The Savage Animal 10.07.09: The Rise and Fall of Punk

Posted by Mikey MiGo on 10.07.2009

Who is the blame for the regression of punk music? In this edition of The Savage Animal, 411’s Mikey MiGo takes a look at the history of punk music. How hard did it fall? Click to find out!



The first, really premature promotional trailer is now up for my third independent movie, "Upping The Ante". This is far from the "official trailer", but I wanted to get something out there while we wait on the last shooting day to wrap this project up:


I was playing around in the internet archive and checking out some of my old websites and things like that. Just because a website is gone doesn't necessarily mean it's vanished from the annals of time. I started looking at my "wrestling career" from the early part of the decade. I came across an interview where a certain current WWE main eventer not only "shat talked" me, but flat out name dropped.

As a request of "someone", here is the snippet of the October 2001 interview from the now defunct "Chicagowrestling.com":

AL: So what makes the scene like this?

CM Punk: I don't this to be construed as me standing behind a computer and talking behind somebody's back. ... but we have a wrestling commission that does absolutely nothing to promote wrestling, or regulate it, in my opinion.

You've got a guy like Mikey Migo... but he's in Indiana.

AL: Lawless Indiana.

CM Punk: Lawless Indiana indeed. He's talking and acting like he wants to be a little Vince McMahon. Not paying his dues. Not taking baby steps before he starts running.
Full Interview and Credits Here

So yeah, I was barely six months out of high school at 18 years old. While many friends were going off to college or seeking a trade career, I was a professional wrestling promoter. It's not like I just woke up and decided "what the hell, I'm going to start a promotion". I broke down rings, traveled, did "security", did music, and did whatever I could to help "the biz". I didn't consider this to be "paying my dues". I did it because I love professional wrestling. The more I looked around, the less appealing it was to follow the old guard. So flat out, I gave up my late teens and early twenties to pursue something different. With each show that passed, mind you I was only on show number three, I learned from mistakes and created my own way of working and running. If Indiana had a commission at the time, I STILL would have done my damnedest to make it happen. MEW lasted four years and I shut it down myself. I could have kept going with it, but the financial burden it was putting on me and the fact that professional wrestlers in general aren't exactly the "best of people" made it easy to move on to other creative ventures. I don't consider it quitting at all. My "wrestling career" is merely on hold. I'm only 26 and can honestly claim I used to run an independent wrestling promotion. I'm proud of that feat and wouldn't trade it for anything. Rise or fall, I took a risk that many people double my age wouldn't. Baby steps are for pussies. I just never saw a need to spout off what "dues" I paid. They tell you at an early age that "you can be anything you want to be" and to "go for it". I went for it. And that's that.

And now for a completely unrelated topic…

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THE RISE AND FALL OF PUNK
"I'll probably end up blaming Green Day…"
There are many varied opinions on what "punk" is. What used to seem as clear as day has wandered off into a huge depressing mess. I was never a big fan of the "punk" genre. That is until I actually went back and listened to the old stuff. Growing up with the "punk" scene in the 90's just wasn't my cup of tea and didn't exactly make me want to run out to my nearest CD store to pick up a Sex Pistol's album. Now, it's probably even worse. You have bands that are labeled as "punk" being said to not be punk at all. Many would say the day punk got on MTV was the day punk wasn't punk anymore. That's why we're here today. We're going to take a look into the history of punk music and see just how badly it's regressed.


First we have to go over the common characteristics. Well, at least the roots. Punk rock is the original alternative. The music is loud, fast, and aggressive. The chaotic tone of "antiestablishment" and "anarchy" filled the air. The sentiment of the Sex Pistol's slogan "No Future" rang in the unwashed ears of the entire community. The "look" of punk can be summed up in one word… "Dirty". While they'd claim they didn't care about their image, they sure as hell had a conformist uniform by the time the scene expanded. "Real punks" and the "posers" pretty much dressed the same. It seemed to border between "DIY" and "this is what I just woke up in" for the attire. Liberty spikes, leather, ripped up shirts with safety pins, and anything that'll spark some controversy or second looks just seemed to be the norm. The music, which not very technical and sometimes not even musical, was basically just there for the disenfranchised youth. If you think about it, that last sentence has been true for just about every other popular "rebellious" form of music; metal, grunge, and gangsta rap specifically. We all know the commercialization hell that those three genres devolved to. Just like every other interesting fact about these "defiant" genres… Punk did it first.


