ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (04/12/84)
To clarify a few recent remarks of mine, here are some resurrected remarks by the honorable Mr. Nguyen: > Punk has always been more closely associated with the safety-pinned > slam-dancing crowd, except by poorly informed people. I prefer the > term "New Wave" for a lot of the more cerebral and music-like of the > new music. Sentiments like the above can still frequently be heard these days, and I would like understand why. Thus this here article. I'd first like to pose the question to Au (if it be within the bounds of propriety to use a first name reference), what the **** does New Wave musik have to do with punk, or new music, or cerebral functioning, for that matter? At one time, New Wave had, in fact, many experimental minds who made unusual sounds and words that were easily revolutionary enough to give cohesion to the alliance `punk/new wave'. Now that NW has become a routine matter of chic-glitter-money-TV, the rift in the original punk/new-wave alliance is wide as analog/digital, or hungry/fat, or aware/complacent, or maybe even smart/stupid. How can one prefer the TERM `New Wave' to TERM `Punk' when their referrents are polar extremes? And how can a form of music that has been taken over by the Ministry of Truth be any less unenlightened and barren than its creators? I don't mean to imply that the current hardcore movement is not without its share of posers and blind fashion followers. But since 1976, punk has evolved way beyond its roots, in the anarchic intensity of its sound, the perceptiveness of its lyrics, and the deeper humanitarian nature of its spirit. Several points for those who don't know better: - For the first time since the hippie days punks are combining anti-war, anti-nuke and pro-3rd-world demonstrations with musical awareness (there's nothing like an MDC concert!). - Hardcore concerts are one of the few places to hear live music where one is actually encouraged to avoid alcohol and other dangerous drugs, at a time when cocaine is encroaching on everybody's lives. - The only anti-Ku Klux Klan rally I can remember was held by punks in the deep south. The last and only anti-Nazi song I remember was by punks. - Hardcore bands now come to a screeching halt at the 1st sign of violence, using the public forum to belittle any stupid headbashers. - Unlike the 60's left-wing radicalism, the new anti-establishment punk spirit is equally abusive of all forms of conformism -- communism, capitalism, even punk-ism (re. Crass `punk is dead'). Perhaps you don't believe these are very important issues, or that music cannot cause a widespread change in attitudes. If so, perhaps that's why you may like `New Wave'. Finally, I wanna point out that I don't believe punk is the only thing going. There is a huge variety of fascinating new music out there, mostly unclassifiable, and almost always by people who do not consider themselves to be `New Wave'. Whether these classical/jazz/experimental-rock/folk nonconformists believe it or not, they are in alliance with the punks, particularly because they share the same `marketing strategy' -- word-of-mouth, independent labels, inexpensive do-it-yourself production techniques, and so on. And that is where the future sounds to be discussed in net.music will come from. -michael `thrash for peace' ellis