Help Me I Hate: Punk Music

Well this one has been a long time coming. It's finally time for me to lay my Punk credentials on the line and try and sell the genre to those who're mostly not interested. To understand Punk, one needs to know a little about where it came from; the downtrodden working class youth of the West who saw no future outside of the shitty jobs their fathers were working. Basically, Punk is to white people what Rap is to black people. Well, sort of, anyway. When Punk started, the prevailing music style was Glam Rock, overproduced, ridiculous and mostly pretty awful (Slade is worth checking out though). In a reaction to this, Punk returned to rock roots for its riffs and the lyrics focused on social injustices and the inanity of pop culture.

So first off, Punk music should sound like this: 

(In my opinion one of the best songs of all time.) 

Punk music should not sound like this: 

(What the hell are they getting at? Is the song Anti-Bush, Anti-Media or Anti-America?) 

Once again, however, it's no challange for me to throw down some Ramones and Clash and tell you that they're good. Just like the pop music, I'll pick 3 songs from the past 5 years and we'll see how we go. 

The Bright Lights of America - Anti-Flag (2008)

American West-Coast hard-left Punk outfit Anit-Flag have a long and proud history of anti-government activity, having toured with Rage Against the Machine and organised more than a few protests. I may not always agree with the band's politics, but I love their music. This song about the disaffection of suburban American youth speaks perfectly to the origins of Punk whilst sounding thoroughly contemporary. Although this song is a little more pop style than Anti-Flag's usual fare, it still maintains the core tenants of Punk Rock, Short, Fast and Loud. 

Xmas Has Been X'ed - NOFX (2012) 

Want to bring down society? Fuck with Xmas. NOFX has a great history of combining humor with social issues and this little number is a good continuation of that. If this doesn't do it for you, listen back to it a few times, lines like "priests and nuns are molesting each other" are far more clever than the chorus would let you think. Even the opening lines about metaphor and mythohistory a brilliant if you take the time to think about them. That's the problem with Punk music, it asks you to think. No music for the feint of heart this, you have to use your brain you lazy bastard. 

Matter of Opinion - Pour Habit (2011) 

Yes, I'm going to keep pimping Pour Habit until they're bigger than Jesus; they're certainly more relevant and sound better. This rocking number tackles racial tension and government policy but at its core, is about the simple notion that The Truth is not a matter of opinion. I don't know what more I can say about this band, so I'll let Matter of Opinion stand on its own merits. 

Now get out there and get you're Punk on!

Hat Guy - I live by the River.