They say it starts in 1969 with Michigan's MC5 and The Stooges. I've listened to The Stooges catalogue and to me they were better that their spawn. There's still some resemblance of melody and the blues inspired tones made it much easier to take in. While many wouldn't say these two acts were flat out punk, they will say that they kicked the movement into action. In the 70's the club, CBGB opened in New York. From there things just snowballed. Bands and artists like Patti Smith, Ramones, Blondie, The Dictators, The Voidoids, and The Heartbreakers all came up. In the UK there was The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Siouxie & the Banshees, and others more than holding their own within the genre. At this point, things still seemed fresh and on track by being off track. These are the bands who are often cited as the pioneers of punk. I've heard most of them and I do appreciate their work. They didn't come off as if they were trying to fit a specific "punk" mold and all pretty much did their own thing and did it well. The simplistic notes, aggressive speed, and shared space are pretty much the sum of their connection. This would change.


More and more bands formed and adopted the punk scene as their home base. With every new punk band that came out the gene pool became more and more diluted. While at this point, there was a lot more variety and individuality within the scene it was already showing signs of conformity. The Sex Pistols were getting tons of attention. Their appearances sparked controversy and the media ate it up. Their antics became the story more than their message. With suburbia getting a whiff of the stench of city chaos, punks days were officially numbered. The Ramones progressed and their music became more accessible. This was dawn of "pop punk", which has digressed into what most hate about the genre today. Pseudo-scenes were popping up all over. The idea of rebellion started getting confused with merely being an asshole. The already hard to define punk genre then became even more diluted as more and more subgenres were coming out. "New Wave" came to life as a spawn of punk, but soon would pull away and become its own thing. Hardcore punk, pop punk, and traditional punk all started to scatter. "Hardcore" seemed to be a precursor of metal as Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, and others were heavy thrashers. "Ska Punk", "Skate Punk", "Nazi Punk", and even "Christian Punk" all took their own places. "You could open a window, throw a rock, and most likely not hit anything. But within a short distance of your failed toss you'd find a band that claimed the punk movement as an influence. At this point it just seemed that the party was over and everyone went home and took what they got out of it with them.


The 90's damn near killed punk music. "Pop Punk" became a virus that infected many ears during this time. Green Day Bad Religion, NOFX, Rancid, and Sublime brought punk to the masses. They dressed and acted like "punk", but their styles were conventional and just as stereotypical as any other mainstream genre. There's some good, no great music from these bands but it's not the same as the CBGB/UK scenes from years before. The rebellion was traded for tour riders and the DIY was replaced by prefabricated fashions. The dive bars and small shows were replaced by the Warped Tour. This spills over to the late 90's and early 00's as Blink 182, Sum 41, and Good Charlotte all blew up. The roots faded even more so as these bands were typical blandness of pop rock, only they woke eyeliner or claimed the old school punk movement as their muse. At this point "punk" wasn't a style anymore, but a marketing campaign.


By now, unless you're really digging deep for it all you're going to find out there is this "pop punk" style. With stores like Hot Topic, the fashion became mass produced. With radio and TV pushing it, the antiestablishment of punk put on their Sunday's finest and joined the herd mentality. The more recent "pop punk" acts would have been humiliated by the older groups. In an attempt to regain some actual substance, punk was fused with emo. Basically, the sentiment has become "Lets rebel and then cry ourselves to sleep". Yeah, I'm talking about "My Chemical Romance" and "Fall Out Boy" specifically. To me the best way to describe their music is "Disney punk". The vocals sound the same and the individuality is something of the past. So commercial and so artificial that tweens and under developed teens can sing a long and latch onto "the scene". Instead of liberty spikes we have the exaggerated Hitler hair. Instead of safety pins we have razor blades. Instead of aggressive songs about the government we have cliché and tongue-in-cheek chart toppers. This has to be exactly what Iggy Pop had in mind, right?


I'm not clinging on to the past here. I'm not "old school punk" or "an angry old man". If anything, I'm an outside observer. And to be fair, I'm not claiming to be an historian of punk music either. I'm a supporter of the idea of punk music, but the execution of recent years always turned me away from ever giving it the same attention I've given other genres. The point here is to figure out WHY punk music has decayed into exactly what it was rebelling against from the start.


Who do YOU blame for the regression of punk music? A specific band? The labels? The teeny-boppers? Time, itself? Who?


