Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #185
I have said this before in as many words but nothing has changed and my blood still boils so I'm going to say it again. FUCK "INDIE ROCK" FUCK "POST HARDCORE" I cannot believe that the most spineless and vacant music of the last two decades is marketing itself as having hardcore roots. The gloves are off. Step into the ring and you are going to the mat. This shit burns me up, it is straight up clobberin' time, as in open season on shit pop music.

I like to listen to the radio while I work. It helps to pass the time, and I can't be bothered to flip tapes all day. Until recently I listened to our local college radio station because I enjoyed the varied format and lack of commercials. However, I recently had to switch to a commercial hard rock station because the shitty college rock was driving me batty. When the beer commercials and spandex cock rock got too thick on the hard rock station I tried switching back to the College Station. It was then that it dawned on me. The indie rock crap they play on college stations these days is no longer REM and the Violent Femmes but so called Post Hardcore. It started to sink in that these were bands that my band has played with at "festivals." That this music was being sold hand over fist at the "DIY underground punk record collective" where I volunteer. Furthermore, I booked some of these bands at the Bombshelter. I have allowed the wool to be pulled over my eyes too long. No longer will I allow myself to be bamboozled into aiding and abetting the next generation of alternative rock. I used to tell myself, "I don't personally like this stuff, but diversity is good and the popularity of this music helps to pay the bills so that we can expose more underground and political bands." Well I was wrong. Why should I in the name of making a few extra bucks to support the true underground be supporting the next crop of major label rock bands whose masters would just as soon see me shot or rotting in prison. This is the establishment's fucking music and we are its boot camp. But me, no more, I won't participate.

It galls me to no end that these sappy wimpy lame bands with nothing to say have the out and out nerve to call themselves "Post Hardcore". The Get Up Kids, the Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, Braid, etc. this is all shit pop music. The music of Toto , Air Supply and REO Speedwagon that preceded it has more energy and intensity. Kool and the Gang have had more interaction with true Hardcore than any of these bands.* How can they claim Hardcore? If they claim hardcore roots than I am twice as pissed because he who turns his back on hardcore is a poser a sell out and if they previously claimed straight edge too then they are backsliders, and back stabbers too. But wait, maybe these bands have some deep political message and they are just trying to get the word out to more people through less aggressive music. Balderdash! There is more social commentary on the average Styx or Depeche Mode album than this garbage. When I attacked Avail and Fugazi in previous column it was pointed out that these bands have deep and relevant lyrics. So to test this little hypothesis I spun the new Fugazi Lp. Jumpin' Jesus on a Fucking Pogo Stick this was some of the worst shit I'd ever heard. It sounded like an atrocious third generation Yes or Traffic.** Fuck if there is some kind of message here I ain't gonna hear it because its subliminally wrapped in some "beautiful" 70's progressive rock. I always thought that punk rock arose in the 70's to slay the bloated and decadent beast that the music industry had become. To bring back the true rebellious spirit of bare bones rock and roll. The expression of teen angst boiling forth from every garage and basement in blue collar America. But twenty years later Punk rock has become that bloated and decadent beast. Bring me my sword, this means war. Slay the beast! Kick the sappy college rock out of hardcore and into arenas and FM radio where it belongs. I what I say is making you mad, good! Pack your up your backpack and leave because I was here first and there isn't enough room in this scene for the both of us.

Wait, Slow down, Felix. Look around. Lots of your friends listen to this music and enjoy it. Extreme Noise sells it, the same distributors which carry Havoc records sell it, Code 13 plays in the same venues etc. So my fate is somehow linked to that of Indie Rock?" What sad days we live in. The little compromises of ones integrity made along the way begin to make you question if you have both boots on the right side of the fence. I get enough of the system working my day job the last thing I want to do is support it in the so-called DIY underground music scene. The one thing I have not compromised is my right to complain (See above) Rock and Roll will not go down without a fight. For every college rock band that signs to a major label a hundred thrash bands will form in garages and basements across the nation.

