us with a message to the punk community. I humbly invite you to click READ MORE and see what's up. His rant addresses a lot of the shit-talking that's been going on here recently.
Hereâs a message to the entire punk scene, so listen up!
I believe it was 1996 or 1997 when I first started listening to this music known as punk rock. My gateway to punk was that similar of most kids my age at the time; we heard bands like the Offspring, Green Day, and Rancid ripping up the air waves with this music that seemed to have a better message about respecting others, having fun, and being yourself as opposed to looking cool, doing drugs, and making money. From those bands, the Offspring in particular, I found Nitro Records and from there it was like a domino effect of me getting into more and more punk rock. I donât know about a lot of you but this music really appealed to me because the message that I received was "It doesnât matter who you are, weâre going to accept you for who you are."
Itâs been 5 or 6 years since I first felt that message and it was strong then. I realized that in life it doesnât matter what you look like, who you try to impress, how "cool" you are, none of that stuff matters in the real world. Those traits are always going to be coveted by some people, thatâs just their natural mentality. But as punks we are supposed to be better than that and realize that weâre all the same.
In todayâs punk scene I see that message dying and fast. I am a regular reader of this site and I do comment on subjects I have an issue on. What I notice a lot as I do skim through the comment sections is tons and tons of immature adolescent slandering. Not just "Hey youâre gay!" but "Hey youâre gay because you like the Dropkick Murphyâs!" From a stupid comment like that only branches one of the most retarded arguments that anyone could possibly read. This wouldnâtâ be a problem if it occurred once every couple of weeks, but it happens EVERYDAY and on EVERY ARTICLE!
I don't know if you people noticed but a lot of punk songs are about being that outcast in school and always getting made fun of and how it sucks and we should all forget that garbage for unity. Did you ever hear a song like that?
Well I'd hate to break it to you but making fun of some kid because he likes Dashboard Confessional, hating someone because she only first heard the Dead Kennedyâs two weeks ago, harassing a 15 year old because there mom drops them off at the show and picks them up only makes you as good as a jock that pushes you down the steps, brakes your glasses, and further continues humiliating you in front of the entire school.
Iâm not saying this about everyone in the scene because I know there is a lot of good out there, but in general the punk scene is going to dumps. Itâs sad because as bands continue to make great music, new genres pop up, and other music boundaries are being broken we have bigots who canât respect someoneâs opinion about which bands sounds good to them.
To all of you that fit that description please donât label yourself a punk, because youâre giving me and the other people in this scene a bad name.