Punk Rock is Bullshit

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2013-03-06/music/punk-rock-is-bullshit/full/

by duggieawesome • 13 years ago

8 5 13 years ago

meh, punk rock was a counter culture. counter culture always lives on, simply in different forms. the hep-cat, the rockers, the hippies, the punks, grunge, the goths, emo, hipster. Culture moves forward, get old and grow out of it. Punk died long ago, and the new trends went over you head, deal with it.

bottom line of the article is, sounds like the author got old, looked back at those old photos of himself, and thought "boy was I stupid back then" Every generation that grows up does this.

paranormal• 13 years ago

Is there a word to describe this sort of writing style?

> There was no Microsoft money, no Starbucksian gentrification, no post-grunge feelings of cultural inevitability—only the low-tide stench of marine oil and clams and the calcified class system of a small Western city built on lumber, Alaskan gold, and B-17s.

Every single paragraph of this opinion piece is built on a slightly more general version of this particular device: using particular weighty symbols or instances of a concept in action to refer to the concept (kind of like a metonym). The author's point here is that "Back before Seattle became what it is today, it was a small, boring industrial town." But the way he said it certainly has more punch and says more than my version, right?

I just get the feeling that the piece is so awash in this technique that it comes off as overwrought and preachy.

In any case, I'd like to be able to put a name to this style; it'd certainly help me in my own writing (having words for things helps me understand them: their benefits, their dangers).

mjn• 13 years ago

This piece makes more sense when I look the guy up and figure out what musical culture/aesthetic/ethos he does like. He's the frontman of this band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTxMldqvTHY

In light of that, his distaste for the culture/aesthetic/ethos of punk rock is unsurprising...

duggieawesome• 13 years ago

Haha. Good catch, gotta pivot somehow.

onebot• 13 years ago

Sadly, just seems like the author was never really even punk rock to begin with.

Punk Rock is Bullshit

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