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John Williams's avatar

Thanks for a great read.

I'm a little bit older so i had some firsthand experience in the punk scene in the 80s, largely because of my sister who studied art in Bed-Stuyvesant. Living in Bed Sty in the 80s was a very punk statement in itself. I did a lot of skateboarding back then, often poorly, and it didn't take too many episodes of road rash to know Huey Lewis wasn't going to cut it. Rollins was on his own by then but his shows were jarringly psycho trips. His spoken word gigs felt like the prelude to a beatdown. Fishbone, Bad Brains, these were joyful riots with a soundtrack. Personally, nothing touched the Descendents for me. They seemed to have actual musical talent in addition to the no holds barred aesthetic that defined punk, that made these bands ours, and us together. Classic rock had grown bloated, too big for small clubs. Madison Square garden was just a train away, and was always an all-ages show. But whoever we saw there seemed like they were unreachable, on another planet. We could just see the song remains the same at the midnight movie and spend the train money on beers the liquor store knowingly sold to minors and then called the local cops to come collect from us. We'd spend the night running under the high tension towers with 6packs and a boombox knowing we'd been had again.

Hence, punk. The music was immediate. The attitude was collective and intense. The scene was ours. Maybe we felt superior with this discovery but honestly, i just wondered what was wrong with a society that affirmed Starship had built this city on rock n roll.

I guess i still wonder about that with the current earwormers.

Finally I went to London. Punks were a tourist attraction then. I felt the same as when my parents took us to Disneyworld and we saw the animontronic bear jug band, or that weird hall of presidents. London street punks were a hologram of something that had struck me as vital, life affirming. Wherever they had been, pubs where the sex pistols played or whatever, they were now has beens. Nowhere.

Punx not dead used to be spray painted everywhere. I wasn't going to rebel to end my life. I was rebelling to change the world to my vision.

I still am.

Everything noteworthy regarding punk for me as a viable aesthetic literally died the day i heard the news about Kurt Cobain. I was in a relationship, i was contemplating a suburban home of my own. My immediate reaction was he just had a baby. How could he kill himself? It seemed to me the most un-punk thing to do. Punk had always been about community, a collective energy, an inclusive equality. An absence of ego and selfishness.

I never saw the Mats but i knew their music. A few days after i graduated college i was back home and bought 2 albums. The rolling stones, love you live and the Mats Let it Be. Before i got in the house the guy across the street who was a year older than me and had become a state trooper came over and told me my best friend had just been killed in a car accident, in his VW beetle. We had just bumped into each other a few months earlier when i was back on spring break, at a bar called appropriately enough the Melody where you went to hear alternative stuff. We went back to his place and spun tunes until daybrreak, reaching a crescendo with Sweetleaf on repeat.

That summer i listened to Unsatisfied constantly while punching holes in my wall, throwing beer cans, generally just reacting to learning life isnt fair, but in its best moments its shared.

I still cant listen to that album without being in that moment and that's just it about music. When it hits it becomes a part of you. Its not a competition, its a realization. The music that meant something to you will always mean something to you.

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Diane Kyrus's avatar

Just catching up with some older Substack posts, and I wanted to just make a brief comment. I completely hear what you’re saying about not knowing the punk scene firsthand, Andy, and John, as always, your comments are a revelation. I’m older than either of you and punk seemed to have its heyday about 10 years before I was in any age group that would be susceptible to its siren song. So I came to the Replacements late. But I fell for them hard. It’s a big regret that I was unaware when the Replacements were active, and maybe that’s one reason I treasure the fact that Wilco is continuously growing and evolving, and why I consider us lucky to be aware of and appreciate such a great band.

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