Last Updated on January 7, 2024
Originally published in Lights Go Out issue #17…
Now I don’t mean balls to all the old punks, I just wanted a snappy headline. I’m not talking about a particular age range either, I’m talking about folk who belittle other folk’s passion or enjoyment for anything because they’re either new to it or because they weren’t there at the start. A good non-punk example would be when you let it slip you’re a fan of a particular television programme and the response given by some smart bugger is that ‘that show used to be better’, well who gives a shit? This pointless elitism is evident nowhere stronger than in music, we’ve all been bored belchless by some pub-bore telling us that we’re wrong about the new NoFx (for example) album being great, because the first two albums were when NoFx reached their peak (which is bullshit by the way).
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So why does this elitism annoy me so much when it comes to punk rock/ music in general, and why do you (poor sod) have to put up with me rambling on about it like some grumpy old man? Well partly because I’m writing for a medium with no editorial quality control so I can say what I like, partly because I’ve got a spare hour and fancied writing something, but mostly because I am an old man. Weak reasons huh? Well you’re still reading so I’ll get on with it before you realise there’s not much here to hold your interest and wander off to stare out of the window in the hope that you might find something more entertaining to occupy your eyeballs.
As a fair weather anarchist I believe all people are equal, and snotty punk elitism proves that the terrible bore telling you that you’re a ‘plastic punk’ or that you don’t get Minor Threat because you weren’t xEDGEx in ‘82 has missed the point of why this rock called punk started in the first place.
Anyone with brains enough to pick up an instrument or go out and buy music they love does so for their own reasons, and as for what those reasons might be, well that’s none of your business. Music appeals to the heart not the head, therefore if someone claims they really love whatever product Simon Cowell has recently pushed out of his money hole then so what? Let them have it, surely someone spending their own money buying music to listen to in their own homes/ on their mp3 player is just as valid to them as that DC Hardcore 5” burnt turd coloured lathe-cut vinyl that you rub against your crotch every night? Zines are full of columns stating that art is dying, so surely it’s utterly illogical to belittle anyone whose tastes are different to our own?
