punk gave me something to hold on to when i was getting out of high school. i was a bit of an extremist and i hated that the world seemed to be more of a popularity contest than a pursuit of a better society. i hated fashion and how it seemed that without expensive clothes you were nothing - so i went the other way and said fuck you i'll shop at dimestores. my friend lent me DK's plastic surgery disasters and i freaked out on it. the angry mocking violence fit right in with me - i was ready to do ( and did) some serious damage to the world around me because it seemed so wrong headed i thought we should just destroy it all and start over again. To me being punk was about having a strong character. speaking the truth, defending the weak, battling the corrupt. being honest to myself and anyone else i talked to. coming straight from the heart with what you felt. still is i guess. but the years go by and this thing called tv is watching whats happening too. Parrallel to me and punk is me and snowboarding. I got in back before the shapes changed and its still the only thing i'm any good at. so tv. tv feeds on peoples desire. one universal desire in our (western) world is to be in on something new. snowboarding and punk rock are new , so tv picks them up to sell shit with. problem is tv doesnt know or care what these things are really about, so they churn out these moronic charicature images, and start selling them as the real deal. some people start buying them as the truth. soon you've got people who dont know any different, holding up the prefab ideas they got from tv (mainly advertizing) and calling themselves hardcore. This to me is how tv dilutes movements. be it punk or snowboarding, i think the same thing happened to both. now the other day, i see this band on tv (and goddamn i wish i knew their name) in a video. black haired singer with PUNK written across her chest and a pink chiffon skirt. musicians are all mohawked and spike belts (males) - so i turn up the sound and theyre playing this INSIPID love song - pure top 40 bullshit. whaddya do? sold a charicature of something real, they bought it full price, wear it with pride, but really dont know what the fuck it means. or their money grubbing whores who're going straight to hell. anyway, i love punk. DK, agnostic front, nofx, good riddance, less than jake, guy smiley, offspring, pennywise, uk subs, rancid, blah blah blah and DOA's playing in my town tonight..
