Yes, it is a fashion statement now. See, I am a child of the 90's. I grew up with Pearl Jam and Nirvana. The Black Album by Metallica and The Crow soundtrack. This was pretty much all that was available to a 5th grader in 1994. I didn’t know there was better stuff in the world until I decided that I was tired of the same sound. There HAD to be something more.

The thing I decided to do was buy an album based off of the cover alone. It seemed like a good idea, and I still think it is. I bought Danzig 4 at first.

Chalk full of backmasking, satanic invocation, and themes of bondage, rape, murder, and drug use, I was hooked right then and there. I didn’t care about what jocks did, I didn’t care that I was never picked first during kick ball. I had a ball of rage building in me because of these things, sure. But I had gone beyond caring at that point. I just didn’t know it. This album opened up a new world to me musically. This music spoke to me more so that Mudhoney or Pearl Jam ever would.

I went back to the Music Warehouse every chance I got, and bought anything Danzig. I remember the hippy behind the counter telling me about The Misfits, which, much to my surprise was Glenn Danzig’s first band. I bought Collection II by The Misfits and stole Garage days re-re visited by Metallica because it has two of the same songs that Collection II had. I never regretted it.

The Misfits were my first introduction to Punk music. If you were to speak to me now, you would know that word seeps out my mouth like The Anarchists’ cock.... just making sure you’re paying attention... I found that the themes covered by Danzig’s solo work was just an extension of what The Misfits sang about. Murder, science fiction, comic books, etc. etc. In short, things I was into. I still am really.

You readers have to understand, this was a time before the Internet and pirating programs. Musicians got fans by word of mouth and curious kids like me. I’m not going to spend this article singing the praise of Danzig, though. I’ll move on.

Another band I discovered and loved is The Dead Kennedy’s. I bought the album Frankenchrist because I found the cover funny:

I knew that this album would get me in trouble with the first lyrics of the first song “Soup Is Good Food”

We're sorry
But you're no longer needed
Or wanted
Or even cared about here
Machines can do a better job than you
This is what you get for asking questions

This is EXACTLY how I felt when I went to school. To a fucking T. My teachers hated me, the kids hated me, and I hated them. This album is also what got me into the political process, albeit my views are radically different from Jello Biafra’s. But of course, the album that sticks out is Jock-o-rama. This would greatly influence my attitude during my teenage years in a small town.

Which led me to the conclusion that Punk is not specifically a form of music. It’s an “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!” attitude that has revolutionized they way people think. It’s a way of life. People that come to mind off the top of my head are Friedrich Nietzsche, Jack London, Hank Williams Jr, Caligula, and Sam Peckinpah. People who did things their own way, on their own terms, and told the establishment to fuck off. People whose influence can be felt today in just about everything. These people were what I consider punk.

One name that comes to mind now is Hank Williams III. He has a punk band names Assjack and makes Outlaw Country. Outlaw is about the lives most people lead. Drinking, Fighting, fucking, and general Helling. Outlaw country is everything Punk could have been. Artists like Rebel Son, David Allen Coe, and Johnny Cash lived a life harder than ANYONE who considers themselves a punk musician could even fathom. These guys give a big FUCK OFF to the Nashville sound, and Hank III has had to go to court over his records. The label he was on, Curb, refused to put out any of his music, because it didn’t fit in with what they wanted. A lot of outlaw artists will sell burned CD’s at their shows, just to have control over their music.

To them, as it was once with punks, the message and music is paramount over any money they may receive by selling out and changing who they are. And THAT, dear readers, is what punk is supposed to be. Being who you really are, embracing things about yourself that others despise, rubbing the soft, white underbelly of society in the faces of those that like to turn a blind eye. And THAT dear readers, is the core of punk. The spikes and chains were a reflection of that thought process, not looking cool or being shocking for its own sake. Anyone who tells me it is still the same is a fucking liar.

Corporate America has latched onto it and turned it into some sort of pissy highschool rebellion fashion statement. Just wearing the clothes and knowing the music does NOT make you one of us, nor will it ever. You have to feel it in your soul, much like The Anarchist’s cock.... still checking.

Next time, I’ll tell you all about some more albums I came across, and perhaps how I loved and grew to hate The Sex Pistols.