Long Live Punk

Whenever I think of rebellion for some reason the American Revolution just pops into my head. I bet it’s because that’s what was always drilled into my head as a child was that rebellions were just fights between people with guns. While this is true, a rebellion is actually just “the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention” (Kittrie). For those days you are just really feeling like a badass you can refuse to take out the trash just because someone told you, so hardcore, and that simple act would be rebelling. Yes, that act of rebellion is pretty pointless and makes you seem kind of lazy (we are all a little lazy) there are other acts of rebellion that aren’t just a fight that have real merit, things like punk rock music. Punk rock music is based on the idea of fucking the system and doing whatever you think is right. Sometimes those things can be doing something stuff like naming your album Dookie (STILL stuck on that). Or we can even talk about My Chemical Romance’s entire album about vampires, but I will spare you that because not even I want to listen to that. Punk rock music as a genre does what it wants. If it wants to slam the government, it will no questions asked. When a genre that is popular with youth is so uniquely themselves it has the ability to form and shape the young. The genre instills ideas through out about politics, thinking for yourself, and being who you are. It is way more than a whole bunch of idiot kids screwing around in a garage, it’s people who are brave enough to say what everyone else is thinking while also encouraging people to change what they don’t like or as Gandhi would say “be the change you want to see in the world”.

Children are impressionable. They tend to look up to people that they idolize and then begin to agree with their statements. This is because during teenager years’ kids are trying to individualize themselves from their parents. But they still need someone to look to for guidance and this is when children turn to celebrities (Ravitz). This is why punk rock helps shape youth. Everyone had a punk rock phase, I really think that is a fact. We all tried it, there are those embarrassing pictures that seem to keep popping up. While it wasn’t the best time for your looks, this time frame helped generated ideas about politics and thinking for yourself. But then also in the typical Fall Out Boy kind of songs about romance it tells youth that you are enough, and that it is okay to be who you are.

Punk bands have been lashing out about politics since the genre was even created. I mean are you even punk if you don’t have something to say about the government? But man. I love it when I listen to a punk band just calls out HUGE flaws in the government.  It points out things that some people are just blind too or are just too apathetic to pay attention too. Or people agree and are just to scared to voice their opinion on something so controversial. OR people completely don’t agree and hate the ideas. OR you are just a kid singing along. The first options challenge the way that you think and why you believe what you believe. The songs offer another viewpoint that you may have never thought of before. But the last one about just humming along to a song still influences thinking. While as a child, you may not really understand what the lyrics mean you are at least being exposed too it. An example of a song that makes people think is NOFX’s “The Decline”. Here are just a few lines from the 16-minute song, “America's for sale And you can get a good deal on it And make a healthy profit Or maybe, tear it apart”. You also have this kind of material released from Green Day, Rise Against etc. All bands that have went platinum and are huge with teenagers. Teenagers may not be paying attention to the lyrics but the fact that they are still being exposed to these ideas is huge. I used to listen to “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” all the time and I had no clue it was a political statement. Eventually though when listening the meaning will hit a teenager and it will again make them think.

While punk rock may not be the most musically talented genre it does make you feel something. The lyrics and music paired together evoke things in the listener. Being challenged the way that punk music challenges your ideas makes you think. When someone is yelling at you talking about how lazy America is it makes you wonder if you are one of those lazy people. It makes you want to change. Not many things can make people feel something to the point that they want to actually do something about it. But punk music does this. It inspires youth especially, who are young enough to still believe that they can the world. That is why it should be valued. That is why I will always say long live the punks. While they may be spikey haired, vans wearing, little brats they make good points that make you question what you believe in.

