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My Punk Day -- It's All Alan's Fault
Sep. 7th, 2002 01:17 amI used to think I was pretty aware of what music was currently popular or hip, but I haven't watched MTV in years and I don't regularly listen to The End anymore. My radio in my room is set to KZOK. In the car I listen to KJR am (sports talk radio), KIRO (only if the Mariners are on -- I have no use for normal talk radio) or NPR. If I want to listen to music, I normally play a cd. At work the radio station bounces from the country station to Mariners games to various oldies stations, of which KBSG is the worst (can barely stand it), KJR FM is almost toleraable, and The Point is pleasantly tolerable. Rarely anymore do we listen to Jazz or one of the annoying Soft Rock stations that do those romantic music and caller stories/dedication things every night.
Or I listen to KJR AM or NPR on my headphones. ^_^
So today I get up and I check out Alan's punk kittens link. Very cute. I post it to my guild board and to another board I visit... and since I always check my links, I wind up listening to it several times.
And you know, that's not really a bad little punk song. The White Stripes? Sounded like some old-school punk group I'd never heard of. So now I'm in a punk mood, and thus for some punkish listening on the way to work I pick out: Foo Fighters-The Color and The Shape; The Alarm-Declaration; Thee Michelle Gun Elephant-Gear Blues; and The Makers-Psychopathia Sexualis.
And since it's payday and I haven't bought any cds in several weeks, I stopped at Silver Platters.
The first thing I look for is the original Alarm ep. Declaration was their first full-length albumn, but before that they released a 5-song ep that I actually liked even better, but it has never been available on cd (although it's been a while since I last checked).
Bingo! There it is! Well, I had HOPED that they'd release it some day. $16.99 seemed a lot of money for just five tunes, but it was an import from England (the band is Welsh). So I decided to buy it.
As it turns out, I got a lot more than I was expecting. Far from being just a release of the original 5 song ep -- they added 17 other rare never-on-cd-before tracks. Wow! B-sides, live recordings, demos, all sorts of fun stuff, and then they included a complete history of the band in the liner jacket. 22 songs and an extensive write up on the band? $16.99 is a bargain, ESPECIALLY for an Import!
After that I went looking for this band called The White Stripes. As soon as I found them, I realized that this was not some old-school punk band, but a very new punk band. I picked up their cd, and it's pretty good. They write well, something I hadn't really anticipated. Jack and Meg White are the entire band -- not sure if they're married or brother/sister.
So I had lots of punk goodness to listen to on my way to work.
And then, one of those things happened. You know, you run across something new, and then you run across it again and again? I was listening to NPR, and they did a little segment about a new resurgence of punk music. The mentioned several new bands: The Strokes (a band I like), The Vines, The Hives, and yes, The White Stripes.
It's one of those cyclical things. Punk was big in the early nineties, and now it's big again. The pundits consider it a reaction to bland, over-processed music -- in this case, that would be boy bands like Boys II Men, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, pop divas like Britney Spears, and rock groups like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park. I agree with the NPR reviewer: couldn't come at a better time. ^_^
And being geeky wordsmith types, they noted that all the names were "The This" and "The That", which is in contrast to bands like Korn, etc. and is a throwback to old rock bands like The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Ramones.
So once again, I picked up on a band that's apparently considered cool at the moment. Completely by accident, of course. In July I picked up Hem, after hearing them on NPR radio, and I saw that they're now one of Silver Platter's best sellers so I suppose they're hip too. Last fall (I think it was last fall) I picked up The Strokes after reading a review in Newsweek I think, and found out that they're considered cool right now too.
But I generally base my music tastes on what I like and consider good music. ^_^ I also looked for another Split Lip Rayfield cd today, but they only had in the one I own already. I guess punk bluegrass bands aren't so cool. ^_^ But who cares?
Or I listen to KJR AM or NPR on my headphones. ^_^
So today I get up and I check out Alan's punk kittens link. Very cute. I post it to my guild board and to another board I visit... and since I always check my links, I wind up listening to it several times.
And you know, that's not really a bad little punk song. The White Stripes? Sounded like some old-school punk group I'd never heard of. So now I'm in a punk mood, and thus for some punkish listening on the way to work I pick out: Foo Fighters-The Color and The Shape; The Alarm-Declaration; Thee Michelle Gun Elephant-Gear Blues; and The Makers-Psychopathia Sexualis.
And since it's payday and I haven't bought any cds in several weeks, I stopped at Silver Platters.
The first thing I look for is the original Alarm ep. Declaration was their first full-length albumn, but before that they released a 5-song ep that I actually liked even better, but it has never been available on cd (although it's been a while since I last checked).
Bingo! There it is! Well, I had HOPED that they'd release it some day. $16.99 seemed a lot of money for just five tunes, but it was an import from England (the band is Welsh). So I decided to buy it.
As it turns out, I got a lot more than I was expecting. Far from being just a release of the original 5 song ep -- they added 17 other rare never-on-cd-before tracks. Wow! B-sides, live recordings, demos, all sorts of fun stuff, and then they included a complete history of the band in the liner jacket. 22 songs and an extensive write up on the band? $16.99 is a bargain, ESPECIALLY for an Import!
After that I went looking for this band called The White Stripes. As soon as I found them, I realized that this was not some old-school punk band, but a very new punk band. I picked up their cd, and it's pretty good. They write well, something I hadn't really anticipated. Jack and Meg White are the entire band -- not sure if they're married or brother/sister.
So I had lots of punk goodness to listen to on my way to work.
And then, one of those things happened. You know, you run across something new, and then you run across it again and again? I was listening to NPR, and they did a little segment about a new resurgence of punk music. The mentioned several new bands: The Strokes (a band I like), The Vines, The Hives, and yes, The White Stripes.
It's one of those cyclical things. Punk was big in the early nineties, and now it's big again. The pundits consider it a reaction to bland, over-processed music -- in this case, that would be boy bands like Boys II Men, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, pop divas like Britney Spears, and rock groups like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park. I agree with the NPR reviewer: couldn't come at a better time. ^_^
And being geeky wordsmith types, they noted that all the names were "The This" and "The That", which is in contrast to bands like Korn, etc. and is a throwback to old rock bands like The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Ramones.
So once again, I picked up on a band that's apparently considered cool at the moment. Completely by accident, of course. In July I picked up Hem, after hearing them on NPR radio, and I saw that they're now one of Silver Platter's best sellers so I suppose they're hip too. Last fall (I think it was last fall) I picked up The Strokes after reading a review in Newsweek I think, and found out that they're considered cool right now too.
But I generally base my music tastes on what I like and consider good music. ^_^ I also looked for another Split Lip Rayfield cd today, but they only had in the one I own already. I guess punk bluegrass bands aren't so cool. ^_^ But who cares?
