Zen and the Art of Punk Rock

South America Opts-in on the Fun of War!

There are some strange rumblings from South America these days. Columbia and Venezuela may be on the brink of open warfare depending upon who you talk to. Venezuelan President and general firebrand Hugo Chavez has compared Columbia to the “Israel of South America” after Columbian forces carried out an assassination in neighboring Ecuador. Columbian President Alvaro Uribe countered by accusing the revolutionary or terrorist organization (depending on your political POV) FARC of attempting to acquire nuclear material to create a “dirty bomb” and also accused Chavez of “funding genocide.”

I just feel like I’ve heard all this before.

Our own fear-mongering President George W. Bush then threw his hat in with Uribe and in bizarre irony stated that destabilization of the region is unacceptable. I don’t understand why it was perfectly okay to destabilize Iraq but the President isn’t returning my phone calls and now tough looking men in dark suits, sunglasses, and SUV’s with blackened windows have started making frequent drive-bys of my house. It drives the dogs crazy.

Will the Real Punk Rocker Please Stand Up?!?

The upcoming CAMMIE awards for local music have re-ignited the decades old argument of what really constitutes punk rock. It’s a fun debate but ultimately pointless –like arguing religion or politics. But I write about religion and politics all the time so here goes nothing!

For my two cents punk rock can’t be divorced from the time in which it arose. To understand the emergence of such a vial form of music you’ll have to take a ride with me back to the middle-1970’s. The “summer of love” was a fading memory and rock and roll had become a bloated parody of itself. Bands like Crosby Stills and Nash who had made their mark singing songs of peace, love, and idealism had grown into ultra-rich pampered and fat rock stars. The Rolling Stones were playing on stages so large you could barely see them with binoculars and the ticket prices were spiraling upward as every promoter and record executive grabbed a slice of the money-pie rock and roll had become. Disco emerged as a bizarre counter-balance to rock and roll. Don’t think about anything, just snort a lot of blow and dance the night away. Hang out with the beautiful people in the Studio 54. Everywhere you turned greed, complacency, and escapism had set in.

But then out seeping over the din of mediocrity crept the grinding buzzsaw of guitars, the guttural screams and shouts, banging drums, flying spit. It was coming from the rust-belt from bands like MC5 and the Stooges. It was coming from Cleveland, Ohio from the Dead Boys. It was coming from New York City in the form of the Ramones and it was coming from London, England in the form of the Clash and the infamous Sex Pistols. And that was just for starters. Bands from all over the place were getting on stage with minimal talent and minimal gear and singing songs about alienation and resentment. They created a scene for kids that didn’t fit in anywhere else and in the process they created a new style of music that has carried on from 1976 to this year 2008.

I have talked to many people from that time (I was only a small child when that screaming brat that is punk was born) and they all talk about the mind-altering experience that punk created. They talk about finally having a sense of acceptance where before there had only been ostracization. Whether seeing the bands play live or hearing them on underground radio stations punk was something new and refreshing to a music-craving audience that was being spoon-fed commercialized crap from a jaded industry.

Punk was a reaction – a powerful sucking boil in the river of music.

Punks before Punk was Punk

There have always been “punks” in the arts – artists and musicians that defied categorization and re-defined the rules. The jazz musicians from the 1930’s and 40’s were pretty punk, the flappers and the ex-patriots during the 1920’s, hell Mozart was pretty punk rock back in his day! There are too many “punk” artists to go into but just about everyone after David was breaking rules right and left. Van Gogh cut his ear off and mailed it to a girl he was in love with! Tell me that’s not punk rock!!!

Whenever there is an “establishment” there is bound to be a punk lurking in the shadows waiting for the opportunity to unsettle it.

But for now we may have to wait – the world is in so much chaos there’s hardly a clear establishment to rile against. Things will eventually settle down and then people will get conservative and complacent again and that will be when the next “punk rock” will emerge.