Punk! Punk?? Sometimes you CAN teach an old dog new tricks…
Punk music—who would ever have thought that this U2, Sting, Lloyd Cole, George Michael, Darren Hayes, Wilco, Coldplay and Harry Connick Jr. loving woman… would buy her first ‘Punk music’ cd yesterday! In the last couple of months I’ve been exposed to the local Bakersfield music scene and found a wealth of talented musicians and rock stars like I never thought existed in this city. I’ve heard Alt Country, Alt Rock, Screamo, Brit Pop and yes… Punk music. I am still amazed each week when I hear yet another new band!
NL burned me a copy of his
The Filthies cd and I find myself playing it constantly at home and at work and singing along to their lyrics. I sent him this email last Friday afternoon during the storm:
“Dude I love this rain and thunder!!! Goes great with ‘no body likes me… I’m gonna blow up this town…’ from The Filthies ‘The Donut Shop’! It’s Friday… and I’m blasting The Filthies!!!”He replied with an enthusiastic
“Right on!” And informed me they have baby-doll t-shirts! If I’m going to be a proper groupie I have to have a baby-doll Filthies t-shirt! Kenny can you help me out with a t-shirt???
(How’s that for groupie begging?)Karmahitlist is another local Punk rock music band that I’ve heard and really liked their music! Seantastic their frontman is a total Punk-Rock-God! I previously wrote about my Seantastic punk makeup envy in this
blog entry-- but I need a cd of Karmahitlist’s music! Seantastic where can I get a cd???
(If I bat my eyelashes at him and talk makeup maybe I could get a cd and a Karmahitlist t-shirt! Think it would work?)I’m so looking forward to the next two Thursday’s Battle of the Bands because both The Filthies and Karmahitlist are playing!! Karmahitlist this Thursday and The Filthies the following Thursday, however, The Filthies are not competing. See the full Battle of the Bands schedule
here.
The coolest 13 year old I’ve ever known drags me to Stockdale Music and Guitar City on occasion so that he can play their electric guitars. He has an acoustic guitar and is saving his money for an electric guitar. Him and some of his friends from school are forming a band. They want to be Punk music stars! Through him… I have discovered
Green Day! He talks about them all the time. And I just always thought
“Oh it’s that band the young kids all like.” That is until I heard Green Day play
American Idiot at the Grammy’s and heard their song
Boulevard of Broken Dreams on the radio and then I thought WOW! I asked NL about Green Day and he told me:
"Their album is great! It's like a ‘Rock Opera’!" A huge fan of musical theater and film… I had to find out what a ‘Rock Opera’ was-- so I bought Green Day’s
American Idiot album yesterday and I’ve been playing it all day today! It is one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time. The lyrics and music are amazing, I totally relate to their message, these are truly talented musicians not just people who dress Punk. And ‘Rock Opera’ is the exact right term to describe this album. Each song is one part of the bigger story that is the album and each track is placed in the exact perfect place to tell this great story! I’m wondering if Green Day’s previous cd’s are all this good? If they are… I will be buying more. It’s official. I’ve been converted. I like Punk music!
My Photos...
I wouldn't call the current offerings of Green Day "punk". It's definitely guitar-driven and a little raucous at times, but has a lot more of the elements that comprise pop than punk. It's good music nonetheless. Music genres are all subjective, of course, but you wouldn't walk up to a group of people who are listening to the Dead Kennedys or The Minutemen and say, "Hey, I just picked up a great punk album." They'd either kill you with their bare hands or laugh you in to an early grave.
I gotta get me one of those shirts!
I wonder if there ever will be a category called "Barry Fanilow Punk"!? Oh my God I would just die. We should all hold our rosaries and pray Green Day one day does a version of the Copa! Or even those naughty Filthies? Have you seen them? They would all look so cute with maracas and no guitars! jajaja! Shout it! Put it on vinyl and sit with me!
As you can tell... my knowledge of punk music is limited. But I'm enjoying my Green Day cd, The Filthies and Karmahitlist.
For a long time I've really liked (I hate to say it) a Canadian punk band called the Hansons. They're named after the Hanson Brothers in the movie Slapshot and sing some pretty wild punk hockey tunes. I even have compilation cds of canadian punk bands all singing punk songs. Punk has so many forms--today's punk is so different. I'm Sure Kenny, Guppy, Gus and Kelly would tell you all about the early days if you could corner them long enough. Gotta love those dudes, they are in a position to market themselves bigtime and I believe they're going to do it!
Not into Punk music...for those of you out there who know me and love me know that I'm a traditionalist...I stick with country or gospel. Boring? Maybe, but that's me...I identify there. My roots run deep and deeper still the older I get (or should I say the older my kids get?)
oh my I have bad news for you. KHL will not be performoing this Thursday night. They are unofficially on hiatus..sorry. But at least you heard it from a friend and not on the streets. JR
Oh crud, Matilda Kay is gonna freak!
OH! I'm so disappointed I won't get to see Karmahitlist!! JR-- what's the story?
DK, Black Flag, Seven Seconds, Fear... Ahhh... Give me some old skool any day.
Girl, you can have a shirt any day of the week! Here's a VERY short overview of "Punk Rock" the music.
Punk Rock comes in generations, just like Rock. At the present time, Punk rock has pretty broad spectrum. You have all those wonderful punk bands from yesteryear still selling records, while the new style punkrock is forming legion's of new fans and keeping the punkrock heart beating. There's no shortage of people wanting to claim punk as their own so here's an attempt to trace its roots.
First Wave-1967/1975
The Seed
The Sonics
Count 5
and a whole bunch more, but those three were the movers.
Second Wave-1975/1982
The Balls,The Germs,The Zeros
The Nuns,Crime,Dead Kennedys,
The Jam,X, The Avengers,The Sexpistols,The Ramones, Peter and the test tube babies and a ton others.
Third Wave-1982/1988
I'm making this a longer spectrum of time because punk went wacky for a bit, Black Flag, Geeza X and the mommy men, Toy Dolls, Circle Jerks, Social D and you know what? There are so friggin many forget it!
1988/1995
Where do I start? By this time, punk and metal started mixing together and the whole scene turned weird. Punks had lond hair, Hippie pot smoking Motorhead lovers were wearing Monkey boots. 7 seconds started preaching this unity crap about all the scenes getting along and it wasn't o.k. to be up hippie pot smokers anymore. Skins and scooter boys were ousted by all the PC people and then rap came into the main stream. You know what? It would take a week to tell you all about this, so I'll just say this.First generation punkrock sounds nothing like the 3rd or 4th or 5th cause it's always mutating. Punkrock is about not giving a crap about anything, so who cares. Has anyone ever heard of Pennywise? Are they new or something?
Kenny, thanks for the comment and the punk music history, can't wait to get a t-shirt. :) I'm actually amazed I recognized a few of the names you mentioned. I love music in just about any form... and I'm enjoying all the new music I'm experiencing and falling in love with. Keep doing what you're doing with your music! The Filthies rock!