Blehh, Flogging Molly elicits the same disdain in me as Dropkick, probably because a) my aforementioned general dislike of punk (though I should add that there are literally 2 exceptions: Rise Against and Agnostic Front), and b) the fact that Irish-American pride is pretty prevalent around here, and many only embrace the more stereotypical and irritating qualities of their cultural heritage (see also: Italian-Americans
). Naturally though, I've got nothing but love for all my Irish (and Italian) Sneapster brodawgs!
EDIT: Oh yeah, and a friend of mine has played me some crust punk tunes that I dig as well - and I guess the above two bands are more hardcore than straight punk, so I stand by original statement
Yeah, this is generally a big problem with cultural, crossover bands; it becomes a question of authenticity, does it truly depict a group of people or solely a stereotype, a preconceived notion of what we should be. I have written two or three papers on the topic relating to music, the most recent on revival klezmer.
Also hanging out with kids that define Irish Pride as drinking sort of killed these bands for me. I'll just listen to Altan, thanks.
I have a better idea of what you are saying though about the punk movement. I think the issue also is "what can be defined as punk." Iggy Pop and the Stooges were considered one of the forerunner punk bands in the late sixties, early seventies. Same thing with the Velvet Underground. And then you end up with the Ramones in the mid 1970s, it makes you wonder what was going on to get that basic of a sound, a melody. Perhaps because it was a group of kids fucking around with guitars? What social conditions were pushing this? What music did these kids want to emulate or disassociate from?
I've always been a Riot Grrl type, and I enjoy New Wave and post-punk, anti-folk, etc. But these don't even fall into the genre of "punk" anymore. New Wave (Police) and Goth Rock (Siouxise and the Banshees, Joy Division) sort of fall into that eighties classics category, post-punk and anti-folk (early Beck, Regina Spektor) are almost indie. Riot Grrl gets pinned somewhere between grunge, indie pop, punk, etc. Then Shoegaze just kind of happened.
I hate mainstream pop-punk though, it just goes against all the foundations of punk; the push towards a social movement, desire for social change was lost. Green Day, the Offspring, Good Charlotte, Avril Lavigne were just another bunch of "talented," bratty, overprivileged white kids, of which all incredibly inauthentic with regards to the former. Punk used to be about struggle, man.
Once you realize how immature and intellectually as well as philosophically shallow some of these groups are, you can't stand to listen to them. If I want to listen to something stupid, I'll just put on Anal Cunt.
He just seems so laid back and cool, and is epicly good (maybe even better than alexi)
