Punk... The Genre That Doesn't Get Enough Credit. (Part 1: Torch Holders)

The Torch Holders...

Ok, so here's what I'm thinking as far as the topic for the next little while... Punk. Not the old school punk of the clash and all them old guys, but more so the ones who have been putting out music within the past 10 years (give or take). Now if you're thinking of punk and you're not to enthused about this idea it's probably because you find punk too repetitive... And fair enough, I mean let's not try and pretend it's something it's not. But that is not where punk fails. In fact the strong point of punk is the basic formula and basic nature of the punk genre. The place where punk fails is when your songs are made up of the guitarist playing nothing but power chords, the bassist laying on the same 4 notes for the entire song and the drummer doing the most basic of 4/4 beats thinking "Fast and Hard, Fast and Hard..." Now where punk succeeds is when it takes the basic formula of punk and plays around with it, drawing from other genres and incorporating elements of jazz and country and all other sorts of influences into the punk. You see there's a reason why we don't have too many covers of Buddy Rich's "Space Shuttle" but a multitude of Dylan and Beatles tribute albums. The reason is that it's easier to play around with the basic than it is to take something super complex and do something with it. (it also may have a little something to do with popularity, but that doesn't really help my point. So we'll just pretend that's not an issue for arguments sake.)

So anyways, for this first playlist I decided to break down the main pentagon of punk bands that all the punk rockers seem to be drawn to as well as look at a few bands that I think the torch should be passed to (or that I think the torch has already been passed to).

- Torch Holders -

Bad Religion: OK, so if you follow punk even a little bit then you probably already know a little bit about Bad Religion. But if you don't know much about Bad Religion I'll let you in on what to look for.

1) Greg Graffin uses religion as a metaphor for a lot of things, but remember there is often much more to the song than what he is saying about religion (He has said that he treats Christians the same way he treats atheists, that if they don't understand how the world works, even if they're atheists he doesn't think too highly of their beliefs.)

2) He is actually a very brilliant man. First of all he did a double major for his undergrad in anthropology and geology (which is no cakewalk) and he has a PHD in zoology and currently teaches at Cornell (which is not a push-over university, you need pretty good marks to get in there.) So listen to his lyrics they often have very interesting things to say once you learn how to look at the religion metaphor to see what else he's talking about.

3) They are pretty heavily influenced by the Beatles in that they love harmonies. If you couldn't care less about content and I had to give you one reason about why you should listen to bad religion it's because all the harmonies they get going makes it actually sound quite pleasant and is very pleasing to the ears.

Anti-Flag: So Anti-Flag draws from a more aggressive tradition of punk and is probably the goto band for anarchist punks. They are incredibly concerned with politics and have essays by people they respect in their CD Booklets and their music always has this tinge of "We know exactly what you (the gov't) should be doing and you're not doing it!" Which I can understand, I mean I'm pretty sure we've all thought to ourselves what we would be doing better were we in power, but most of their music is about all the travesties the gov't is committing and everything their doing wrong as oppose to what we should be doing different. That being said there's something really interesting about people truly interested in starting a movement. So really the reason to listen to Anti-Flag is just for this Calling for Action, Anarchist, Communist, whatever else you feel like throwing in there attitude.

Pennywise: These guys took the hard and fast attitude and did it in such a way that made people enjoy listening to it. Pennywise basically seems like what you'd get if you took the Anti-Flag and Bad Religion and let them duke it out (stylistically) in a recording studio. They have this attitude about them that is distinctively punk. They aren't quite as gung ho as anti-flag is about it, and they draw from a less aggressive place (vocally than anti-flag) it seems like they go for the harmonies that Bad Religion achieve so beautifully but they can't quite emulate it. Now that I think about it's actually more like what Anti-Flag would sound like if they were trying to be more like Bad Religion (if that made any sense at all) Anyways if you think Punk is too repetitive you're probably thinking about Pennywise or a band very similar, but I still enjoy them none the less (possibly for nostalgic reasons).

Rancid: What happens when you take a ska guitarist and have him tour around with a bunch of punk bands throughout his career? You get a punk band with very ska influenced guitar work, and It sounds awesome. I'm also pretty confident this is not the last time in this venture that I'm going to praise ska turned punk, I think it is a wonderful thing that happens to punk bands, but if your on the other side of the fence it really sucks wondering where your favorite ska bands went. Also their lyrics tend to be a lot less serious than the bands I have mentioned up until now and because of this they can create an environment that feels far more welcoming and fun than bands like Anti-Flag and Pennywise. They also have excellent Bass work for a punk band.