Can anyone clean up this mess or is it another lost cause? Time will tell…

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RANDOM VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Whoa! There IS good new artists on the horizon after all!
"Trophy" by Bat For Lashes (NJ/7.24.07)

The 411: I can't get enough "Bat For Lashes". It's pretty cool to discover newer artists. I was watching Jimmy Fallon a few months ago and this band was on. Normally unless I'm already a fan, I don't give the musical guests much of a chance. I'm glad I did in this case. This is from their first album, but still probably my favorite of theirs. The voice is amazing and the brooding music only compliments that. Their bigger and more recent hit is "Daniel", but the chorus of "heaven is a feeling I get in your arms" has gotten stuck in my head on more than a few occasions in the past few weeks of exposing myself to their work. If you like this song you should check out both of their albums.

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RANDOM MOVIE REVIEW IN 411 WORDS OR LESS
"AWAY WE GO"
STARRING JOHN KRASINSKI & MAYA RUDOLPH

The 411: This movie is much better than the "hand drawn font/soft indy music" trailer it had. I love me some Maya Rudolph. Her work on SNL was great and I feel truly underappreciated in comparison to the praise that Amy and Tina got and still do. To me, she was better than both but I was still weary because this movie is obviously a drama. I'm just recently getting into the US version of "The Office" as it's syndicated on like every other channel so I've never really had a reason to be a fan of John Krasinski. Together, Rudolph and Krasinski are a great pairing and made this movie a pleasure to watch. They play a young-ish couple who's expecting their first baby. The plot of the movie revolves around them traveling the US and a quick stop in Canada in pursuit of the best place to settle down and make a home for themselves and their child. The personalities and characters they encounter are fun and have a good amount of depth. With the supporting cast being made up of Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney, Pail Schnider, Carmen Ejogo, Chris Messina, Melanie Lynskey, Josh Hamilton, and fellow "regionite" Jim Gaffigan it's hard to not enjoy this segmented movie. The depth and relationship of Krasinski and Rudolph is pretty great. Some reviews claimed them to be a little condescending and uppity, but I didn't see it that way. All of the other characters are just a bit too "off". It's not as if the couple know who they are yet, but seem to have a better grip on reality than the others in their own worlds. My main issue is that they are poor. They complain about having cardboard for a window and then they magically have money to finance a huge road trip, plane tickets, and all of that. I don't believe that was every explained and just didn't make sense. Overall, the movie is charming and has tons of heart. The acting is good and the characters have lots of vigor. I've already suggested this movie to a few of my friends and will do the same to YOU. If you're down for an independent feeling romantic drama with lots of quirky comedy then this is for you. You're not going to develop any new speech patterns like 90% of the girls who have seen Juno, but you'll appreciate it.

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WRESTLING WITH PILLOWS
Looking Out From the Inside.
"Hell In The Cell" came and went and it'll surely be forgotten as WWE has PPV's every time I blink these days. Soon enough, Vince will just deduct the bi-weekly PPV money from your checks at work. Once I saw that Punk/Taker was the first match I instantly thought that it meant that Punk was going to go over and they didn't want to send the crowd home pissed off. That or they're just really going to baby Undertaker's lack of physical endurance. Yep. That last one was it. Taker won in a "meh" match up. They really didn't utilize the cell outside of normal "I'm going to bang your head into the side" type of cage bullshit. Taker is normally bad ass in these matches while Punk is normally innovative, so this was a pretty big letdown. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. The "screw job" from last PPV means nothing now. Nothing was blown off. Now when Punk wins again, he'll be like a three or four time champion. Not that he's not a valid main eventer, but becoming a three or four time champion shouldn't come within three or four years in wrestling. Why not take some baby steps? Thankfully, Morrison and Ziggler was next and they had a good match. I'd of liked of seen THIS be the first match of the show, but spacing out the cell matches is understandable. Morrison and Ziggler went back and forth and it felt like a real IC Title Match. The ones from the 80's and 90's where the belt meant something and the matches were almost always the best of the show. Morrison retains, but Dolph walks out with that much more legitimacy and experience. Both men, especially Morrison, are going to easily become main eventers with matches like this. I completely missed the Diva match. People on the comments and boards say this kind of match is a "piss break" and for me it literally was. I had to pee about half way through the IC title match and was doing the "I gotta pee dance" by the end of it. I come back and it's over. Mickie won. That's cool I suppose. The Tag Title match was about as good as a Batista match can be. No matter how awesome Jericho is, how capable Show is, or how "exciting" Rey can be… it was a very decent "basic" match. I've enjoyed just about all the MVP/Henry vs. Jericho/Show matches… hell, even the Cryme Tyme matches about ten times more than this one. Sadly, the same can be said for Orton and Cena. I've seen then do better in normal singles matches than with the "Cell" gimmick behind it. It ended up being a solid match, but nothing to write home about. The fact that Orton won makes me happy, but he'll just lose it in another attempt to spike the buys in about two months. I'd be shocked to see Orton walk into Survivor Series as champion and I'll literally piss myself if he leaves it champ. Cena's facial reactions at the end of the match were pretty good acting. I'd be cool with him going heel, but I'm not going to hold my breath or bet my bladder control on it anytime soon. Amazingly enough, the R-Truth/McIntyre match was pretty decent. The crowd was meh for it, but it was an above par "filler match". The US Title Three Way rivaled the IC Title match in terms of "my favorite match of the night". It wasn't quite as good, but I'm happy as hell to see that the midcard of the WWE is in great hands. People can bitch and moan about the quality of WWE right now, but in ten years people are going to be looking back on this time period wishing it was back. Sorta in the same vein we all wish the "Smackdown 6" was back. To the IWC, yesterday was great, today sucks, and tomorrow is hopeless. I accept that's the mentality, but that doesn't mean I have to go with it. The main event actually felt like a main event. To say that and have DiBiase and Rhodes involved says a lot for the not too distant future. Say "of course because Triple H is in the match" all you want, but this has been the most interesting feud in the entire company in a while. The brawl at start was fun and then to lock HBK in the ring with Legacy was perfect. It makes them seem vile and by having Shawn as their bump machine it only adds to their credibility. Shawn Michaels is the best the business has ever seen and just by the sell job he did for the brutal beating shows that. Triple H comes back and Michaels is magically okay. The cool little thing was that Shawn thought smart enough to bring the cutters back into the cell. From there it was "Kill Cody" time. We get a super kick/sledge hammer combo for the big "go home happy" finish. As good as it was, it pales in comparison of the other PPV matches they've recently had. Overall, same ol' soup, just reheated. I wasn't looking for people to "pull a Foley" or try any big stunts, but with any gimmick match keeping it fresh is crucial. Outside of a couple bland cage spots, it was basically just normal matches inside the "the nine hundred feet tall, forty ton" structure. No blood, crazy spots, or really any memorable moments AT ALL. Next year, they might as well call it "Heck in a Super Cage".

