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Description
These days I mostly listen to Guided By Voices. GbV is an indie rock band that takes influences from the British Invasion of the 1960's and a bunch of other pop-rock besides. Robert Pollard, the frontman and chief songwriter, is one of the most prolific artists of the past 30 years. He's penned and performed hundreds upon hundreds of songs (with help from Tobin Sprout and the revolving door of band members), and while they're hit-and-miss, the hits come far more often. Usually you don't even realize it, and a song you dismissed as filler on the first listen burrows into your brain and remains there for weeks. But it's not punk rock, is it?

I also listen to a lot of Aesop Rock. Aesop's first release came in 1997, but he didn't really break into (or out of?) the underground hip-hop scene until 2001's Labor Days, an album that deals with the plight of "we the American working population." His lyrics are a deep and meaningful tapestry of words that you sometimes have to listen to five times through before you understand. Sometimes you don't understand; there's a hidden reference or a note about his personal life that doesn't come to light until later. You could even accuse him of just saying pretty words in any order that sounds good. Ace grew up on the streets of New York City and definitely has the attitude, but rap can't possibly be punk, right?

Punk rock probably isn't even ten percent of my music library anymore. Between Bad Religion, The Ramones, The Steinways, The Ergs, For Science, and anything else that might fall under the traditional "punk rock" label, there's everything from electronic dance music to crooning country singers. I've certainly branched out into a diverse array of music, but does that mean I've lost the "punk" edge I had seven years ago when I wrote about what I thought it meant?

Fuck no. My edge has been refined and sharpened, ready to make precise cuts where need be. And right now I'm looking back at my idiot teenage self and taking the blade to my old writing.

I was wrong.

I was a stupid kid posturing and trying to be cool. "Fuck MTV, fuck the establishment, fuck The Man, man!" The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, nobody was going to call me out and go "no way, that's not punk rock!" (Unless they knew, as I now do, that The Sex Pistols were a completely manufactured act.) There's something to be said for trying to remain true to what you see as the roots of a genre, but limiting myself to a handful of "true" punk bands was idiotic at best. Espousing those beliefs to others was even worse, and I feel a burning embarrassment when I read my old words.

Luckily, I have new words. If you really want to know what punk is, here's the big secret:
Punk is whatever the fuck you want it to be. If you want to call Good Charlotte, Greenday, Fallout Boy, or Simple Plan a punk band, go ahead. Don't let anyone stop you, especially some dumbass kid on the internet who thinks he's got it all figured out. If you love the music and it makes you feel something, call it anything you want.

Genres, of course, exist. But as for "punk rock" the philosophy, it's about doing your own thing. Doing your own thing doesn't mean you're not allowed to sign with a big record label or make a music video. Just do whatever you want and fuck anyone who has a problem with it. Aesop Rock is punk as fuck. Robert Pollard cemented his place as a personal hero of mine with the words "fuck a bunch of church, fuck a bunch of school, and fuck a bunch of work" at the only GbV show I've ever been to, before throwing his half-empty bottle of Jack into the crowd so we could all share a shot with a legend. Go ahead and try to tell me that's not one of the most punk things you've ever heard. From a 55 year old man who writes pop-rock, no less.

As long as there are people who continue to unashamedly pursue what they love, no matter what anyone else says, punk is alive and well.

But I'm sure in a few more years my opinions will have completely changed again.

Description
These days I mostly listen to Guided By Voices. GbV is an indie rock band that takes influences from the British Invasion of the 1960's and a bunch of other pop-rock besides. Robert Pollard, the frontman and chief songwriter, is one of the most prolific artists of the past 30 years. He's penned and performed hundreds upon hundreds of songs (with help from Tobin Sprout and the revolving door of band members), and while they're hit-and-miss, the hits come far more often. Usually you don't even realize it, and a song you dismissed as filler on the first listen burrows into your brain and remains there for weeks. But it's not punk rock, is it?

I also listen to a lot of Aesop Rock. Aesop's first release came in 1997, but he didn't really break into (or out of?) the underground hip-hop scene until 2001's Labor Days, an album that deals with the plight of "we the American working population." His lyrics are a deep and meaningful tapestry of words that you sometimes have to listen to five times through before you understand. Sometimes you don't understand; there's a hidden reference or a note about his personal life that doesn't come to light until later. You could even accuse him of just saying pretty words in any order that sounds good. Ace grew up on the streets of New York City and definitely has the attitude, but rap can't possibly be punk, right?

Punk rock probably isn't even ten percent of my music library anymore. Between Bad Religion, The Ramones, The Steinways, The Ergs, For Science, and anything else that might fall under the traditional "punk rock" label, there's everything from electronic dance music to crooning country singers. I've certainly branched out into a diverse array of music, but does that mean I've lost the "punk" edge I had seven years ago when I wrote about what I thought it meant?

Fuck no. My edge has been refined and sharpened, ready to make precise cuts where need be. And right now I'm looking back at my idiot teenage self and taking the blade to my old writing.

I was wrong.

I was a stupid kid posturing and trying to be cool. "Fuck MTV, fuck the establishment, fuck The Man, man!" The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, nobody was going to call me out and go "no way, that's not punk rock!" (Unless they knew, as I now do, that The Sex Pistols were a completely manufactured act.) There's something to be said for trying to remain true to what you see as the roots of a genre, but limiting myself to a handful of "true" punk bands was idiotic at best. Espousing those beliefs to others was even worse, and I feel a burning embarrassment when I read my old words.

Luckily, I have new words. If you really want to know what punk is, here's the big secret:
Punk is whatever the fuck you want it to be. If you want to call Good Charlotte, Greenday, Fallout Boy, or Simple Plan a punk band, go ahead. Don't let anyone stop you, especially some dumbass kid on the internet who thinks he's got it all figured out. If you love the music and it makes you feel something, call it anything you want.

Genres, of course, exist. But as for "punk rock" the philosophy, it's about doing your own thing. Doing your own thing doesn't mean you're not allowed to sign with a big record label or make a music video. Just do whatever you want and fuck anyone who has a problem with it. Aesop Rock is punk as fuck. Robert Pollard cemented his place as a personal hero of mine with the words "fuck a bunch of church, fuck a bunch of school, and fuck a bunch of work" at the only GbV show I've ever been to, before throwing his half-empty bottle of Jack into the crowd so we could all share a shot with a legend. Go ahead and try to tell me that's not one of the most punk things you've ever heard. From a 55 year old man who writes pop-rock, no less.

As long as there are people who continue to unashamedly pursue what they love, no matter what anyone else says, punk is alive and well.

But I'm sure in a few more years my opinions will have completely changed again.