NoFX: These guys are important simply because they own all their music and started a predominant punk recording label and gave a lot of good bands their start. As a band however their strengths are pretty minimal. They're fun to listen to, that's about as far as they go (unless you have an overly critical mind like mine, then listening to them becomes an activity of critical analysis due to their lyrics having so many holes in them.) One of my favorite things to do when listening to them is just try and figure out exactly what they were thinking when they wrote the song. One of my favorite things to contemplate in this regard is how they can have a song so clearly anti-stereotype (Don't Call Me White) and then go on to write an entire album based around a stereotype (Wolves in Wolves Clothing). Basically picture people who want to be smart and read the same authors that people they respect read but they unfortunately can't actually comprehend what they are reading. Then they go on to write songs about these concepts anyways even though they can barely understand the concepts and probably have bastardized it in their heads. (Just listen to Franco Un-American. If you've done any sort of reading, even the reading they claim to have done in the song, it sounds like a jr. high punkster trying to re-hash his college siblings new and interesting world view to his fellow pre-teen punksters). That being said however, they are still fun to listen to. Their lead guitarists adds a little something to the whole basic punk formulae. But given how much punksters say that they care about what they believe and wish to be educated on the matter I'm really surprised how popular NoFX still is.

- Torch Receivers -

Rise Against: I think they are this generations Bad Religion; they are smart, they use harmonies to enhance their music and they use dynamics to keep the punk interesting... It took them time to find this formula but now that they have found it they are going to be amazing from now on (the winning formula basically being the lead guitarist from Siren Songs of the Counter Culture and the producer from Revolutions per Minute.) When I think about it I actually think the torch has already been passed. It was passed when Greg Graffin had lead vocalist Tim McIlrath do the rap portion of Let Them Eat War on Bad Religions DVD "Live at the Palladium." You can check the clip out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHRTI8dnjp4. But long story short, Rise Against is the new Bad Religion.

Flashlight Brown: These guys are like the new Rancid, they used to be ska (but without a horn section which is the same type of ska bands Tim Armstrong used to play in). Which means they are essentially another fun and easy to enjoy punk band. But unfortunately they are a Canadian punk band from Guelph that had a creative difference with the only record label that likely could have broken them into the mainstream (Hollywood Records). So while I'd like to see that torch passed onto them I don't think they'll ever become big enough to be able to reach the Torch.

Millencolin: I think these guys are probably like the new Pennywise, simply because they're trying to take the best of all the punk bands they look up to and bring it all together. So while they delve into the serious they aren't afraid to take themselves lightly, they use the harmonies that make us love bands like Bad Religion and Rise Against while still being something slightly more basic then they are. They essentially did what I feel Pennywise was trying to do but actually succeeding at it where as when Pennywise attempted to emulate things like harmonies they failed but came out of it sounding like Pennywise so no one cared. Random Note: Millencolin also started out as a ska band the only difference is that if you heard them know and haven't heard any of their ska stuff you wouldn't have a clue that there was ever a moment in their career when they weren't punk.

The Loved Ones: I don't know whose going to pass the torch onto these guys, I feel very similarly about these guys as I do about Millencolin except I like Millencolin better. So if Millencolin screws up miserably and somehow brings out the worst in my musical tollerance than I think The Loved Ones should be the runner up to take the torch from Pennywise.

Anti-Flag's Torch... I unfortunately couldn't find anyone I deemed to be worthy of carrying Anti-Flag's torch. Actually that's not entirely true, I could have given it to "Whatever it Takes" but (a) they broke up and (b) they were a side-project of Anti-Flag member Chris #2 so it's kind of like a father passing the torch onto his twin brother. It may seem like something new but logically they can both only run about the same distance with it. Which is why you gotta pass it onto the next generation. It is for this reason that Anti-Flag has no torch bearer at this time. Maybe in the future they will find one but at the moment bands just look up to them for their political views without being quite as intense as Anti-Flag in their delivery. And I've found the same phenomena occurs musically as well... If the Unseen didn't scream so much I guess I could have also given it to them. Maybe I'll let The Loved Ones Keep it warm for now, since they deserve a torch... Just not Anti-Flag's Torch

NoFX's Torch... They don't deserve a torch bearer. The only thing they have really given the punk community was Fat Wreck Chords. Musically they really haven't offered a whole lot to the bettering of punk. Their lyrics are crap and they often they don't entirely understand the subject mater they are singing about. The only thing they have going for them is that their music is fun to mosh to and cover on a guitar... But there are plenty of bands doing that good enough these days already... so not torch from NoFX.

Download the Playlist Here ---> Mediafire