I would like to make one last point about irony, because Carl sums up much
of what I would certainly agree with. If there was one thing that I do see a
bit differently is the idea of irony as a '90's development (of course, if
you weren't suggesting that, Carl, please call me out). In point of fact,
irony seemed to be a fundamental part of punk the moment rock came down with
its case of arena-goggles. Developing in (self)-conscious opposition to the
Bic Rock of the late 70's and 80's, punk bands like the Mats could drunkenly
stumble their way through BTO and Zeppelin--and still be punk--because by
reappropriating the rock from the arena, they were unconsciously (in every
sense of that word with the Mats!) commenting on their own inability to have
a piece of the commercial pie. (And Carl, this sounds like what you were
saying.). Add to this list of commerical lepers, bands like Redd Kross, the
Circle Jerks, the Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, and even early REM, all of
whom were so defiantly non-mainstream, that their appropriations of the
mainstream could only be seen as them laughing at themselves as well as the
objects of their derision. All of these bands could be ironic AND punk
because they were so far underneath mainstream's radar, their irony only
served as a reflexive afterthougt.
And then there was Nirvana. No longer could punk react against a mainstream
to which it was now most definitely a part. Like rap (the other punk meat),
the early 1990's brought with it, no simply commercial viability, but a
re-evaluation of its once "sacred" values. Phrases like "sell-out" were
bandied about with relative ease, and groups like Fugazi werer held up as
"beacons of integrity." It was around this time that irony became a very
prevalent marketing strategy of record labels (not to mention MTV). We all
know that irony had become a PR staple because that music that had once been
called punk had gone mainstream, and in so doing, emerged anew as:
Alternative. Alternative to what? you ask. Precisely. Practically anything
that didn't sound like Garth Brooks or Dr. Dre was tagged alternative, and
to all of us who had been "punk" for any length of time, we felt like we had
been felt up by a dirty old uncle. sincerity had become the new alternative,
and into that vacuum stepped alt.country. In many ways, this music's
development in opposition to the mainstream is very reminiscent of punk, and
that shouldn't be surprising. Many of the rock 'n' roll elements of this
"movement that dare not call itself that" have grown up as fans of Black
Flag, Dinosaur, Husker Du, etc. The funny thing is, when--or if--this music
breaks into the mainstream we're all gonna be humming to ourselves about the
newcomers: "He's the one, who likes all them pretty songs, and he likes to
sing along, but he knows not what it means."
Lance . . .
PS--If Nirvana's Nevermind album cover doesn't sum up this decade, brother,
nothing does.
