Like most people, punk was a gateway into other genres and art forms outside the mainstream. Yes, I still love some punk music, but much like the 80s and 90s alternative I love so much, I’ve moved on.
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I think seeing things for what they truly are and where you fit, or don’t fit, into them is really a pre-requisite of personal growth and great art.
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It was 1994. I was watching 120 Minutes on MTV and they played “Ultra Twist” by The Cramps. I cannot be certain of the time of year – if it was the end of middle school, the beginning of high school or the summer in between. All I know is this video blew my mind.
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Many people consider tragedy to be romantic. We idolize those who died young and tragically, such as: James Dean, Kurt Cobain, and John Lennon to name but a few. When you die young, you leave a small body of work to be judged and any indiscretions can be blamed on youth. Perhaps no musical genre benefits from this more than rock music and no subculture is more known for it than punk rock. And there are two reasons for that – Darby Crash and Sid Vicious.
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Because of advancements in technologies, the things we did, at least how we did them, will never happen again.
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I can’t remember for sure how I heard about the Pistols, only that it was sometime in 1992. I rode my bike to Karma Records and bought The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream and Never Mind the Bollocks. The twenty-something girl checking me out said something to the effect, “Your mom will be okay with the Smashing Pumpkins, but I don’t think she’ll like the Sex Pistols.”
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You could blame my individualistic, anti-authoritarian worldview on being of Scottish via Appalachian descent. Or, you could say it is because I’m an only child who spent the first twelve years of his life living in the country with no kids around. However, even if those things are true, it was punk rock that solidified it. It was punk rock that gave me not only a reason to do what I dreamed of, but a way to do the things I dreamed of.
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