Punk … for credit

[Dr. Medulla]

Hello,

I recall being in Albany, NY during the best years of punk ('79-'82) in my experiences. There were one or two punk bars which had bands on the occasional evening. After a while, more and more people started showing up at the places (288 Lark and the Rockin' Chateau Lounge). The original denizens disliked all these others realizing what was going on was pretty cool. The originals hated it but the owners of the bars felt it was oka - surviving financially. I guess it had to happen.

The problem of having the identity of an outsider is that when insiders take an interest, the tendency is to just abandon what it is you love rather than share it. It's the status that matters more. Punk is especially susceptible to this, where most conventional measures of success become marks of failure.

[revbob]

Hello,

I recall being in Albany, NY during the best years of punk ('79-'82) in my experiences. There were one or two punk bars which had bands on the occasional evening. After a while, more and more people started showing up at the places (288 Lark and the Rockin' Chateau Lounge). The original denizens disliked all these others realizing what was going on was pretty cool. The originals hated it but the owners of the bars felt it was oka - surviving financially. I guess it had to happen.

The problem of having the identity of an outsider is that when insiders take an interest, the tendency is to just abandon what it is you love rather than share it. It's the status that matters more. Punk is especially susceptible to this, where most conventional measures of success become marks of failure.

Isn't part of it the inevitable watering down/homegenization/neutering etc of the original music that turns the original crowd off? Especially with punk, the attempt to smooth down all those sharp/rough edges into something marketable for mass appeal/consumption.

[Dr. Medulla]

Hello,

I recall being in Albany, NY during the best years of punk ('79-'82) in my experiences. There were one or two punk bars which had bands on the occasional evening. After a while, more and more people started showing up at the places (288 Lark and the Rockin' Chateau Lounge). The original denizens disliked all these others realizing what was going on was pretty cool. The originals hated it but the owners of the bars felt it was oka - surviving financially. I guess it had to happen.

The problem of having the identity of an outsider is that when insiders take an interest, the tendency is to just abandon what it is you love rather than share it. It's the status that matters more. Punk is especially susceptible to this, where most conventional measures of success become marks of failure.

Isn't part of it the inevitable watering down/homegenization/neutering etc of the original music that turns the original crowd off? Especially with punk, the attempt to smooth down all those sharp/rough edges into something marketable for mass appeal/consumption.

I think that comes afterwards. Once mainstream people find the edgy stuff appealing, the corporate interests see that there might be money to be made and start corrupting the originally edgy stuff. Think about hip hop, especially the harsh West Coast stuff. When it was discovered in the late 80s that white kids were buying it, the labels went all in but also initiated a process whereby the brutal social critique was pushed down in favour of the fantasy racial tourism of bitches and ho's and guns on the street. That kind of stuff does lead the original people to go find something else, but I think it starts earlier, when the "wrong people" want in (e.g,, so-called weekend punks).