Defining punk

It’s been a three day holiday weekend and I really haven’t had much to do. I mean, other than watch tv, which I did in great abundance. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing but at least it provided me with a lot of great material.

First of all, I would like to thank ESPN for broadcasting the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog competition live this afternoon. Because you haven’t lived until you’ve actually watched someone pound down forty some hot dogs in twelve minutes. It is a rather fascinating and disturbing sight made all the more stranger by the announcers treating this like a full fledged sporting event. I mean, competitor profiles, discussions of technique, an explanation of the dreaded “reversal”. I’ve seen college basketball games with less detailed coverage. I’m pretty sure that the freak show has now entered the main stage.

The other thing I discovered was that this month is Punk month on IFC (the Independent Film Channel or channel 317 on most cable systems). IFC is a neat little channel, especially since it has a monthly show called “Henry’s Film Corner”, which consists of Henry Rollins ranting about movies for half an hour. So, combine Henry Rollins with punk month and you know that you are in for a treat. Like Henry discussing the film “The Decline of Western Civilization”, which as Henry states “Examines the American punk scene featuring bands like the New York Dolls, the Stooges, and Black Flag.” Nice way to get your own band referenced in there. Not like everyone watching the show knew that you were in Black Flag.

The more interesting point is that he had on John Doe from X and Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols talking about what it meant to be punk. You had Henry’s point that he went from watching Jimmy Page in concert from a city block away to being sweated on by the bands in small clubs. John and Steve brought up the point that the entire point of the scene was passion and rebellion. I don’t think it was as much a rebellion against society or a goal of creating anarchy. I think it really was a rebellion against the blandness and dullness of everyday life in the 70’s. Watch any of the news coverage of the time and it was just a gray time with a bad economy and a cold war and bad music. Punk was a way of saying “Screw that, we’re alive and we’re going to give this everything we’ve got.” Didn’t matter that they had no musical talent, pure emotion could carry the day.

It made me think about what I appreciate in music. I’ll gladly listen to The Clash every chance I get because they were a band that hit on all cylinders. In no way were they the most musically gifted band in the world but when they took the stage they were the only band that mattered. You can’t say that about Emerson, Lake and Palmer or any of the prog rock guys. They were brilliant musical geniuses but at times it is like listening to mathematical formulas, technically brilliant but with no soul. I guess it’s why I always like artists who are just starting out. They can make mistakes but cover for them with enthusiasm and desire and that means more to me than technical brilliance.