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Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Do you think that punk is "nicer" than it was circa 1976-1986? If so, is that a good thing? A: I can't say, I wasn't really "aware" of punk until around 1995, so all my experience comes second hand. That said, from the stories all the old guys perpetuate I can't imagine it isn't a little nicer. Imagine Fat Mike's story about basically watching a woman get hauled off to get raped at a Vandals show. There's absolutely no way I see something like that happening now (maybe I'm just being naive).

As for it being a good thing, I think so. It definitely has two sides of the coin. Punk was a reaction to mainstream culture and during it's roots was pretty much a rejection of all things mainstream and accepted. While it made for some pretty dangerous and awful atmospheres, it also made for some genuinely artistic music. I can't imagine bands like Black Flag or Negative Approach played in the early 80's thinking they were ever going to make money off it. Even though the music industry was probably 10 times bigger than it is now, this music was just so commercially unviable that it wouldn't happen (mind you, I'm talking about bands that may have been a part of the "dangerous" scene, not bands that were already fairly accepted like The Ramones or The Clash). So, the music was probably much more from a place of genuine expression (where as the area for viable music is so skewed today that artists like Fucked Up are actually deemed a "success" [one love]).

But would I trade the safety of knowing I wasn't going to be raped for the knowledge that the dude on stage actually cared about what he was saying? No. Never, not in a million years. Physically safe trumps artistic integrity for me.

-Rich

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