Now not every punk song is talking about politics, I know that. But even the punk songs about heartbreak and pity relationship fights should be valued. I can say that most of my generation grew up listening to listening to more of this cookie cutter punk. But even this cookie cutter punk STILL teaches youth something. When you grow up jamming to music that tells you to screw people and that you should just be who you are (even if the boy/girl doesn’t like you) made an impact on the people we grew into. As kids we are all so impressionable and will believe anything that anyone tells us, especially music stars. Punk rock made the impression to be yourself and to think independently. I can say that from growing up in this generation I think that media I was exposed to (which was heavily filtered with this cookie cutter punk) probably fostered my beliefs about relationships which basically just consist of “oh you don’t like me? You can go ahead and fuck off”. Punk rock tells you to be yourself sending out positive messages into the world instead of making people feel like they aren’t enough.

Also the type of people that are in punk bands support the idea of being yourself.  The lead singer’s name is “Fat Mike”, no I’m not kidding. Someone actually lets people call him fat and is totally cool with it. If that doesn’t go against everything that the media teaches you then I don’t know what does. Now just look at their appearance. You have spikey hair in some crazy color, or any color that your mom would disapprove of. It’s different to have hair like that. It definitely draws attention to yourself. But as you can see time and time again they don’t give a fuck about what anyone else thinks. “Fat Mike” has even said it so many interviews that they are always just going to be true to themselves (Slater). It’s a message that we can all take something away from.   

So academics can sit on their high horse and say “punk rock is just a bunch of teenage idiots” but they are wrong. Punk rock is so much more than that. I have been trying to get at that idea all semester through all my feature posts but here you see the logic behind my reasoning. Punk rock music vocalizes the everyday simple opinion of the corruption that is in everyday life. They make huge problems more relatable to people and challenge them to start thinking for themselves, thinking about the world that they live in and what they want to do with it. They carry ideas similar to Gandhi but just expressed through music, kind of buried with a little bit of yelling and a lot of guitar, but still there. Everything about the genre is rebelling against the normal just being themselves; “The Decline” is a perfect example of punk rock at it’s finest making a statement and being worthwhile. It’s rebellion at it’s most simple definition: “the act or process of resisting authority” (Kittrie). They are defying the system and the corruption that is all around the world. They are helping shape the youth in a positive way. Punk rockers are telling kids to think for themselves and that they are enough. It may seem like a small act of rebellion but when you add up all of the people that this genre has inspired it adds up. It creates a movement, a positive one. Underneath all of the thrown together music stands the ideas that would make a better society. That’s what punk rock music is. So like I said LONG LIVE PUNK.

Kittrie, Nicholas N, and Eldon D. Wedlock. The Tree of Liberty: A Documentary History of

            Rebellion and Political Crime in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University                                   Press,1986. Print
Ravitz, Alan. "Why Teenagers Obsess Over Pop Stars." Child Mind Institute, n.d. Web. 09                                Dec. 2015.

Slater, Jenessa. “Sound Advice ft. NOFX”. Online Video Clip. YouTube. YouTube, 2 July 2014.

Web. 19 November 2015.

REVISED: Walking in the Black Parade

Where do I even begin writing this? It’s so hard to not make a joke about how I’m covering My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. When I think of them I have terrible, terrible flashbacks to those girls in middle school that painted their nails back, wore band t shirts, and had those god awful bangs. I get chills just thinking about that now, ah god bless us all during that time period. But when I get past that I think about a deep sense of depression. Their albums are so dark and twisty. I mean you have Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge which is about a heartbroken vampire making a deal with the devil to try and get his love back (spoiler: it doesn’t work, tears). My Chemical Romance’s thing is having alternative strumming in the instrumentation. You keep going back and forth between each set of chords. When you are mad the songs are perfect to listen to because they sound just like how you are feeling. Then they pair this with lyrics that lash out at the world and the situations that they are surrounded in. They make their music relatable. The way that they are able to convey exactly how you are feeling is the reason that all of their albums went platinum including 2006’s The Black Parade (my personal favorite). In typical My Chemical Romance fashion it’s a huge story. I know, I know this is the second concept metaphor album I’ve done. What can I say? I’m a sucker for albums that tell stories. The Black Parade covers death and everything that relates to dying. It chronicles a young boy going through the process of dying from cancer. From this album you get to experience what it would feel like if you were going to die. It depressing but defiantly eye opening.

