2005-03-13 - 11:05 a.m. I like this artist, but reading his web diary where he gets all teary-eyed about punk rock gets my hackles up just a fraction of an inch. This is probably the hundredth time I've heard this kind of reflection, "Hey, man, punk means doin' your own thing, so if that means playing an acoustic guitar in a skirt and weeping into the mike, that's punk rock, man, and that's what punk rock taught me..." I'm sorry, but a) is that really true? and b) is it punk rock that taught you that? Maybe life taught you that, maybe your own inner guidance led you there, maybe your parents showed you by example or by negative example that you should follow your own muse, but sometimes I think people give this "punk rock" phantom a little too much credit. It's not clear why this bugs me...I guess I don't like when people romanticize these things. I'm sure for every person "doin' their own thing" cuz o' punk, there's another person who got beat up by the punks in their neighborhood for not wearing the right pair of boots. To me, punk was never about individuality but about fighting the powers that be, en masse (good). Hence the uniforms, the slogans, the monolithism, etc (mebbe not so good). Spent a good portion of the day yesterday coloring mandalas. (Because I am so punk rock!) It knocked something loose in my brain whereby I could clearly see how a new song was supposed to go. So for you writin' types, I heartily endorse this. thoughts? (11 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact