Dr. Frank's What's-it

Dr. Frank,

Is lookout going to make a vinyl version of Yesterday Rules? I'm curious, because I want one.

p.s. The idea of "punk" voting is weird. Who vote along those lines?

What can at least be said for both of those things is that they both push an angle, as opposed to the "rock the vote" stuff, where it's all about encouraging people to just have opinions, and most importantly, to act on them...however they're formed and whatever they might be, i.e. "C'mon kids, take a stand for...something! Just be sure to take a stand. Go action!"

Since when are budget deficits such a hot-button issue for left-wing punks? Talk about an ad hoc platform.

hey, i'm okay with punkvoter not having any sort of real platform other than to get george w out of the white house. that's a big enough goal for the moment, isn't it?

give punkvoter four years and, hopefully, they will have some sort of strategy in place and be taken more seriously.

i like the basic premise of getting the apathetic off their punk asses (ha!..punk asses...er..sorry).

Circa 1978-79 when I got into it, punk rock had a left wing edge to it -- the Clash for example. But the local Boston bands were unideological or even had a conservative vibe, some of them. Of course, there was always that edge to the Ramones. Short hair in itself was a statement in those days. It was a statement against the leftover debris of the '60s, it was anti-hippie, as Johnny Ramone put it.

I was always a conservative, of an anarchic sort, and I always thought the music and the scene generally were about freedom and independence and initiative and energy and youth and excitement and exuberance and self-expression. I do not associate any of those things with socialism or with what is now known as "liberal" or "progressive" politics. Nor did I find any of those things incompatible with conservative views on politics, war, economics or anything else.

It was later on, into the '80s, that hardcore took over the punk scene and became doctrinaire leftist, anti-Reagan, etc. But I thought the music had decayed so much by then it didn't matter.

i still cringe at johnny ramone's hall of fame induction thank you when he said "god bless the yankees and god bless george bush"

*I* still cringe at Eddie Vedder's mohawked, wine-drunk, ramblin' Ramones hall of fame induction speech. It was like he wanted to kiss them, and nobody understood.

uh..yeah that,too, geoff.

I hadda say it. "Never pass up an opportunity to quote somebody's lyrics in an obsequious and roundabout way," that's my motto.

Apologies all around.

wankers......

I'd just like to say that you're so lame.

The whole concept of liberal versus conservative is stupid to begin with. I think the fact that they call themselves "conservative" comes with so much ridiculous baggage that it becomes a joke. As much as I like all the bands that support punkvoter, and feel it is a good cause (overall)... Things such as Eric Melvin's columns are pretty damn silly.

*It was like he wanted to kiss them, and nobody understood* heh heh heh...

I'm with Lex-- it's hard to say what was worse: the doctrinaire left cartoon politics of 80s hardcore, or the music itself. This situation continues, in slightly different form, I suppose.

At the time, it almost seemed a bit like cause and effect. That is: songs about girls tended to be good, with hooks and so forth, while songs about Reagan tended to be hook-deprived, too fast, structureless, unrelatable, insincere; Reagan rock tried to strip the roll from rock and roll; therefore, after the decision was made to require all the bands to change their girl songs into Reagan songs, the music gradually degenerated, too.

I remember arriving at Berkeley in the 80s and being pretty surprised that all the punks sounded like hippies.

Anyway, the idea of a "punk voting bloc" is pretty silly, but it's fun to imagine how the major candidates might go about trying to pander to it. Maybe George W. Bush could propose one of his signature budgetary feel-good micro-initiatives: government subsidized shows, no show above $5, and you get a free lapel pin. The No Punk Left Behind Act.

Ted, as for a vinyl Yesterday Rules, there's a lot of disappointment about it all around, but Lookout isn't doing vinyl for this release. Unless sales go through the roof and an argument could be made that a small vanity pressing wouldn't sink the ship, I wouldn't expect that position to change.

Eh, I don't buy it. The uber-lefty stuff really constellates in the '80s "reagan rock," but I think that was probably always one thread of the punk music. "Feeding of the 5000" comes out in 78?

...

Speaking of "reagan rock," is anyone else amused by the fact that Brendan Frasier/Steve Buscemi's band in "Air Heads" plays Reagan Youth's "Degenerated" as like *their song*? I find that hilarious.

Spacetoast, you're right that "it" was always a thread (back as least as far as the MC5, I suppose). I don't think I said otherwise. Rigid, cookie cutter left politics did really take over in the 80s though.

Anyway, as for the notion that songs about girls tend to make for more appealing rock and roll than songs about doctrinaire leftism: there are certainly exceptions, but I don't think Crass is a good counter-example.

No, no, Crass wasn't supposed to be an example of rockin' doctrinaire leftism, just supposed to be evidence that the other stuff wasn't like a radical departure from *cough* the original meaning of punk or whatever (I know no one said that exactly...), I just picked Crass as, whatever else, and indisputably "punk" thing, vs. MC5, Gang of Four, etc. I completely agree about the "takeover." At least, that's the history my record collection reflects.

Frank,

Re: Bush's budgetary feel-good micro initiatives...

When I was a cavasser for SANE/Freeze from 93-96, we usually asked a question of the assembled staff before our daily briefing (the question was a standard introduction mechanism because we often had new staffers coming in). One day the question was, "When we slash the military budget, what should the government spend the money on?"

My friend Luke answered, "Government subsidized GWAR shows!"