Alright as for being a Jock, I always liked baseball and hockey, and was really good at them. Won a lot of awards and stuff, so yeah I guess I am a jock, as for wearing preppy clothes, I don't see how that makes me such a huge conformist. I like those clothes, you love your anti flag tshirts I'm sure, but then again I'm sure a few hundred thousand people have an anti-flag shirts too so what's the difference? I wear my At the Gates hoody one day, and my gap shirt the next day, who cares. Does that really make me "blindfolded?"temjin wrote:punk, doesn't mean poor moo. but in pennywise's case, it does. they are not rich, and epitaph is owned by bad religion, a rich punk band. because they are rich, does that mean they rip off off old school punk bands like black flag and circle jerks? no. does that mean that they have no morals, and that they are complete sell outs? no it doesn't.
i think most punk bands suck. it's what i like to call, an opinion. your statement on most punk bands not sucking is YOUR opinion, don't try to enforce that opinion onto me just because i disagree with you. i hate old school punk like the ramones, sex pistols, and the clash. i think their music is crap. i do not think that their message is bad in any way, i just don't like their music. and i wouldn't have started a moral crusade against you if you didn't make that one typo. where you said you heard OF anti-flag. i pray to god that was a typo anyway.
and if you agree with any message against comformity, why in the hell would you sucumb to being a prep. sure, maybe you are a jock because you like the sport or sports. but you admited that you were also a prep. wearing clothes that the majority of the kids at school wear is one of the best examples of conformity i can think of.
and you blamed me for judging kids at school if they wear banana republic or abercrombie, that they might like anime. like being an anime fan automatically makes them number one buddies on my list? and what you said about going to the warped tour being conformist, what the hell? they conform WILLINGLY, not brainwashed into thinking something is a fad. standards of morals and perspectives can be conformed, not the majority of mind sets through clothing or fads. does wearing popular clothing automatically make you a blind folded conformist, um...yes. does conforming to supporting aids and breast cancer research (which is what the benefits of the warped tour go to) make you an open minded, caring individual. yes, it does.
On that note, when it comes to punk bands, anti-flag and pennywise are tremendously popular. Doesn't that you make you somewhat of a conformist within the punk rock scene, or as you put it with your example on clothing, I wear the same clothes tons of people like, you like the same bands that the majority of so called punk kids like.
If you are going to say the public is brainwashed into what clothes to wear, how can you say the public hasn't been brainwashed into punk being a fad too? How far do you think attendance has shot up since the first warped tour? A ridiculous amount if you ask me. I went then and got to see Quicksand and orange 9mm too I think, it was pretty sick. There wasn't 4-6 stages, and themed side acts (water slide this year, wrestling last year, skating before that etc) though. Is it a bad thing that they have so many bands now, not necesarily, but it definetly speaks volumes on how big it has gotten. There is even something called pop punk. POP punk. I personally like some pop punk bands, but they are played on the same stations as Nsync on TRL and the like. Isn't that enough to show how popular punk has become over few years or so. Sure enough, it'll burn out, just like another fad.
And if I don't go to warped tour this year, to put my money into breast cancer research, I can live with that, because I go to so many other shows around my area, (like the Fuck MS benefits, the anti rascist action, planned parenthood fundraising shows) that donate all the proceeds to good causes too. Do I think that I'm a less caring or amoral person because if I go to warped and give 40+ to breast cancer research instead of giving 8 bucks here and there to different groups every couple of months...no.
heh, the little thing about the anime was just a joke. Just trying to reinforce what I said before about how you stereotyped the jocks and preps in your school. I didn't say to go get married to an abercrombie employee, I just said don't judge a book by its cover.
Finally, personally I like bad religion. Not a terrible amount, but I do like them. And no, I never said that just because they are rich, they ripped off someone. I just said that the guys in pennywise are rich, and yeah, they rip off black flag and the descendants. As for your comment about selling out and having morals, I don't really agree with it. For one thing, I just don't like the term selling out, because almost every band is out to make something, and every label is definetly looking to turn a profit. There are those true DIY bands out there who tour the country playing in basements for free, giving away their cds, sleeping in their car, eating out of bakery dumpsters, and really only playing for gas money to get them to the next show who are amazing. I know I could never do something like that, and I admire them totally for it. I guess thats the true definition of a band who are not sell outs, and in a perfect world, thats what music should be like, or at least punk, but still to compare that to everything else is kinda ridiculous and naive, so basically that's why I won't use the term selling out since ultimatly just about every band is trying to sell their stuff. When it comes to that thing where a band changes its style slightly, and gets much bigger, I don't buy into that either. If a band wants to change their style, its still their music.
As for a band on a label though, I really don't think its possible to truly have morals when it comes to your music. No matter what they say, no one ever has "full artistic control." Labels will always step in and make sure they are getting what they want. If they didn't they'd be out of business or that band would be dropped. It's not the worst thing in the world, its completly natural, the music industry is just that, an industry where people have to earn their living. Certain labels are more loose on this than others, but epitath is way to big to worry about the feelings of every band they put out. They get what they want, and thats why they have been so succesful over the years.
Too much typing, time to go out.
