Recently, I railed against middle-aged men trying too hard to be cool (and somehow got a response from the guy who incited the rant, but that's another story), a little incredulous at how individuals in the music sphere missed the boat on "just being yourself," an adage that is now pounded into our heads with a mighty p.c. hammer. But it happens anyway (and no, I'm not talking about Bob here anymore). So maybe it's a little hypocritical of me to celebrate a guy in his mid-30s, and a band in their late 20s, that still express themselves through the rather teenaged medium of punk rock.
By most accounts, punk, if you ever get "into it," is a phase. Loud, three-minute fits of anger, with simple guitar chords (only majors and minors please), directed at the usual culprits - figures of authority, society, asshole girlfriends, shitty bands/record labels that are doing it wrong, sometimes all of those at once - are exciting only for so long. For many, the sound turns old, the rhetoric gets tired, and the scene degenerates into something decidedly un-punk. It gets really annoying when a drunken mohawked asshole berates you for not being as "punk" as he is and scoffs at your not having a safety needle in your lip (notice not one of the bands in the videos ever donned this look, naturally). Thankfully, a lot of present-day punk casts off these "purists" as the haters/posers they are. What's upsetting though, is that the music itself has turned into aggro-simpleton hard rock (gracias, distortion pedals) or whiny mall-punk. And it's awful. Even a band like Green Day, which has the chops and smarts for this, hasn't quite delivered. To my knowledge, only Fugazi and some of the slew of lesser known hardcore and post-hardcore bands have maintained any of the DIY spirit while putting out solid material. But as their subgenre name implies, many of these guys are way too serious and cold for most listeners.
So all that's why I feel the need to celebrate two recent records (one that is yet to be released, so thank you, internet, for the early goods) that tap into the "real" punk ethic with, for a change, excellent music. The Thermals' new disc, "The Body, the Blood, the Machine," is mostly a paranoid vision of a fundamentalist-Christian-run world (the idea obviously induced by a current president). At the risk of being taken too seriously (this video should put that to rest), the band saw the wealth of material in the concept, and the inherent romanticism of trying to escape a Jesus-crazy planet (occasionally with your loved one) is tough to deny. Not one of the songs on this record is even close to being musically radical or innovative, but it's done so well and with a heaping dose of intelligence (see: subtle church organ to kick off opener, "Here's Your Future") that I just don't care.
To a lesser extent, that last bit can be applied to the other guy I'm pushing today, one of my personal heroes, Ted Leo. Most of his songs have always been relatively simple-sounding, but he's one hell of a guitarist, and his best compositions always have a unique flourish or approach. Also, the themes are rather high-brow as far as present-day punk goes, which is clearly more endearing to nerdy fans like myself. The guy is a bit of a hardcore leftist, which is tough to swallow at times, but he always means well, and his passion hits you like this (I'm youtube-happy today, sorry), especially live. I was a little disappointed with the last record, as he seemed to have dumbed down his act a little, in favor of directness, but the new songs are almost all great, with some expanding on his already versatile palette. If you were ever a punk fan and feel that ship sailed off long ago, this might be your way back. I promise, the kids won't laugh at you for it.
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