Punk's Not Dead...

You're right. That wasn't pertinent. The majority of writers of modern time rock and pop music does not know how to write or read music. I would be very surprised if Jagger/Richards know how to. Or Bob Marley. Or Linkin Park. I think I've heard that Benny Andersson of Abba who has written at least 10 number one UK hit singles and a couple of successful musicals does not know how to write one note down on paper.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

Kong's point wasn't meant to focus on the fact that they couldn't read or write music so much as to just give a little antidote.

Kong does have to take issue with this sentence, "The majority of writers of modern time rock and pop music does not know how to write or read music." A huge swath of pop and rock songs that make it through to discs distributed by the "big 5" (most of the stuff you'd hear on the radio) aren't even written by the performers, but by professional song writers who happen to know a great deal about music. (Kong has met, and been taught by a few.) As far as bands/groups that perform and write their material goes, there is a large percentage who can't read or write on standard stave style music, but most guitarists and bassists and the like seem to be able to read tablature for their instruments (in Kong's experience at least), however, this is far less true of drummers.

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You're right, the professional songwriters probably know how to write and read music the lot of them. But, as you seem to have understood as well, I was thinking mainly of those who perform their own music.

Tabulature to me is just a written way of pointing at the bars where to put your fingers. To me that's not really "reading" music. [edit]I just realized how stupid this sounded since that's what all written music do. But tabulature is a very simplified way of showing you where to put your fingers. It is great though since it allows those who never learned how to read music to learn new songs.

I actually do know how to read music (I'm pretty crappy at it though) but I have forgotten how to write it. But I am pretty unique in the crowd of musicians around here, I have to say.

Well, they could practice. I hear bands do that. And they were together for a few years--that's enough time to improve, hey?

If that image is controversial enough, it can. But I see your point, Piddzy.

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You were a demon and a lawyer? Wow. Insert joke here."

"Punk's not dead... it's ALWAYS smelled that!"

Ray

What does it really matter if you're punk, hip-hop, country, pop, etc. I mean does the music that you listen to really define who you are, I mean it is just music. I listen to a lot of punk music, but I also listen to rock, ska, reggae, classics like Sinatra, and a little bit of rap. It just seems to me that elitists of any kind are excluding themelves of some truly great music that is out there.

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Had to revive this thread...I picked up a Dead Kennedy's live album which was recently patched up and released called "Mutiny on the Bay" today. Ain't half bad actually. I was longing for a DKs live album for oh so many years, and I couldn't find any bootlegs...God bless the local library.

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Sounds pretty sweet--I've never even heard of that one. You got it from a library?

Jello came to speak here in C'dale earlier this year, which was just a badass experience. He had some great things to say about the Iraq issue, and spoke for damn near four hours. And, of course, he went off on the lawsuits. What a sh*tty deal.

And on a related note: RIP Wesley Willis. We'll miss that crazy bastard and his Casio keyboard.

"Cut that nappy wheatsack off yo' head.
Tell the barber you are tired of lookin' like an *******."

Yes ma'am, our liberal European libraries stock punk and hardcore aplenty. I got a lot of material from the library from the genre...and I just reserved myself a copy of Black Flag's Damaged.

Anyhow, here's the track list for your pleasure :

Police Truck, Kill the Poor, Holiday in Cambodia, Moon Over Marin, California Über Alles, MTV - Get off the Air, Too Drunk to ****, Goons of Hazzard, This Could be Anywhere, Forward to Death, I am the Owl, Hellnation, Riot.

"This thread's not dead, it just deserves to die."

Not.

Anyway: I just bought the new Dropkick Murphys CD, blackout. And it does rock the soul. It also comes with a free DVD--yes, of poor quality, but, hey, free--with two live songs and a video... and a preview of the Murphys's new DVD, coming out in 2004.

I cannot wait. I'd about kill to see them live in Boston--anywhere else just wouldn't be the same.

I got the copy of the disc (note that "copy"). It is awesome yes, but I still feel that Sing Loud, Sing Proud is better. Just subtle touches.

Yeah, He was a real.....nut. I actually saw him once in boston. Funniest show I've ever been to.

"You want my Motherf*ckin' Capn' Crunch!"

As for the punk thing, I'll admit I don't listen to punk, or whatever it's become now as much as I used to. I'm sick of all the generic sneering voices and three chord songs.

Curent listening (Punk wise):

Yeah Yeah Yeah's
The Star Spangles


These bands are like what punk used to be, back when it was good! They of course won't be on the Warped tour next year.

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Eff warped tour.

Hey, if it weren't for the Warped Tour, I'd probably never have seen a few of my favorite bands play live. O' course, I only went once. And, Christ, that was a looooong time ago.

I know this an old thread but i came across this awhile back(not sure who wrote it but its good!) -

With the raging success of the neo-punk pop styling bands like The Offspring and SR-71 it seems the punk music isn't dead, no unfortunately its just become pop music. The once brash uncut and sometimes offensive lyrical sound and unrefined guitar power of the early punk era brought to us by bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Police (yes they were punk too) seems to be long forgotten in today's trendy pop culture centered music scene. The time of the punk band seems to have bitten the dust. Today few punk bands manage to secure record deals, and even fewer manage to be more than a local band. Although a few bands have risen up like AFI(witch have been around since 95), Rancid, and Anti-Flag these seem to be the exception and not the rule. Today's punk scene lacks the definition, which it had in the 70s and 80s. There no longer is a diversity among the punk sound. Instead, almost all of today's bands come out with the neo-punk pop style of music, and those who don't are fading into the shadows almost as fast as the raging guitar licks. What most people call punk nowadays is often pop. Ask someone on the street to name a punk band and they'll say Blink-182 or another one of the current pop vogue bands. It disturbs me greatly to see such a great style and era of music finally come to its end, although its been dying since the early 90s. I can now say for sure that punk as we once knew it is dead. Replaced by the pop culture's need for that happy-go-lucky sound that is provided in today's music scene, and with the record labels looking only to fill their wallets, it seems that even fewer true punk bands will emerge in the future, simply because there is no longer money in rebellion. Punk fans can only hope that a second punk revolution will come around, but unfortunately like Disco this doesn't seem likely.

My favorite Murphy's album will always be The Gang's All Here. This band just flat out rocks.