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When punk began, it defined rebellion. If rock music was rebellious to begin with, punk was rebelling even against it, as punks refused to be tied to any traditions or bow before an icons. When Iggy Pop smeared peanut butter on himself, or rolled in broken glass, it was less to shock than to demonstrate punk’s infallibility, its nihilistic strength. Pop-punk in general, with its early-teen demographic and its mannered affectations, doesn’t have that kind of danger, pure and simple.
Pop-punk may not be total junk, but it’s not the genuine article, either. Kids who think that Thursday are rebels are sadly mistaken. This isn’t the Ramones fault, exactly, but they do deserve some of the blame. Even the hummable songs of the Ramones, however, included songs about sniffing glue; the way that punk is headed these days, with its collective focus on an elementary school audience, it is hard to imagine punk ever being truly dangerous again.
It was dangerous, once. As Lou Reed once said, “those were different times.” Times now limited, sadly, to worn-out vinyl records and the fading memories of aging punks who lived through a revolution.
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