Don't Drown in the Main Stream

Many music genres have suffered a great deal and have become diluted or even in some cases completely torn to pieces and put back together containing bands that believe they are living up to the genre’s name when the fan knows they are not. There are those diamonds in the rough that we can find in music today but you have to sift through all the garbage that is past off as music.

Punk is no different and its downward spiral into the putrid musical era that we presently reside in. But before it did the three major acts and would become the backbone of the genre, Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat.

Approximately 1985 is as close to a time that you can equate with the fall out of true punk and hardcore punk. Black Flag saw the change coming and disbanded in 86 after one more tour attempt. Although Black Flag is considered by many to be the Flagship -no pun intended- all the angry punk fans road in on, today’s fans may miss one of the most influential punk bands of all time.

The Bad Brains, from Washington DC, have influenced many punk bands and others along the way including the Beastie Boys (one reason why they named themselves the Beastie Boys was to have the initials BB as the Bad Brains did obviously).

Lead singer, H.R. (human rights) stage name for Paul D. Hudson, rifled off lyrics fast and furious to the moshing and rioting crowds. Their songs were testaments to the hate for the establishment, injustice and all the regular crap that is wrong with the system we live in. Obviously these views were shared and strongly supported by their fans. The furious anger was only justified by the sound their collective talent produced.

They decided to change with the times in the mid-80s still sticking to their punk roots but changing up slightly. They saw that true punk was being boiled down in a large pot filled with main stream tones and wannabes. Along this path they would slowly move toward a reggae based sound with under tones and sometimes quick change ups into a punk sound.

So today we are stuck with that lost genre for the most part. Bands like Sum 41 and all those EMO bands like Jimmy eat world are considered punk. Who is considering them punk? I have heard a great number of teens’ state how much they hate that music and the path that music is on. Also university students prefer good spin-offs of punk i.e. Grunge from the early 90s as opposed to the crap today. But someone has to be buying today’s crap. Oh yes the boy band and Britney generations; no clue as to what real music is no matter the genre.

Maybe this is a good sign. See punk and punk hardcore began as an underground movement. Black Flag, minor threat, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, The Ramones, Iggy Pop and many more all started as edgy punk bands that were hated by society. Slowly over time they became more accepted and slowly spilled into the main stream where they all decided to jump ship. Maybe the recent dislike of new bands today will start another underground revolution of “true” punk and good music from this genre will be created once again, at least for as long as it can before it is ruined once more.

Hey to each his own we all like our on music and music is like beauty it’s in the eye of the beholder. But there are limits to this and most of what is presently being produced is not beauty and nor is it music. If you look hard enough you can find something that has the sound you seek. For now I will continue the search and find those little known gems and always continue to listen to the classics.