i was watching some videos on youtube about sid vicious & sex pistols.
they are thought to be punk idols, they personalise the punk attitude.
however i think, are they still punk? i mean all punk bands who have signed to major label companies & earn a really good sum of money must not be concidered as punks.
they have nothing to complain for anymore! all they have kept is the "brat" behaviour & the drugs.
isnt that hypocricy?

This is insanely weird because me and my Mom were talking about the dream she had in which she captured (what she thought in the dream) the most famous line in rock history ever spoken, by camera. (It was Johnny Rotten screaming, "Everybody in the pool!!" )

But, yeah, I believe you're right.
I think people considered "punks" should stay out of the mainstream music industry and keep true to their title.

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"If it's planned, it's boring." - Freddie Mercury

I think in the movie Punk Attitude someone mentions that one of the things about punk bands in the beginning was that most people could not really play their instruments. However, after years of performing and touring, they actually become better musicians, and their music changes. I mean just about every punk band other than the Ramones has had some sort of change their music or musical style over the years.

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

bowlf, I think the Punk Attitude quote was by Chrissie Hynde. (What an awesome movie, too, btw)

I'm wondering if "punk" has been around long enough now that it can be defined by certain characteristics of the music itself rather than the lifestyles of the performers - e.g. based around three major chords, relies on fast 16th note rhythms played with mostly downstrokes, rough style vocals, etc.? This is true for other styles like "Blues", "Jazz", "Metal", "Pop", so why not punk?

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2008 MIM Strat w 3-tone sunburst
2002 LP Special Ebony Faded
2008 G-Dec
'59 Reissue Bassman 4x10 combo
TS 808
DS 1
Gretsch 6120DS (on loan)

Yeah, I'd say that's about right. "Punk" is certainly a recognizable musical genre like "Surf," "Metal," or "Power Pop."

I'd say, for example, that Green Day plays in a Punk style. But I wouldn't call the band members themselves punks -- how many punks would you say are millionaires and play their songs on the Tonight Show?

Yes, exactly! Just as you can play Surf without being a surfer, you can play Punk without being a punk.

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2008 MIM Strat w 3-tone sunburst
2002 LP Special Ebony Faded
2008 G-Dec
'59 Reissue Bassman 4x10 combo
TS 808
DS 1
Gretsch 6120DS (on loan)

To me punk is all about the attitude and mindset, but thanks to places like Hot Topic, many people think that in order to be punk you have to look a certain way. Thats not being punk, thats being a victim of fashion...

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

bowlfreshener said:


Even the Ramones tried to switch it up. They did covers of "Needles and Pins" and "Time Has Come Today". And there's slow stuff on "End of the Century"...

I don't think Punks can stay Punks forever... even they have to eat...

My daughter likes to shop at Hot Topics, but the last time she was in there she said they had a lot of Tees that had Rap Stars on them...

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"...The final truth is, there is no truth..." - (from "Nice n' Neat" by the Boomtown Rats)

frank , it does seem a bit hypocritical , the ramones were the last punks .

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I have only liked 2 punk bands ever and no I do not consider the Clash a punk band.The Ramones were a really fun band to listen to when I was a teenager and they embelished what punk was all about to me.Fast two minuete songs, the leather jackets and that N.Y ATITTUDE. Blitzkrieg Bop,I Wanna be Sedated,The KKK Took My Baby = 3 chords and a lot of fun.The bummer is they never made no money and that is a shame.On a more intense note I really like Greenday from the moment I heard the bass line of Long View I just dug them and Billy Joe is a fine writer in my book.Now I remember a lot of there die hard fans calling them sellouts when they sighned with a major label.Lets see millions of dollars great studios and producers to work with,your music getting major airplay or lets stay poor.Cmon give me a break who in that position is going to pass that up ridicules thats like when they say you have to have a miserable life or you cant really play the blues.Well those are the only 2 punk bands that I ever cared about.The sex pistols made one of the worst albums I ever heard in my life had zero talent,even in the 3 chord world,and till this day I never understood the fuss.

The way I figure it, many a band started out doing what they did ONLY for their love of their style of music which allowed them to truly express themselves. It could be in an anarchist vein, fantasy vein or whatever. If the band got popular, they happily accepted the big money. Whatever avant-garde personna they projected, now became a necessity for the fan base or to put it more succinctly, for the band or artist's continued financial windfall. Naturally, anyone making WAY too much money by 'mortal' standards for doing what they love, especially when they know they'd never make anywhere near that kind of money for the rest of their entire lives is not going to quietly slip into oblivion if they can help it. So, survival in the business is now the main priority over whatever they did or didn't personally believe in. Clapton and Fleetwood Mac are perfect examples out of many thousands for this. Even Chrissie Hynde sounds rather 'poppish' these days, don't you think? So, if an artist or a band's stylings aren't enduring and they try reinvent themselves, am I calling them, "sellouts"? Not only is the answer a resounding, "yes", but if I were in their situation, I'd be doing the same thing in a heart beat! YMMV.

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You dig?

I dont think you can classify punk as a type of music because that particular style has encompassed so many styles of music over the years. It pretty much led to the invention of thrash. Ska, techno, industrial, pop even blues (kind of) have all been inaugurated into it over the years too.

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No no and no

The Clsah were more punk then Green day will ever be. I put green day in the same catergory as good Charlotte, Sum 41 and simple plan and that is watered down punk so the little kiddies will buy it. And I'm not talking teens but I talking preteens. to me green day, SP and sum are no different then the Jonas brothers so they are not worth listening to.

While you are listening to that watered down garbage I'll take the Clash anyday.

Well Drunkinminer for you to put Greenday in with those other bands I guess you never really listened to there music outside of a few songs. Greenday have improved with just about every album they have made and have some good social statements in there music. Now I am a fan of the Clash so I am not going to say something ridicules but maybe you should listen a little closer to Greenday.

this thread seems 10 years old now, i forgot about rancid circa '94-'96 always thought they were british and they're from cali, how did they imitate those accents on ...and out come the wolves? punk record if there ever was one.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.