to buy into the myth that punk died in 1980 and started again with Nirvana... As if they're somehow a natural continuation of the Ramones and the Heartbreakers instead of a poor Melvins rip off.

Blah... Well, that's the flaws of that book summed up. It has a lot of good points, too, though. You get a really good feel for the New York environment in the late 70's, from the point of view of a cliquey, scene oriented asshole.

-Will

[justin anxiety]

[quote author=willtheplasticman board=general thread=1130364051 post=1130790076Then of course, in true dinosaur fashion, the editors choose to buy into the myth that punk died in 1980[/quote]

I have the same problem with a lot of the "punk" books and documentaries out there.

But there's a new book that just came out that's supposed to set things straight called Going Underground.

From what I've read about it, it sounds pretty good. For one, it starts out in 1979 and pays no mind to the art rock and roots stuff from 74-76 that seems to be all anyone ever covers. It also focuses a lot on the middle of the US with stuff about the Big Boys, Dicks, Zero Boys and all the stuff that gets ignored most of the time. Of course it also covers all the Califonia stuff like Minutemen, Black Flag etc.

Sounds good to me.

[willtheplasticman]

Yeah, that's awesome.

I hope it makes up for "American Hardcore," which I reluctantly regard as probably the most complete book about hardcore, even though it's rife with inaccuracies and editorialized accounts... Not to mention, once again, the author makes it clear that hardcore died in 1985.

Self-importance, I guess. I'm not really part of the scene here, but if my band ever plays shows or anything, I hope I don't look back at it like a dinosaur thinking "kids today will never be as good as my era." Maybe it's human nature.

-Will

[smellygirl]

I appreciate that people wrote those books though, however lame they may me

[justin anxiety]

smellygirl said:

I appreciate that people wrote those books though, however lame they may me

I totally agree. It's cool that those books exist, it's just frustrating that so many of those books ignore the bands and scenes who really made punk what it is.

The whole DIY thing for example. How many of the 74-77 era bands didn't wait to be picked up by a major label? How many put out their own stuff? Who built the underground "scene," tour networking, distros, small labels? Was it Patti Smith? Television? Ramones? Richard Hell? Sex Pistols? New York Dolls? the Damned?

Or was it bands like Black Flag with SST, Teen Idles/Minor Threat with Dischord etc?

Guess that's another topic though.

[mookie]

american hardcore talks about poison idea a little bit. pig champion is huge!
also, battallion of saints get too little props and ssd get too much.
fukk ssd, that's all i have to say.

[willtheplasticman]

I don't know... I like SSD, but Negative FX massacre them.

When it comes to DIY ethics in the 70's, very few punk bands actually had them early on. It definitely existed, but I don't think labels and DIY became an issue until bands like Black Flag in the US and Crass in England kind of created the punk underground as we know it. I credit those bands with creating that DIY, no bullshit sensibility on such a large scale, but I think that without the Ramones, the Clash, the Pistols and the big time bands, the sound would not be nearly as diverse or interesting.

The political/DIY thing came later. You can't really judge those bands by modern standards since the industry was so different back then. Black Flag basically found the underground network in the US, but they also played shows with the Ramones, and I think one with both Slayer and the Ramones. I think that if a major label had approached the Teen Idles, they would have gone for it. Black Flag only created SST because Bomp wanted to rip them off. I think Dischord only happened because there was no other way to get it out. Maybe later the ideology evolved into an anti-corporate thing, but when they were making my personal favorite records, they were releasing them because no one else would.

Times were different. I think people owe as much, if not more to the Damned, the Dead Boys, Ramones, etc. as they do to the second wave kids. They were the musical innovators, really.

[matt judge]

i don't see why bands ought to have invented the DIY circuit before they needed to. it wasn't created as a political entity, it evolved because that was what those bands needed.

"our band could be your life" discusses this in pretty good detail, although it probably doesn't pass the punk test since dinosaur jr and things like that are in there

[mookie]

motherfukkin' minutemen! motherfukkin' big black!
dude, that book is awesome and only blanks 77 fans would ever fail to recognize the punkness of that book.