The main thing that sets this album apart from others is the sound. Imagine if you took a punk band and then made them do a whole bunch of covers from popular seventies bands. Probably would sound like a hot mess, or at least I would expect it too. But I can’t help of think of Queen and Journey when I listen to The Black Parade. The album still feels like a My Chemical Romance album yet it just doesn’t seem very original. The whole vibe of “Bohemian Rhapsody” with the combined yelling/pleading and then bright guitars and drums is scattered throughout the album (especially in the song “Mama”). They also take from the melody repetition that is a staple of Queen albums. This can be seen in “The End”.  I give them props for at least ripping off good bands.

So instead of the normal here is my top 3 songs from the album, I want to go through every track and say a few words. I’m bored writing those types of pieces and I’m sure that everyone is tired of reading them. Plus, you kind of lose the story of a metaphor album if you don't go through a track by track.

1. “The End.”:

First thought that comes to mind is how ironic that they named the first song of the album “The End.”. It’s punny and I appreciate their cleverness. They set the beat through a heartbeat monitor, it makes you feel like the end is near. A swaying guitar comes in with soft vocals, he is just gently singing. But then it builds up to anger and yelling. The building comes is paired with him talking about how him dying and how he would expect his family to react. Of course the yelling is appropriate and a nice touch. Who wouldn’t be pissed that they were dying. The lyrics die and all that is left is a memorizing guitar and piano (with no lyrics). It sounds just like something off of a Queen album. The alternating of pace and instruments is a staple of sound of Queen's. That switching between acoustic and electric guitars shows the cycle of what people go through when they are dying: going from I’m okay with dying to NAH IM NOT READY.

2.  “Dead!”

Oh no, this song starts with the baseline heartbeat sound of someone that has died. Our old friend from “The End!” bit the dust. The best part of this song is the epic guitar rifts that they throw in it. The song would be so much better if the vocals weren’t there. I just want to focus more on the guitar pieces. There is a funny part where he talks really weird. But other than that Gerald Way sounds way too whiny: more accurately hollow.

3.  “This is How I Disappear”

This song just sounds like the type of music that would be playing if you were going to get revenge on someone. You have the drums beating so fast and quick, and the guitar strumming in alternative pitches. Yes, there is a lot going on but it’s awesome. "This is How I Disappear" is preaching about how our friend lost the love of his life, so it’s like he is dealing with the heartache of being forever alone. He's pissed, no one wants to be alone forever. 

4. “The Sharpest Lives”

The background sound of this entire song is a techno rapid heart beat. HOW FITITNG. But really it is though. Then you have Gerald Way growling at you, which if you are into that…… to me I’m not fan. It’s just a little too odd for me. I just imagine him snarling at me for the entire thing.

5. “Welcome to Black Parade”

Love, love, love this song. The piano in the beginning that slowly adds instruments makes me happy. You can hear the lyrics which are beautiful and talking about how we should stand up for the people that can’t stand up for themselves. How valiant. There are even little wind chimes in the background. Everything just escalades to a fun song filled with light, quick strumming, and a catchy chorus. There are pauses when it is just the strumming which sounds like a marching band that is going really fast. But more than that our friend is reflecting back on his life’s most memorable experience, saying that even though his life is over the memories will carry on. Gosh darn you My Chemical Romance for making me slightly depressed when I am just trying to jam out.

6.”I Don’t Love You”

The beginning of this song sounds like something right out of a Nicholas Spark’s movie. Not kidding, it’s such a high pitch. I was confused at first whether it was a guitar or not. He sings ballads and it’s good. Gerald should really do it more. There is also a nice little guitar solo with a rhythm that doesn’t make you feel like you are riding a high speed roller coaster like normal punk songs. It works because he is talking about love and I’m a girl so I adore love songs. It’s cheesy and girly and perfect. I would more expect this song from One Direction but I like them too so it works for me. If you don’t like those kind of songs, then steer clear. This song is again devoted to our friend's love. He is trying to convince himself that he never loved her. 

