Hello, my name is Dillon Kelley. I am not a music critic nor an accomplished musician. I was not present in the New York scene or the England scene during the 70's, let alone even born. I am a sixteen year old kid from Chicago who plays in a crappy little pop-punk band called 2 Left Feet. I am just trying to get a point across.
Recently I have been reading articles in 'zines and online abou how punk is dead and the only true punk is sex pistols/ramones/descendents/minor threat type music.
Punk is not dead. It just grew up.
What are my reasons you ask? Rock n' Roll right now is not what it was back in the days of Elvis, now Rock n' Roll is chock full of groups who are more pop than anything else (eg. U2, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, etc.) And even the true Rock n' Roll musicians who started the genre and opened the door to thousands of bands to follow, changed their musical style of the course of their careers.
Don't get me wrong, I respect the pioneers of punk and those that made it possible for all of this to happen. It's just that I am sick of being criticized for not listening to hardcore and old school street punk by random assholes with mohawks who claim they are punk even though their spiked-out denim vest is Roca-Wear! Wow! I wish I could be that punk!
I realize that these ramblings aren't making much sense, but bear with me. I believe that the true spirit of punk is still alive in bands like NOFX, Yellowcard, and Rufio. These bands don't have much in common, but they were all inspired in some way by the old school punkers. THey also aren't playing the same thing as everybody else. They took something, tweeked in and made it their own. NOFX is one of the only bands that is diverse enough to play Hardcore, Ska, SOft stuff and straight up punk and get away with it. Yellowcard, while not that well-known is the only band I know that includes a violin player in the band. Aside from the violin aspect, Yellowcard is part of a style of music that is jsut being heard within the past two years. Combining powerful, crunchy guitar riffs with thought-out, intricate bass lines with crazy hip-hop drum beats and then laying extremely moving and meaningful lyrics and harmonies; these bands have no genre and have been put into "punk" because of their influences.
