November 2008 Editorial

I took this picture not more than a mile from where my wife and I live. It turns out that this area is truly so conservative that even the street walkers are Republicans.  Unfortunately for the Hookers it looks like now that Obama won they will have to head back to doing what they do best: selling their bodies on the blvd.

Speaking of campaigners whoring out their causes, this week Big Wheel was barraged by political advertisements. According to Google, Punks and members of other “youth cultures” are part of a demographic that campaigns were actively targeting during this election. We must be moving up in the world. Anyway needless to say as soon as the site administration could address the ads being put up on the site, some angry phone calls were made.

Over the years many opportunists have viewed Punk as a sales demographic. Of course there is nothing wrong with making money while doing what you love, but things get sticky when you are an outsider making a profit off of what others create. It’s important to be vigilant in a consumer culture and to try to remember that putting a flashy logo on a piece of shit does not make it smell any better. Most of what the mainstream media and music industry try to pass off as Punk is so far removed from what we’re interested in that it’s laughable.

It’s always funny to talk to people who were into Punk at one point in their lives and then moved on. They almost always give some kind of “back in the day” rant about how things were so tough when they were Punks and how things are so much easier for the younger generations. The subtext of what they are saying really just shows that they are so out of touch that they don’t understand that there is an underground existing separately from the Sum 41’s and Good Charlottes. Just like New Wave had nothing to do with hardcore in the 80’s pop Punk has nothing to do with hardcore today. And just like the mainstream ignored anything authentic then they still ignore anything with substance now. It’s just not worth the effort to try to understand things that are unmarketable.

We’re still at a point where cops show up whenever there’s a Punk show and if they can find a reason to shut it down they almost always will. Punk rock kids still get picked on in school and by their parents. The difference now is that to add insult to injury they people messing with them are often wearing clothes bought at Hot Topic. It’s cool to play Punk rock dress up, but it will never be cool to BE Punk rock, despite what the clueless and jaded may believe.

Make no mistake;  Any time that the mainstream tries to absorb anything from subcultures they will only take what can be understood at face value. Furthermore any politician that tries to reach Punks through advertising will turn his back on us and try to get our venues shut down after the votes have been tallied . Any outside businessman who tries to use Punk rock as a marketing tool will move on when the next big thing comes around. So leave the whoring to the Hookers, the pimping to politicians and keep Punk rock out of it.

-Ditch-
Asst. Editor