7. “House of Wolves”

Scary techno in the beginning (eeeeeep) with guitars. But it goes away and is just typical My Chemical Romance. It is typical in the way that there is a ton of alternative guitar strumming with a catchy chorus. There isn’t anything in this song that sets it apart.

8. “Cancer”

Another piano beginning and hushed voices. It’s acoustic and beautiful. If you can’t tell I’m a sucker for acoustic songs. The lyrics go through as if our friend was watching his own funeral. He is talking about what colors he is wearing and how they are going to put him in the ground. It’s so sad, and he even calls himself “soggy” from the chemo. It’s blunt and doesn’t glamorize death unlike some songs I’ve heard. He says that the hardest part of dying is leaving his love. Awh too sweet yet too sad.

9.  “Mama”

The song starts off by switching between two chords and that’s it. But then things heat up because our friend has landed a place in hell. The guitar amps up and the vocals do too. But nothing is super quick like expected in a punk album. The whole song goes on between the amped guitar and the strumming. But weirdly enough in the strumming parts he goes on to talk about how his mother is dying….. Again I felt uncomfortable. Nooooo not Traci (my mom). The sonic elements sound like Queen going from electric guitar to acoustic guitar. But the lyrics just aren't cutting it for me.

10. Sleep

 We have a broken up radio and piano (YEET).  The guitar comes in and it just sounds sad. It sounds like there was an effect put on it that made it be different from every other song on the album. This put with the piano makes me think the apocalypse is coming, everyone run. It’s a medium pace which is so nice with a voice that sounds like he has resigned, bleating out his last words. 

11.   “Teenagers”

Okay first off I have loved this song since I was 15. I like it all and it is by far my favorite on the album. It so accurately depicts what is it like being a teenager and is how I felt 90% of the time at high school. If you didn’t know I hated high school, and Gerald’s voice is just so “fuck all of you” and that is so perfect. The guitar is definitely the main instrument and you get a killer bit in the middle of the song that makes you just want to jump up and down. There is also a little noise maker that adds a little spice to it. It talks about how our friend (yup I'm just going to refer to him as that) wishes he would have not cared about what people thought of him.

12.   “Disenchanted”

My true love, acoustic guitar makes an entrance here. It’s kind of a lullaby and our friend has finally accepted what has happened, has happened. Then the electric guitar steals the spotlight. Don’t worry my love gets it back. There is also a nice little background singer which is nice but kind of sounds like a quartet. He talks about all of our friend’s regrets in his life.

Let's just talk about how depressing this album is. I mean a whole album just devoted to exploring death and all that comes with it. You have a teenage boy who fights and dies to cancer chronicling his life. There is death but then it stems into whole other things like how to prepare to die, what happens to your body, will you have regrets, how will your family react. The process of dying is complicated and messy; but here in The Black Parade My Chemical Romance is exploring what it feels like to die without ever experiencing it. The album digs into deep topics and makes you ask questions about yourself. Questions that make you wonder about how you would react if you were told you had cancer. So yes, while I may laugh at myself for writing about My Chemical Romance (since they are so out of my realm) it doesn't mean that this album has any less merit. 

REVISED: Appealing to Your Reason

               

            

             Why does an album become popular? Is it because it’s catchy, that it’s played on the radio, because it has a good beat? What is that one thing? We as a culture tend to like music that reflects what we think. We can relate to a song because we have been through something similar. Artists are successful partly because of their songs, but also what they represent for us. Culture creates the stars it wants to follow. This is why punk bands are popular. Throughout punk rock a lineage can be traced of young and rebellious youth who are still politically aware. It’s in bands ranging from the Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, and The Clash.  The same ideals of being politically aware are prominent in Rise Against’s 2008 album Appeal to Reason. I mean c’mon just look at the title of the album, it screams that the band is going to be opinionated. The album is rooted in the controversy that surrounds the Iraq War. When their opinions are paired with the album’s platinum success it goes to show that we as a culture agree with what they are saying.

