Okay, so I’ve always wanted to be a punk wanna be. This is known. In High School at Grapevine High in Texas, DF of the W, we were ‘burb kids. For the most part, we weren’t at the end of our ropes, we lived a comfortable life. But this didn’t stop the allure of street punk being a thing. How did it all get started and why was it alluring to a bunch of DFW ‘Burb kidz?
So I was fortunate enough that my parents allowed me the freedom growing up to be a kid, a kid that was trying to become an adult. And with that comes a certain amount of freedom. So the outlet to pretend to be punk was Deep Ellum, Dallas and Theater Gallery all ages club. Here’s a story. Dusty Gotcher and I went to a Dallas Mavericks game. We had to be presentable. But wanted to go to Theater Gallery afterwards. I had my punk pants that had been torn and bleached and had just gone through the wash, and needed to be dried out. So on the way to Reunion Arena, I hung those out the window of his small sports car, whatever it was, two-seater to dry out. So after the Maverick’s game, we went to the downtown Dallas, Micky Dee’s and changed into our Punk outfits. Torn jeans, moussed up hair, pretend punks. But still, to this day, something about the punk mentality appeals to me.
So you are probably asking, who is my most respected punk groups so I can listen as well? Chances are you aren’t but if you are looking for any new music, the populist punk but still punk is Green Day. American Idiot. Brilliant.
Why would punk still be a good thing from when one was 16 in 1984-ish to when one is 51 in 2020? It’s the aesthetic. It’s in the face going against the norm, bucking the system, going for the underdog, that still appeals. So it’s standing up to the man, the man of 2020 is Donald Trump, and pointing out that which isn’t quite right… to me, that’s punk.
And what does modern day good punk sound like? It’s probably Against Me or Big Ups. Listen and enjoy and rail against the man…. regardless of age.
ZandMe's 999 Good Things 