Anyone else find punk to be pretentious?

[Mothra1988]

At least prog bands actually know how to play their instruments.

It's also the music equivalent of Comic Book Guy form the Simpsons. So yeah, obnoxious, but for different reasons.

 

[2mm and 99 others]

Yes I do, I realized that, when around 2015 in the time of refugee crisis, almost every punk where I live, went all Antifa and very vocally supported islam and threatened ''islamophobes'' (that's whoever they consider to be one) with physical violence.

 

[melty]

I like the punk aesthetic, but punks are terrible. Even the amazing punk bands of the 70s were just low life degenerates that occasionally made good music. The "message" seems to be more about blaming society and everybody else for their degeneracy and problems and making excuses for their disgusting, shitty lives.
It's a shitty movement for shitty people. And most modern punks are simply rich kids trying to be edgy.

 

[CowPox]

Most punk is anemic fag music.

If you like nofx i've noticed that you're gay etc.

 

[Huh what?]

"I was driving in Los Angeles, and somebody called out to me, 'Hey, you’re driving a Cadillac. How’s that? How are you a punk if you’re driving a Cadillac?' I said, 'What the fuck are you talking about? I wrote the book on punk. I decide what’s punk. If I’m driving a Cadillac, it’s punk."

-Johnny Ramone

 

[SaltyFanta]

I think a lot of what makes punk come off as pretentious to me is the role Punk serves. Punk music and media exists solely to funnel rebellious youth back into supporting the system they would otherwise naturally resist.

You see self described punks and they're just democrat stooges who think they're dissidents. They hate the heccin transphobia and racism and want to change the system, but oh no, they have to vote for the establishment candidate Joe Biden otherwise Trump might win. They're democrats who think they're dissidents.

But we're seeing a schism between the punks and the establishment that wields them, as the Hamas propaganda machine is capable to hijacking the instincts of compassion that the establishment has preyed on for so long. Leaving them at odds with the establishment as they support Hamas in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

 

[pirate flayer]

I don't like the pop music that people have been listing here... but I do like the punk music that I listen to... Leftover Crack, Wingnuts Dishwasher Union, and the older Chumbawamba tracks such as Revolution amongst others. But I'm also into Irish punk, such as the Pogues. And also bands without too much of a political angle, like Rancid and The Unseen.

I kind of see past some of the 'leftist' messaging that exists in the politically charged music, and look at it through a more fundamental lens. It's only leftist as you people seem to see it, which is maybe true but only if you believe in the false dichotomy that American media presents to those who identify as either leftwingers and rightwingers. For me, it's always simply about liberty. It's about freedom from centralized control. This means casting off the yoke from Washington DC, Brussels, Moscow. Demolishing them, not worshiping such places if the 'right guy' is in charge. It's about burning down Los Angeles and Hollywood. Completely destroying New York and the financial centers, the world bank, the UN. Leveling places like San Fransisco and Silicon Valley.

Some people seem to think that hating the system is equal to hating immigrants nowadays. Or that Trump is the antithesis of the establishment. But this is no more true than being gay or trans is anti-establishment. All these things are pushed onto us by those with many resources almost entirely to make people fight among each other. They are a distraction to prevent people from becoming a united front against those who wish to take advantage of them and the environment that we all live in.

> But we're kept apart by philosophies
> And moral stances and policies
> We'll be stuck in our own little ghettos forever
> 'Til we start to work together
> Together in the open or together in our little heaven?
> Fighting for total change, or working for concessions?
> Do we take what is ours, or ask that it be given?
> Are we stealing it together, or asking for permission?
> Even though we disagree we share a common enemy
> Our methods may not be the same
> But together we can break the chain
> Different aims, different means, with common ground in between
> Don't sit back, it's time to act
> This life is ours, let's snatch it back

 

[Male Idiot]

Its dead, and been skinwalked by trust fund kids.

Same for most other music and arts. It is mostly just the same corporate flavoured goyslop.

 

[Midwest Midwit]

Pop stars (even the best ones) have always been pretentious and have never been anti-establishment, pretty much by definition. To get on TV, to get a record deal etc. you had be politically flaccid. The hippy singers of the 60s had nothing but platitudes and nice melodies. The punks of the 70s and 80s had even less to say and their music was diabolical.

In a way, I'm glad that modern pop music is unlistenable because if it were good, I'd be conflicted inside.

 

[MS-09 DOM]

Modern punk is a rigorous act of autofelatio, mere signalling of "these are my beliefs, and you don't follow get ready for my spin-kick".

I was lucky enough to see Dayglo Abortions (Canadian Punk band, full of old guys abused from drugs/alcohol) in a dirt pit, not a shred of dyed hair in sight.

However going to my "friends shows" was full of virtue signalling. No real "message" just vacant normal points over a fast beat.

Some notable Canadian Punk is mostly dead, Chi-Pig was gay before LGBT, seeing him in East Hastings was kinda neat not gonna lie, but I'm curious to this day if out of his haze he'd agree with the current landscape. There is no story in punk anymore, the idea is dead and we have killed it.

At least post-punk bands make good tunes and diddies. Mind you I'm near sighted with this view and don't really go looking for it anymore.