3.20.2008

punk mass

[originally posted on myspace on Wednesday, March 19, 2008]

Please, please, please: a moratorium on citing "punk rock music" as an influence (I guess this is how the goth kids will feel in a couple years).

Thirty plus years ago, who would have thought that a dirty little teenage rebellion would produce so much crap.

The Pussycat Dolls (herein referred to as PCD) launched a new lingerie line called the Pussycat Dolls’ ’...shhh.’ Robin Antin (who created the PCD, kind of in the same way the Village People were created and yes, she’s Jonathan’s sister) said of the line: "The lingerie line was inspired by punk-rock music and old-fashioned pinup girls."

I think she means it was inspired by the punk rock clothing culture, not the actual music…because, really, what does PCD have to do with music?

How does a genre originally started as an anti-establishment statement, that was born out of trash culture and a return to pure, unadulterated rock and roll spawn lingerie produced by a pretend musical group that is signed to a major label and has reality tv shows linked to it? Shows hosted by poor ol’ Mark McGrath (yeah, remember when Sugar Ray was punk?). Lingerie that was surely sewn overseas in a sweatshop, that will be marketed to higher end retail and overpriced, until it doesn’t sell and ends up in a clearance bin in a Walmart near you.

My point is this: the word punk has lost all meaning.

If you must, fine, tell me your band is punk/influenced by punk rock (though, most likely, it is not). Music influencing music, okay.

Punk is to reject the mainstream. You cannot use it to sell your lingerie, clothing, hair care products, automobiles, hotel chains, cell phones or your Avril Lavigne.

However, feel free to cite "pop punk" as an influence.

[see also: http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/03/14/afx4774780.html]

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