If you listen to Micheal Savage, you are not punk rock

[Zodiak]

Long-story short:

My old guitar player from my college days came into town with his punk rock band (these guys are crazy-weird). I tried to be the best host possible, feeding them, giving them a place to "Chill" and stretch out. MY friend and I had a great conversation, and his bass player was cool and laid-back.

Then there was his drummer. My god...one of those $7.00 and hour guys who just knows everything about the world. He acted like an ass the minute he came in the apartment....even complained about my burgers.

Anyways, during conversation, he started to talk about 9/11...talking about how "that guy" (he means Moussawi ) and how the "liberal lawyers" stopped us from preventing 9/11. I couldn't stand it...asked him where he heard that RW talking point...and he tells me "Micheal Savage...he's the only guy that tells the truth". I sat there dumb-founded before I destroyed his entire political existence in front of his whole band (I had enough...he was drunk and being belligerent, and RW crap is not welcome in my home without challenge).

How the HELL can a punk rock guy (A fan of the Minutemen, presumably) be a RW fan of Michael Savage? Isn't there a rule or something? What the hell happened to punk rock where this sort of government-loving is acceptable?

Thanks for letting me rant. I had to get that off my chest.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. My apologies.

It's like that guy from the Misfits who likes *. Apparently, irony escapes both of them.

[aquaman]

2. " a fan of the minutemen"

His moronic ass is a disgrace to the loving memory of the minutemen. He should be punished. Hope you undercooked his burger.

[Zodiak]

3. I didn't

But that is what he accused me of.

[driver8]

4. Amen, aquaman...

no self respecting fan of the Minutemen would listen to that RW bullshit.

[Zodiak]

8. I agree....D Boone must be rolling in his grave.

I was just....dumbfounded.

[Omphaloskepsis]

5. They have a webpage.

http://www.conservativepunk.com/index.asp

[tigereye]

6. he's full of shite

[CanuckAmok]

7. One of the Ramones was a big repug, too.

Was it Marky? Whoever it was, I'm surprised.

Alice Cooper is a RWer, too. Go figure.

Also, check this out:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/conpunk.html

www.rightgoths.com

:eyes:

[Zodiak]

9. AHHHHHhhhhh!!

You are totally scaring me...right-wing Goths? Tell me this is an anomaly. I can see Heavy Metal not necessarily being political, but punk...goth?

I would never play punk with a RWer..there is no way I would allow him to participate in the message. I just couldn't do it...not in punk.

Perhaps this all stems from the idea that I do not include Skinhead music as "punk".....at least not "punk" in terms of the Minutemen.

Mike Watt is one of my friggin idols...how can anyone listen to that music, be influenced by it, and listen to Micheal Savage? Does he not understand English?

Thanks to everyone who knows who the Minutemen were...that makes me feel real good about my fellow DUers.

[CanuckAmok]

10. I was just thinking about that...

one of my closest friends from highschool was totally into the punk and "New Wave" scene with the rest of us. He even drummed in a couple of pop-punk bands and they covered lefty bands like the Beat and Gang of Four.

But looking back, I think he was always a conservative, and now he's an unrepentent racist bigot RWer. We can't talk politics when we meet up every five years or so.

But what the hell happens to people?!

[Zodiak]

11. I guess some people are in the music to get laid

or something. I did when I started at 13, but that died out when I turned 20. Eventually the music means so much more than the kudos...it becomes a form of expression that you share with other musicians.

I also lament that amount of punk that is coming out nowadays that has no message at all. I have another friend I used to play with that is now the front-man of a nationally-known Indie punk band, but the music is watered-down and the message is vacuous. I love the guy dearly and am VERY happy for his success, but I wish he would use his voice to convey a message.

Green Day did it, and it cost them nothing fan-wise.

[ghostsofgiants]

13. It was Johnny

Also: http://www.conservativepunk.com/

[Jamastiene]

15. No, it was not Marky

It was Johnny. All the others are/were decidedly in our corner. I was disgusted by the fact that Johnny was a repug too.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

27. It was Johnny.

[ragin_acadian]

32. "gothic. freaky. conservative." what?

thanks for the second link, bookmarked. i'm not surprised that it says: "currently no members online"

we need to have a special emoticon for sites like that.....something along the lines of a smiley putting a rotary hammer through its head.

[AntiCoup2K4]

34. Johnny Ramone was Republican

But he didn't write the lyrics, thank God! And he didn't stand in the way when they came up with "Bonzo goes to Bitburg", though I imagine he wasn't happy about it.

[ghostsofgiants]

12. I bet he thinks Michale Graves is a punk rock god as well

:eyes:

[Zodiak]

16. ewwww....

Apparently Graves thinks that "punk rock is dead" and is using that line to promote himself.

I will never understand it.

[ghostsofgiants]

17. It's the name of his new album...

Such a fucking tool.

And one a Machale Graves-related note:


(Any excuse to post NN2S, haha.)

[Jamastiene]

14. Real punks don't agree with any right wing crap*

* most of the time. I did notice that despite the fact that the Ramones had an anti-Reagan song, their guitarist, Johnny, was a Republican. That made me nauseous when I confirmed it. Luckily, the band still put the song out and Joey Ramone had more talking time in interviews than Johnny. I was always happy about that. Now that Joey is gone, I'd rather hear what Jello Biafra has to say than any other in the punk world.