As many of you may have guessed I identify with no contemporary political party, group or tendency. I would consider myself an anarchist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century tradition. I am happy to be the champion of a lost cause long ago cast on the dustheap of history. I'd rather keep the flame burning for a high minded concept which went down in defeat on the stage of world history in Spain in 1939, than to participate in supporting any of the systems of today. Several historical examples come to mind which help to clarify my political leanings. Theory and ideas are great but putting them into action is what counts where the rubber meets the road. The Mahknovist partisans of Ukraine circa 1918-1921 attempted to construct a revolutionary anarchist society during the Russian Civil War. The Anarchists of the CNT-FAI pushed a program of militant syndicalism and social revolution in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. Lastly, Jules Bonnot and a gang of anarchist "illegalists" took their particular brand of Stirner influenced pre-situationism to the streets in a fast paced rash of bank robberies in Paris on the eve of the Great War. The Spanish Guerrilla Francisco Sabate kept up the fight against the Franco regime well into the 1950's. I would recommend the following books quite highly, most informative and inspiring. Paz, Abel, Durruti The People Armed (New York: Free Life, 1977.) Peirats, Jose, Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution (London: Freedom, 1990) Tellez, Antonio Sabate Guerilla Extraordinary (London: Cienfuegos, 1974) Arshinov, Peter, History of the Mahknovist Movement (Detroit: Black and Red, 1974) Voline The Unknown Revolution (Free Life: New York, 1974) Parry, Richard, The Bonnot Gang (London: Rebel, 1987) Also of great interest: Adamic, Louis, Dynamite, a Century of Class Violence in America 1830-1930 (London: Rebel, 1984) Bayer, Osvaldo, Anarchism and Violence (London: Elephant, 1986) Vague, Tom, Tlevisionaries the Red Army Faction Story (San Francisco, AK Press, 1994) Vague, Tom, Anarchy in the UK, the Angry Brigade (San Francisco: AK Press, 1997) Of course you won't find these in the corporate bookstore at the mall. Try AK Press or a University library. Careful study of the above mentioned works will reveal a pattern at work. These were all ordinary working class (and in some cases declasse intellectual) people who took up arms and fought for freedom. From the militant striker's posse, to the revolutionary armies of Spain and Russia to the urban guerrilla of the 1970's and 80's violence has been used as a tool to fight for freedom and to strike at the symbols of power. Which brings me back to the question of violence and armed struggle I've been addressing these last few months. Specifically I'd like to respond to the letter written by Gardner in issue 180. Gardner is advocating gun control and disarming the American people. He takes issue with gun toting punks and their macho posturing. My position on weapons and the armed populace are well known, I addressed the issue in Profane Existence a few years ago. I will however offer some comments on this letter.

Gardner approaches the issue from a viewpoint that I find quite disturbing. He advocates disarming the American people so that the police can deal with problems with a "less heavy hand" using Europe as an example. Slow the fuck down. Europe is not America and I'm sick of people describing it like there's some sort of Socialist utopia going on over there. Europe just does not have the same unequal distribution of wealth and racial strife that America does. Furthermore, Switzerland is very heavily armed with most adult males having military weapons in the home, yet has a low crime rate. I only went to Europe once, (and it was to a communist country) but from what I know the government and the cops over there are just as full of shit as ours over here. I strongly feel that since ancient Greece the amount of individual liberties enjoyed by a population is frequently linked to their bearing arms. You think we have few rights now, wait until the population is disarmed, the police and courts will be riding roughshod over what few freedoms we still have. Given the choice between being unarmed with a set of rights administered by a supposedly benevolent state and being armed with those same supposed rights, I'll choose the insurance of being armed. An armed populace is check on the potential abuse of authority by the state. It is a sad commentary on the degeneration of the value most Americans place on their liberties that they have long ago exchanged most of them for the guarantee of security administered by a corrupt state. Things have been going down hill in this country since the Whisky Rebellion. Gardner states "I have a lot more faith at this point in time in the American government than in the masses of the American people" This is a ludicrous statement. I have a hard time understanding that there are so many people in the punk scene who really fucking believe in the system and support it. You really think the government cares about you? Smell the coffee bro' the system is all about protecting the interests of the elite, Big Business, Corporations, and the Establishment. Your role is to be a producer and consumer of commodities to make someone else rich, a taxpayer, and occasionally a soldier for the system. Your "masses are asses" approach gives the ordinary working people less credit than they deserve. You have been brainwashed by the system into thinking you need it to protect you from your neighbors. You open the door for authoritarian rule when you are so quick to give up your rights to feel safe. "Less Guns, Less Murder" I think not. People will kill each other with what ever is at hand for the same reasons they have always killed each other greed, money, jealousy and power. Indeed, I don't think crime in America is nearly as bad as the media wants to scare us into thinking. Most of what we call crime today is the result of our societies hypocritical drug laws. The idea that gun control will reduce crime has been thoroughly discredited by criminologists. I grew up in Washington DC which has very strict gun control laws yet guns are still everywhere. Your system has made drugs illegal, yet I can walk out my door and score any drug I want in minutes. You think it would be different with guns? I will agree with Gardner on the need for constructive social change within the current order. That is building the alternative society within the shell of the old. Grassroots social activism is always something I have advocated, building trust and co-operation between working people outside the system. Right on. One misconception I would like to clear up is that I support the NRA. I don't and for this reason, in the 1960's in California several crucial gun control cases went through the courts that the NRA did not put their weight behind because the defendants were Black Panthers and Hells Angels. The NRA is a full of shit Establishment organization with no balls. I have about as much in common with most NRA members as with most sports fans, TV viewers or Christians: that is little or nothing.

