In the early 1980's there were a couple bands that capitalized on the punk image to form bands... that were basically more about image and style than punk rock. In the UK there was The Exploited, who had the punk rock look down but had about the dumbest lyrics ever. They got dubbed "postcard punks," which was a name for fashion punks in the UK that posed for pictures for money, some of which ended up on postcards of England supposedly depicting punk rockers. In the US the epitome of the phenomena in the early '80s was exemplified by the California band The Surf Punks. But one good thing The Surf Punks did was hit the mainstream via the movie "Urgh A Music War" and in record stores, since they were signed to Sony early on. Sadly as a highschool kid growing up in the 'burbs of Seattle in the early '80s, The Surf Punks (along with Suicidal Tendencies and Black Flag) were one of the first punk bands I started listening to. In the '90s the most obvious postcard punk bands were The Casualties and The Blanks 77. New York City band The Casualties in particular were so over the top and ridiculous with their fashion and hairstyles that even fans like me had to laugh at their records, lyrics and live show. The band members were nice guys and their first album is great, but they always still felt completely ridiculous to me compared to the rest of the punk bands at the time that took their music and lyrics far more seriously than their image. This shot is of The Casualties in Seattle on their first tour to the West Coast in support of their 1997 album "For The Punx,"
4 comments:
You got the reason and the absolute truth?
Are you the one who make the rules and decide what lyric is good, which is the dumbest?
Please send me the adress of the Punk University, then i rebuild my dumb life and can be like you. I wanna be on that elite.
Policía Careta de mierda
Sorry for the English.
Cuki from Buenos Aires.
Cuki, lighten up. Just because a band is more concerned with image or fashion than writing decent lyrics doesn't mean I don't like them. I've seen most of these bands live and own their records. I'm just able to see their flaws. I love a lot of bands with dumb lyrics (The Dwarves, The Misfits and Motards for example), part of being able to enjoy bands like these is the ability to not take them or ourselves to seriously.
To quote Against Me!:
"Please tell me I'm not the only one, that thinks we're taking ourselves too seriously. Just a little too enamored with inflated self-purpose. Talk is cheap. And it doesn't mean much. Don't lose touch. Don't lose touch."
Sorry but my english is not good and I reply you in spanish.
No es el caso de tomar las cosas demasiado en serio o no.
El vuelo lirico que se la pueda dar a una canción es completamente determinado por la voluntad o las formas de narrar propias de cada uno.
Si me refiero a una asignatura cualquiera a la cual desee referirme no lo vuelve de mayor o menor calidad la forma en que lo exprese. Si me irrita la brutalidad policial, su prepotencia y la policia toda en sí, por dar un ejemplo, tiene la misma validez que lo exprese como "Muerte a la mierda policial" o "Los jueces serán las animas de los que con tus miedos e histerias te has llevado."
Yo no tomo a nada ni nadie seriamente si dentro de mi forma de ver la vida así me lo haga sentir.
Hay gente por estos lares que te mira torcido si tenés una remera de Amebix y un parche de Ramones en la mochila. Las verdades o gustos de uno no son universales.
Aparte vos escribiste: "In the early 1980's there were a couple bands that capitalized on the punk image to form bands.. that were basically more about image and style than punk rock."
La imagen exagerada a la concepción visual o no, para nada determina el nivel de apreciación que tenga uno por el Punk, ni lo sincero que sea al respecto.
Lamentablemente al involucrarse uno con la escena Punk (sea Anarko, Straight Edge, Oi!, etc.) encuentra cantidades de gentes que actúan de modo a los valores caretas y arcaicos que tanto se critican, dejando al descubierto que como mínimo no entendieron una mierda.
Quizás peque de barrilete por mis gustos, I like Detestation, CRASS, Dirt, Mob 47 etc. pero pese a apreciar a la anarquía como forma de ver la realidad i work in a fucking capitalist minded company and drink Coca-Cola para calmar la resaca.
I hear Minor Threat, The Necros, and Vitamin X por ejemplo but i drink Alcohol and smoke Porro.
I love Roots Reggae but i'm not believe in god in any form.
Al Toke.
La cagada es que I can't understand very well your reply.
Saludos.
PD: I Have a very good sense of humour pero no cazo bien los ribetes lingüisticos de cada región.
Cheers! I wish my Spanish was better, I could only get about half of that.
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