[khashka]

23. I remember the early days....

when it was first getting started. Punks were viewed as violent fascists. Seriously! But there has always been an element of that running through punk. (The only white supremacists that I personally know are punks.)

But that was never what it was about...

Khash.
(And I agree with you about Jello Biafra. He's never been one of my favourites.... but I'd rather hear what he's saying than any of the others.)

[Jamastiene]

26. Punk has been sorely misunderstood from the beginning.

In the beginning, the use of swastikas and other "shocking" images by punk was not in support of those ideas, but against right wing policies. What most of those meant was that right wing policies were akin to nazism. In other words, by wearing the swastika they were saying "here is what you really mean." I guess I look at punk from the perspective of the punk bands that I like most.

And yes, the skinhead movement was corrupted upon entry into American and punk was preyed upon by the white supremacists especially in the 80's. I hated that misuse of symbolism when it comes to punk rock. The white supremacists I know personally hate punk rock, but then again I live in a red state where both white supremacy and racial separatism are the rule instead of the exception. The Republican Party and Democratic Party are so much alike in my hometown, it's scary. Consequently, punk is hated by many in my hometown. In a huge way, I'm glad this bunch hates it. It's a win for the music and for me, imho.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

18. It is a sign that DU is multigenerational

because I have no idea what you are talking about!

And you don't need to explain. Some generational things are best left unexplained.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. "So, you 'rage against the machine', FOR the machine, do you?"

Daily Show is so great...

[JimmyJazz]

20. I have found the inverse of that to also be true. How can right wingers

be Clash fans and fans of other left leaning punk rock bands? And I know many that are. Like, DUDE, the album isn't called "Contra!" :crazy:

[ghostsofgiants]

29. Next band I'm in, I'm making sure we name our first recording "Contra!"

[Orsino]

21. If Savage has manged to sell him...

...on a "liberal establishment" of which he's a victim, then the drummer thinks he's being punk by opposing it, not realizing that he's just supporting the status quo.

[RandomKoolzip]

22. He's probably one of these assholes who's still stuck in the 80's and

thinks there's some "lazy liberal consensus" in the counterculture that needs to be eradicated, like Vincent Gallo or those "protestwarrior" dickcheeses. Trouble is, it's a counterculture PRECISELY because the prevailing culture is conservative....smart, creative kids escape into the refuge of punk rock because the rest of the world is possessed of a lazy conservative consensus. If it was 1976 again, and this kid's parents were following trends and smoking pot and "getting mellow," then I'd say, fine, sure, I can understand why he'd reach for a copy of National Review just to piss 'em off. But it's 2005, and that's no longer a cogent conduit for that kind of energy.

Punk's original signifiers (dissonance as opposed to "tasty licks," short hair as opposed to long hair, hyperactive gestures as opposed to laid back hippie sloth, etc) may have been a sensible, if reactionary, response to the prevailing, suffocatingly hippified culture of the 70's, but that day is looooooong past, over and done.

Just being conservative in a counterculture context is no longer the rebellious act it once was; you actually need intellectual rigor and a questioning nature to live outside the mainstream now (and the mainstream of the counterculture: it's not an oxymoron anymore), and the mainstream is thoroughly conservative as this country has ever been at this moment. Being merely reactionary is not enough; you need an ability to discern between real enemies and shadows. It's clear this kid hasn't done too much thinking on this subject.

The only real conservative who had something to say who also operated in the punk/countercultural waters was Joe Carducci, and even he was more of a libertarian than a Michael Savage-type. (his book, "Rock and the Pop Narcotic," is the best book EVER WRITTEN about Rock music, no kidding) Carducci had done the intellectual work necessary to get to that point. It's clear this little twerp hasn't. (Carducci was a conservative, AND probably the Minutemen's biggest fan; he connected on an aesthetic level, not a socilogical one, with the music of leftist punk/rockers, a delineation that is the crux of his tome).

[Zodiak]

24. This is a great post

Thank you from the bottom of my raging heart.

[RandomKoolzip]

25. You're welcome and thanks.

[PittPoliSci]

28. rw punks is soooooo sooooooooo predictably stupid.

[Rhiannon12866]

30. My pizza delivery guy likes him, too...

And he said the exact same thing, that he "tells the truth..." Yikes! I tried to explain to him that he's both bad news and crazy, but didn't get very far...:shrug:

[Zodiak]

31. Well, the punk rocker in my house wants....

to go to college and get himself a real education. I applauded that, and reminded him that spinmeisters like Michael Savage champion Bush's attempts to reduce his current buying power at his $7.00 an hour job and effectively put up barriers for him to go to school.

I also mentioned that his lack of health insurance was a direct result of right-wing policies at the top of our government and business communities, and that the weed he smokes is specificlly targeted by rightwingers to fill teir corporate prisons...what's more, a right-wing policy is going to make it impossible for him to get student loans because he has a single pot conviction on his record.

He didn't have much to say after that. I did.

I told him that it is incredibly stupid to cheerlead the very people who work 24/7 to make his life miserable. I was merciless, and I hope I gave him a thing or two to digest on the rest of his tour.

BTW.....this drummer is NO reflection of his band....my old friend proudly announced that he had the pleasure of voting against Bush AND Tom Delay in the last election cycle. I was proud of him because the last time he talked to me, he wasn't voting and wasn't interested in politics.

[AntiCoup2K4]

33. Republican "punks" are about as logical as Jewish nazis....

Or Black Klansmen.