RAW was decent. I'm not one to biasly love RAW anymore. When it sucks, it sucks ass but I don't think it's as consistently bad as many would claim it to be. TNA on the other hand just about always sucks when I watch it. There's so much talent being wasted there that it's painful to watch. "Big Ben" was easily one of the top three or so hosts of RAW so far. He had fun with it, seemed natural on the mic, and interacted very nicely with the wrestlers. The offensive line back up scenario was perfect. The NFL season is going on right now. For them to risk being hurt would be a HORRIBLE idea for them and the WWE. Just think if a NFL star got hurt on their show. Who'd want to host it then in risk of losing their day job pay check? So for them to play up their "intimidation" factor was right on the money and got the job done. The Miz is the new US Champion, but Kofi is still probably my favorite "up and comer" on the roster. Let them feud for awhile and dammit… give us a US Title LADDER MATCH. Swagger seems to be set for a "repush", which I'm cool with. DX vs. "Jerishow"(I wanted to avoid that name, but Show used it) should be fun. I like both teams and it could fun. Let DX take the belts off them and then let Legacy get it from them quickly after. I don't know why at all, but I'm actually interested in the Iron Man Match. This is coming from a guy who blacks out and ignores any segment that Cena is part of. Their promo hyping up their feud made me care… but then I realized something. John Cena used pretty much THE SAME EXACT PROMO when feuding with Edge. Seriously, the SAME EXACT PROMO. What the eff!

My "fantasy booking" of the week would be how to handle DX situation. It can't and shouldn't last forever. I'd like to see Michaels go heel. It's long overdue and his heel work in the 90's is what made me love the guy. So basically they should just keep having Michaels take all the heat and get beat up A LOT. Finally, he snaps and turns on Triple H. The reason is because he feels that Triple H brought him back to do the dirty work and that he'd of physically been better off sticking with cooking or whatever trivial job he was doing when he was "away". So now he's fed up and not being Triple H's "whipping boy" any longer. I like this idea, but at any rate I just want the heels Michaels back one more time.

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CHECK THIS OUT! [CHEAP PLUGS]
Things I do while not writing this column.

Add "UPPING THE ANTE" on Myspace!

That's all for this week. I came into this week's column pretty unprepared. I was having a writer's block when it came to settling on a topic, but I'm satisfied with the way things went. Anything that makes me have to really buckle down and think about is worthwhile and mostly fun. Hopefully, that transcended and YOU got something out of it too. I have a handful of ideas that'll get us through the month. Should be a fun winter! Until next time… Have a Great Week!