The category of "punk rock" is a topic that I have brought up and complained about countless times with my friends. It happens to be one of those things that hits the sore spot, and I feel as though I should support the beloved punk rock genre.

Just recently, I was reading an online article that listed popular bands in several genres. I agreed with mostly everything I saw, until the part that read "punk" and followed with Simple Plan and Good Charlotte. This reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend Rachel, who mentioned a male friend of hers as listening to the Beach Boys, and also Simple Plan and Bowling For Soup. We both thought this incredibly funny.

First of all, I must say I am in no way discrediting the abilities of Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, and Good Charlotte as musicians. I am also not taking pot shots at their fans, or their songs. I am, very simply, stating that these artists are in no way punk rock, as the music world these days seems to be forgetting.

When the words "punk rock" are mentioned, they immediately bring to my mind visions of the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Vandals, Rancid, and NoFX. I hear punk rifts in the background, lyrics such as "God save the Queen, she ain't no human being, There is no future in England's dreaming" or "Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated, Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated, Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show, Hurry hurry hurry before I gotta go." These are definitely punk lyrics. I most definitely do NOT think of such lyrics as "I'd do anything, Just to fall asleep with you, Will you remember me?, 'Cuz I know I won't forget you." This does not sound like punk rock at all. And neither does the music that goes along with it, the poppy guitars and harmonies. Try to remember if Joey Ramone harmonized, and if he did, did he ever sound so good?

The answer is no, and for a reason. I highly doubt that Joey Ramone ever even wanted to harmonize. I think Joey Ramone was in it for the music, the message, and his message was not to get the girl all the bad guys want. And if Johnny Rotten watched wrestling, I will bet you anything he didn't do it for Nancy Spungeon. (Maybe I shouldn't say that, Nancy was a pretty scary character and if she told ME to watch wrestling I would NOT be the one to argue with a heoin-addict.)

Maybe it's sweet that Simple Plan and Good Charlotte aren't doing heroin and killing themselves in hotel rooms. Maybe it's sweet that they aren't smashing guitars at concerts. Their music is just as sweet.

But punk rock is NOT sweet, and the truth of this is pretty self evident. Rancid knows this. NoFX most definitely knows this. The Sex Pistols knew. Maybe next time you want to call those pussy pop bands punk rock, you should do a little investigating. Listen to "God Save the Queen," or "Blitzkrieg Bop," or "Detroit," and ask yourself one of these questions:
A. Do I want to categorize these totally awesome bands with some stupid radio pop shit like Simple Plan or Good Charlotte,
or if you are one of the unlucky,
B. Do I want to categorize my nice, sweet, harmonizing, melodious Simple Plan and Good Charlotte with this angry, hard core stuff?

Just as Bowling for Soup asks, "Does a mullet make a man," ask yourselves, "Does a mohawk make a punk rock band?"

~Anne~