The song that stuck out to me from the entire album was “Hero of War”. It features only a guitar and lead singer Tim McIlrath. It’s a bit odd, having an acoustic song on a punk album but it definitely gets the message across. It is similar to the country songs that parade around patriotism as if the US never does anything wrong. Also only having a guitar allows the lyrics to slice into the listener and really hit home. The lyrics are blunt, short, and to the point. It chronicles the terrible things that happened in the Iraq War without any sugar coating. It takes away what the news has been saying and strips everything down the core. It is one of those songs that people look back on when they think of an event. “Hero of War” honestly and melodically chronicles example of how soldiers have been forced to kill innocent people. They have murdered little girls, fathers, mother, families just because a commander says so. We are all so quick to lose our morals because the government says to do something. We trust that the government knows best. This song doesn’t glamorize being a solider, and in some ways it even bashes soldiers. It just seems so inhumane to kill innocent people. That is what makes this song different the way they present soldiers and Iraqi citizens. It is rare in our culture that soldiers are pictured as the bad guys and the Iraqis pictured as victims. Since this goes against everything that I have been taught since I was raised during this war to think that the U.S military does no wrong, it struck a chord with me. Honestly, I was pretty pissed after listening to this song. It was just running through my head that soldiers risk their life protecting us overseas. But then it clicked, the band isn’t bashing soldiers they are more saying how war is shitty on both sides. There are no winners in war.  Appeal to Reason then goes on to discuss the idea of our government in  “Audience of One”.

The president has the power to basically do whatever he wants. There are checks and balances in the government but sometimes those fail. For example, President Bush declaring war without Congress approving. This idea is broached in “Audience of One”.  In this song, the verses are sang with a soft tone that then escalades to shouting a blunt chorus that demonstrates how America has slowly, built up anger for the situation in government of 2008, especially at George Bush. The sound of the symbols throughout song, the symbols are hit at any time the lyrics change or say anything important which draws the attention to how we as people should start thinking more independently. 

                 While this album is rooted in political statements there is one song that sticks out to me that does not have anything to the political world. “Savior” is the normal fast-paced, angry songs, that I have come to love. My favorite song from the album would be “Savior”, the most successful single. The song lays out the problem in relationships. The problem is that everyone is so afraid of being alone, we all want someone to fix everything for us. But that isn’t possible; we have all become so dependent on one another for everything. Everyone thinks that they are entitled to something rather than have to work hard for success. This idea can be applied to huge things such as the debate of government welfare or to smaller things like depending on someone to always help you with your homework. Sometimes you have to grow up and put your big girl panties on and do things by yourself. This idea is drilled in further with the pounding drums extremely fast pace of the song. When listening to “Savior” it seems like an actual fight between a couple: loud, fast, and emotional. This song is exactly what you would expect from a punk rock album, and having this on the album breaks up all the controversy and gives a light breath of fresh air to the entire flow of Appeal to Reason.

And the honorable mention goes to, “Re-Education (Through Labor)”. This is a song for the blue-collar hard working people in America. It shows what people go through in order to make a living today while contrasted to the high-paying executive jobs. It addresses the problem of the huge gapped pay between workers and executives. There are people who work their butts off everyday just trying to get by that don’t get paid even 1/20 of what a white-collar businessman would make. The loud, yelling and pounding drums demonstrate what the people are going through and how they feel about the situation.
           Rise Against has said time and time again that they said to be the voice of reason. They want to use their influence and music to make statements about “what the hell in wrong with the world”.  They are using their influence in the world to be brave and make bold statements. This album makes you think, it made me think about the way I view the government and war. We have always just grown up thinking that the U.S can do no wrong. That ideal has been passed down through generations even back in the Vietnam War. But Appeal to Reason challenges this idea; it says that we as a country have made mistakes and that there are still things wrong with our country. By saying these opinions, a listener takes in everything they are saying and it opens up our minds a little bit to a more uncommon idea. It challenges beliefs (while paired with great music) to try and expand listener’s opinion on today’s society.