SB knows that I like punk rock. It is the largest genre on my ipod- or more accurately, genres. I have it divided into punk, hardcore, ska, rockabilly and pop punk. Tonight was the first time we have discussed just how influential punk was for me. I don't quite remember how the conversation began but as we were eating dinner our discussion progressed to how things that are so big lose meaning over time. In particular I talked to him about the straight edge movement in punk rock. It's funny how he had no idea of something that took up a big portion of my life.
I won't describe much about the history of punk rock because you can Google it and learn more than I know and discover a history that began before I was born. I began to listen when I was 13 years old and began high school in central Florida, where my parents had moved me from Hong Kong. Life was good to me. I joined the IB program, successfully tried out for a couple of sports teams and met my best friend, Tobin. It was during the second half of the school year when I met Zed in my art class. He was a very quiet student but when he did speak it was clear that he had a strange sense of humor as well as mild disdain for my best friend and me. I spent most of my time chatting about sports with a lacrosse player while Zed kept to himself. Then something changed. Our teacher let us bring CDs to class and we were allowed to take turns playing music. The classroom was filled with a lot of Nine Inch Nails (by the girls who only wore black) or whatever was popular but not so popular that you ran the risk of being mainstream (after all, this was art class). One day the stereo started playing something fast, short, simple and angry sounding. I asked what we were listening to and Zed slowly spoke up. "It's my band."
Over the next few weeks I began to ask Zed more about his band, mostly out of curiosity rather than enjoyment of his music. Punk rock and his band were basically the only two subjects he wasn't shy about and through the music I learned a lot about him. I learned that through his music he was more politically aware than I was. He learned about me as well through our debates over the message of his songs. He wasn't the dumb outcast that I perceived him to be and I wasn't quite as shallow or silly as he thought. He invited me to his band's next performance which was in seedy bar. They were opening for a heavy metal band. The night ended with me hiding under a table as a bona fide, chair smashing, broken beer bottle wielding, bloody brawl broke out amongst the metal fans. Holy sh*t! Was this how he spent his weekends?! As it turned out, this was not how Zed spent his weekends. He explained that his band's lead singer's brother was in the metal band and the two couldn't be more different. Zed was straight edge. It meant that he didn't drink, didn't do drugs and didn't have casual sex. That night as he drove me home in his Chevy Nova I realized that I wouldn't have to be quick thinking to avoid the back seat because his lifestyle meant that he would respect me.
He also didn't judge me if I wasn't interested in the straight edge lifestyle. Straight edge was a big deal to him throughout his youth but it never was a prerequisite for our friendship. As time went by he was less committed to being straight edge although he still doesn't drink or use drugs. Technically he "sold out" but I think that straight edge served its purpose by giving him an identity while he was undergoing his own cognitive process of discovering what he believed in. I can look back at some of the mantras of the movement with a bit of a smile as I recall what a big deal it all was at the time but I am glad that it existed for me.
On the flip side, in 1995 while I was attending the Warped tour I experienced the extreme side of straight edge when a militant fan of Orange 9mm, a straight edge band, attacked the lead singer of Guttermouth because he was intolerant of Guttermouth poking fun of straight edge as only for the under-21 age group (21 is the US legal drinking age). The lead singer of Orange 9mm had to come up on stage to calm down the straight edge goons and explain that everyone should be tolerant of each other. Yes, I learned a lot about the world through the lens of punk rock. Though not so big in my life now, it has left its mark. I identify as a third wave feminist like the riot grrrls of the 90's who accepted women expressing themselves in a multitude of ways. I recommend reading Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant,detailing conversations between Bad Religion's Greg Graffin and conservative university professor Preston Jones. Punk rock- it's not so big anymore but it still matters to me. I don't know why it has taken me this long to talk about with SB but our punk rock conversations have just begun.
I won't describe much about the history of punk rock because you can Google it and learn more than I know and discover a history that began before I was born. I began to listen when I was 13 years old and began high school in central Florida, where my parents had moved me from Hong Kong. Life was good to me. I joined the IB program, successfully tried out for a couple of sports teams and met my best friend, Tobin. It was during the second half of the school year when I met Zed in my art class. He was a very quiet student but when he did speak it was clear that he had a strange sense of humor as well as mild disdain for my best friend and me. I spent most of my time chatting about sports with a lacrosse player while Zed kept to himself. Then something changed. Our teacher let us bring CDs to class and we were allowed to take turns playing music. The classroom was filled with a lot of Nine Inch Nails (by the girls who only wore black) or whatever was popular but not so popular that you ran the risk of being mainstream (after all, this was art class). One day the stereo started playing something fast, short, simple and angry sounding. I asked what we were listening to and Zed slowly spoke up. "It's my band."
Over the next few weeks I began to ask Zed more about his band, mostly out of curiosity rather than enjoyment of his music. Punk rock and his band were basically the only two subjects he wasn't shy about and through the music I learned a lot about him. I learned that through his music he was more politically aware than I was. He learned about me as well through our debates over the message of his songs. He wasn't the dumb outcast that I perceived him to be and I wasn't quite as shallow or silly as he thought. He invited me to his band's next performance which was in seedy bar. They were opening for a heavy metal band. The night ended with me hiding under a table as a bona fide, chair smashing, broken beer bottle wielding, bloody brawl broke out amongst the metal fans. Holy sh*t! Was this how he spent his weekends?! As it turned out, this was not how Zed spent his weekends. He explained that his band's lead singer's brother was in the metal band and the two couldn't be more different. Zed was straight edge. It meant that he didn't drink, didn't do drugs and didn't have casual sex. That night as he drove me home in his Chevy Nova I realized that I wouldn't have to be quick thinking to avoid the back seat because his lifestyle meant that he would respect me.
He also didn't judge me if I wasn't interested in the straight edge lifestyle. Straight edge was a big deal to him throughout his youth but it never was a prerequisite for our friendship. As time went by he was less committed to being straight edge although he still doesn't drink or use drugs. Technically he "sold out" but I think that straight edge served its purpose by giving him an identity while he was undergoing his own cognitive process of discovering what he believed in. I can look back at some of the mantras of the movement with a bit of a smile as I recall what a big deal it all was at the time but I am glad that it existed for me.
On the flip side, in 1995 while I was attending the Warped tour I experienced the extreme side of straight edge when a militant fan of Orange 9mm, a straight edge band, attacked the lead singer of Guttermouth because he was intolerant of Guttermouth poking fun of straight edge as only for the under-21 age group (21 is the US legal drinking age). The lead singer of Orange 9mm had to come up on stage to calm down the straight edge goons and explain that everyone should be tolerant of each other. Yes, I learned a lot about the world through the lens of punk rock. Though not so big in my life now, it has left its mark. I identify as a third wave feminist like the riot grrrls of the 90's who accepted women expressing themselves in a multitude of ways. I recommend reading Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant,detailing conversations between Bad Religion's Greg Graffin and conservative university professor Preston Jones. Punk rock- it's not so big anymore but it still matters to me. I don't know why it has taken me this long to talk about with SB but our punk rock conversations have just begun.
Comments