So back to music. But rather than talk about why good music is good, I thought I’d have a crack at talking about why bad music is bad. The genre that immediately sprung to mind was punk rock.
Needless to say, I’m not a fan. I quite like some pop punk, like blink 182 and early sum41, a bit of Greenday, Jimmy eat world etc. basically the really commercial, well known stuff. But I think these bands are well known for a reason, because they’re the best in their genre, and even they aren’t anything spectacular.
But moving on from pop punk, to real punk rock. Basically, the old school bands like the sex pistols, and the newer bands, NOFX, No Use for a Name (worst band name ever by the way) etc. seem to have basically the same song writing techniques. String together a generic four chord sequence, whack some distortion on it, play really fast, and sing over it (more often than not out of tune) about how much the government sucks and the big bad corporations are taking over the world.
I just can’t help but think, jesus christ this music has been inflicted upon society for what, 30 years? Have they not run out of crap to moan about yet? And if they must voice their irrelevant opinions on current affairs through the medium of music, AT LEAST MAKE THE MUSIC GOOD! I mean really, I’m sure around 75% of punk rock songs are based around four chords, not necessarily the same chords, but all similar progressions, and have the same generic fast punk drum beat, with some pissed off, tone deaf idiot shouting/singing (I use the term singing very loosely) about how the world should change to how he wants it to be.
I mean, I get that this music is all about the attitude and the arrogance. I get that. But what i don’t understand is why anyone would want to go and see three/four/five musical simpletons slop their way through a set which requires the technical ability of a five year old and a couple of weeks of guitar lessons to play, essentially, up on their soapbox telling people how things should be.
AND, if they actually have a message worth hearing, a genuine political statement, then why put it across in such a way that will just make people switch off to it and say “what the hell is this crap?”. What’s wrong with the way Bob Dylan did it? He was one of the biggest political voices in music in his day because people could listen to him. Or if they want it to be a bit more energetic than acoustic folk music, why not just take a bit more care over the songs, maybe give them a touch more of a melodic feel, take care over the notes that the vocalist hits and actually make them sound like something people will want to listen to. Because to me, it sounds like these bands just throw a song together in 5 minutes and then say “yeah that’ll do, let’s just release that”.
In conclusion, I think punk rock sucks balls. With exceptions of course, no generalisation comes without exceptions, for example, the singer from bad religion is pretty damn good, and there are a few cool guitary bits in some NOFX songs, but mainly, it’s just relentless crap that refuses to stop sharing it’s unwanted opinions.
Though having said all that, I have kind of just generalised the whole genre based on the bands I’ve heard. If anyone can recommend any really good punk rock bands who they think can sway my opinion, I would like to go and check them out.
All the best people x
