As always a very thoughtful piece. I really like the line "having hardcore in common isn't always enough." After reading that line I was reminded of the awful year that was 2016 when "The Donald" was elected president and to my horror how many people who were "into punk" loved him. What happened to people's youthful idealism? In a related note about the crumbling of idealism I remember reading in 2019 the New York post's (my guilty pleasure) article about Johnny Rotten's rant directed towards the homeless in L.A. well he was promoting of all things the museum of arts and design's exhibition "to fast to live; too young to die" (I can see now why Deafheaven when they covered Mogwai's song "punk rock" cut out the "sample" of Iggy pop from a 1977 cbc interview praising Johnny rotten that appears in the beginning of the mogwai original.) But as the lyrics in the oasis song "Don't look in anger" said, "Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band because they will just through it all away."
"Punk gave me the confidence to believe that I had something valuable to contribute to the world... a family... put a guitar in my hand... took me around the world... put this zine in front of you... practically made my entire life possible."
So well said! In my case, Punk also gave me wonderful, real and heavy conversations that my peers in junior high and high school weren't having.
"To judge our culture based on its failure to make some sort of sweeping gesture to change the face of an entire political system misconstrues our long-term vision, and is arguably missing the point entirely."
Definitely. It feels like kind of a straw argument, and suggests that other kind of change don't matter. It's a community that provided and still provides a place for people who feel left out, who don't fit in, and can make that something to be proud of instead of ashamed. At least, that's what it was for me. And like any community, there are bad actors and "missing steps," and the work of identifying them and holding them accountable is an ongoing process. But that's true in all kinds of spaces.
And yeah, Life's Question were pretty good before but they really seem to have leveled up on this new EP.
As always a very thoughtful piece. I really like the line "having hardcore in common isn't always enough." After reading that line I was reminded of the awful year that was 2016 when "The Donald" was elected president and to my horror how many people who were "into punk" loved him. What happened to people's youthful idealism? In a related note about the crumbling of idealism I remember reading in 2019 the New York post's (my guilty pleasure) article about Johnny Rotten's rant directed towards the homeless in L.A. well he was promoting of all things the museum of arts and design's exhibition "to fast to live; too young to die" (I can see now why Deafheaven when they covered Mogwai's song "punk rock" cut out the "sample" of Iggy pop from a 1977 cbc interview praising Johnny rotten that appears in the beginning of the mogwai original.) But as the lyrics in the oasis song "Don't look in anger" said, "Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band because they will just through it all away."
"Punk gave me the confidence to believe that I had something valuable to contribute to the world... a family... put a guitar in my hand... took me around the world... put this zine in front of you... practically made my entire life possible."
So well said! In my case, Punk also gave me wonderful, real and heavy conversations that my peers in junior high and high school weren't having.
"To judge our culture based on its failure to make some sort of sweeping gesture to change the face of an entire political system misconstrues our long-term vision, and is arguably missing the point entirely."
Definitely. It feels like kind of a straw argument, and suggests that other kind of change don't matter. It's a community that provided and still provides a place for people who feel left out, who don't fit in, and can make that something to be proud of instead of ashamed. At least, that's what it was for me. And like any community, there are bad actors and "missing steps," and the work of identifying them and holding them accountable is an ongoing process. But that's true in all kinds of spaces.
And yeah, Life's Question were pretty good before but they really seem to have leveled up on this new EP.