The above argument has gotten me to thinking about this. It seems in this day and age there is no Code of Honor in the punk scene. Bourgeoisie thinking has crept so far into the scene that there are people who believe in the cops, support the system etc. buying punk records and going to shows. This shouldn't be surprising since punk long ago lost most of its rebellious impetus and has degenerated into meaningless fashion. However, I would offer these simple rules to live by 1. Never call the cops, they always cause more problems than they solve. 2. Never talk to the cops unless you absolutely have to. And most importantly: 3. NEVER, NEVER Rat out a pal. When you give the cops information you cross the line into their camp and you are the lowest of the fucking low a stoolie, a rat, and a snitch. If this is not something you learned growing up, I pity you, but its time to catch up. As Leeway once said, "Snitches get stitches" so keep it under your hat.

Last month I gave my picks for tough guy hardcore this months music bit is dedicated to New School Straight Edge Hardcore. That is the 1987-89 era as opposed to the old school of 1981-83. Or to use a more contemporary term 88 style hardcore. I was a straight edge kid in the early 80's and lost the edge for several years until at age 24 I decided to turn my life around and get back in step with the positive youth. Much had changed in the interim as I discussed in Heart Attack a while back. To this day my preference is still for Old School Straight Edge such as Minor Threat, the Faith, SSDecontrol, Government Issue, Seven Seconds, etc. If however, I were to choose from the newer crop of SE bands it would be without a doubt Youth of Today and Chain of Strength. Without a doubt Youth of Today is one of the most powerful and positive hardcore bands ever. Every record is straight-ahead full on fast hardcore with NO METAL INFLUENCE, something that has corrupted most contemporary SE. YOT were pretty prolific with 7"s, LPs' and comp tracks-to my mind not a weak song among them. You might think a cynical guy like me would think YOT's lyrics are hokey but to tell the truth it doesn't matter because you can feel the conviction, the energy, and the emotion in every song. This is high energy hardcore, I saw YOT several times and although I was fucked up back then I still could feel the energy and I had to move. I almost understand where all that wearing athletic clothing to shows got started trying to mosh in my bondage pants, boots and studded motorcycle jacket. Hardcore in the mid to late 80's was on the verge of dying out, two new genres breathed life into it on opposite ends of the spectrum Crust and SE. The two forces collided at the now legendary Misery/ Youth of Today show in 1988. Today's youth united at last. Of course YOT became hugely influential spawning legions of other bands all of whom seemed to me to play slower and with less energy. Chain of Strength from Cali clocked in with only two 7"s but they are so heavy and powerful I can't stop spinning them ten years later. Really brutal and powerful hardcore, totally full of energy. When I listen to this kind of hardcore my pulse quickens, my breathing picks up and I start to run in a circle with my X'd fist in the air. If you are straight or not this music is totally killer, inspiring and full of force. I pity the backslider who stabs the scene in the back. Hardcore is here to stay!

*Kool and the Gang's Hollywood Swingin' was covered by the Big Boys.
**I recently scored two Traffic albums from a local dumpster which I must say are better than the new Fugazi LP.
***Brian Dibbllee and students of philosophy everywhere: I intentionally misquoted Nietzsche because sometimes a misunderstood idea has more impact on the course of events than its author's original intentions. I took a few philosophy classes and I know what Nietzsche was trying to say. I also know how he was misinterpreted. That which does not kill us......

Publication Date:
January 1, 1988

Previous | All articles in this category | Next