Pink Moan

October 31st, 2008 by Gnat

So last week I decided it would be a good idea to write about some of my favorite punk rock LPs and singles on this here blog.  While many would argue punk music is better suited for the 7″ format, I’m going to start off this series of posts with a handful of punk rock albums I think are damn near, if not, perfect in all their 12″, 33 1/3 rpm, long-playing glory. I’m posting these albums in no particular order, no top 5 or 10, etc. Suffice it to say these titles are all the cream of the punky crop to my ears. I’ve decided to forego listing some of the classics like Never Mind the Bullocks… and the eponymous Clash debut in favor of including punk albums that are either: 1) specific to the time period in which I grew up, 2) personally important to me, or 3) simply kickass in my book. Here we go…

Operation Ivy - Energy
(1989)

The original vinyl release of this now-classic ska punk LP was 19 songs of tight and tinny pure punk joy. Later reissues of Energy tacked on some earlier Operation Ivy EPs and singles, but I still prefer the 19-song original. Berkeley’s OPIV (do people still call ‘em that?) couldn’t have come up with a more apt name for their debut LP. Ska-soaked rhythms are combined seamlessly with hardcore freneticness throughout the entirety of the album. Blissful musical bursts are seasoned with lyrics about punky themes like disaffection, isolation and calls for unity among the scene. Guitarist and bassist Tim Armstrong and Matt “McCall” Freeman, respectively, went on to form Rancid, but I think Energy is their shining contribution to the punk rock canon.

Energy was a very important record for me and my friends when it was released. I remember my friend Steve telling me to buy it ASAP when I bumped into him at the local record shop, Music Town, in 1990 (as far as I know Steve still sports a large tattoo of the OPIV shadow man on his bicep). This album could be heard blasting at many a party and from many a car window during my high school years. Ah, sweet youth: skater boys and ska punk. Here are a couple of standout tracks for your downloading pleasure:

Sound System
Bombshell

October 27th, 2008 by Gnat

Feds disrupt skinhead plot to assassinate Obama

To me Southern racism embodies one of the truest, purest forms of evil. The spirit of Adolph Hitler is alive and well in Tennessee.

As a total aside, read this Wiki entry about the Thule Society to learn what fostered the thinking of Hitler and his Nazi cohorts. It’s truly interesting stuff, and perhaps even offers some insight into how the seeds of racism/antisemitism are germinated. To me it all seems to boil down to poverty, nationalism plus a fear of the “other.” That kind of thinking is rooted in our physical anthropology — how tribes are scared of other, unfamiliar tribes, and so on. I guess we really haven’t evolved much as a species in the last several thousand years:

October 21st, 2008 by Gnat

More and more I’m becoming convinced that everything can essentially be boiled down to marketing: religion, politics, war, even peace. Now I can include gang warfare under that umbrella or marketing, too. Gangs really are the ultimate marketing vehicle, what with their slogans, mottos, hand maneuvers, insignias and uniforms. Check out this article:

Raid targets Mongols motorcycle gang

Of special interest is this key detail regarding the raid: “In an unusual maneuver, the feds are also seeking to seize control of the Mongols’ trademarked name, which is typically accompanied by its cherished insignia — a ponytailed Genghis Khan-like figure riding a chopper.” Says US Attorney General Thomas P. O’Brien: “Not only are we going after the Mongols’ motorcycles, we’re going after their very identity.” That means that any individual found sporting the Mongols’ logo could be guilty of trademark violation and have the offending item seized on the spot.

Yes folks, this may be the most interesting convergence of business and outlaw biker gangs since the Hells Angels (Hells Angels Motorcycle Incorporation, an actual incorporated entity) sued Disney for Trademark Dilution and Infringement.

October 16th, 2008 by Gnat

Just a short post to “touch base.” That’s some douche-y corporatespeak for ya. Anyway, my mom has been visiting since last Friday, and I just put her on a plane back home early this morning. We had fun, aside from the mom-related stress I inevitably experience during one of her longish visits. I had to adjust my patterns, habits and schedule while Mom was in town, so I’m just now getting reacquainted with my “normal” reality. While part of me will miss her, I am looking forward to some solitude.

The debate also sort of sent me into a tailspin last night. Just hearing McCain call Obama “pro-abortion” was enough to deeply depress me. I mean, the fact that this issue is still open for debate confounds me. I know it’s a cliche phrase, but Republicans please keep your laws off our bodies.

More soon. And real content too, I promise…

October 3rd, 2008 by Gnat

Now do I have your attention? Lately I can’t get the song I Need Lunch by the Dead Boys out of my head. Click here and download the mp3 (lest it be removed), listen to the tune, read the following lyrics, and bear with me:

“I-I don’t need your company
Girls like you all come for free
I-I don’t really wanna dance
Girl, I just wanna get in your pants

I-I don’t wantcha to hang around
Girl I don’t need ya to drag me down
Well I-I don’t really wanna dance
Girl, I just wanna get in your pants

Now listen girl

You try and try
You want we’re just more than friends
You cry and cry
You know i’ll prick ya’in the end
Look at me that way, bitch
Your face is gonna getta punch
I said I don’t need no cook girl
I need lunch

Now listen to me baby

I-you go find yourself a factory man
Girl-you were born with dishpan hands
Well I, baby, I don’t need romance
You know, girl, I just wanna get in your pants

I said-I need lunch

Feed me!!”

Even without Stiv Bators’ snarky, snarly intonation these lyrics on their own read as offensive. His searing delivery backed by loud guitars only serves to salt the sting. The narrator of this song hates women, or at least the woman he’s singing to and about. Hell, at the song’s apex he threatens to punch the bitch. I mean, this is hard, violent shit. In addition, this song equates a woman with a meal.

So why do I love it so much?

Believe me, gentle reader, I have spent too much time analyzing my love of I Need Lunch. Time that should have probably been spent working or studying for the GRE. But the good news is I think I figured it out: I love this song because it expresses primitive drive, without any pretense of sentimentality. I don’t have to like what Stiv Bators is saying, but I can’t ignore the rawness of his lament. It’s ugly and it’s real. And I’ll take a real hate song any day over a flaccid, fake love song. True and ugly is better than phony and pretty.

Stiv (1949-1990)