This past week, my family and I had the opportunity to go to San Antonio. We visited the River Walk and Sea World and at each place, I saw something similar that gave me the same thought. Well, more than one thought actually, because the first thought was how old I am. But I think it’s the second thought that (I hope) is a bit more interesting but first let me tell you what I saw.

While at the River Center Mall in San Antonio, we found ourselves going up an escalator behind two young people, probably 15 or 16 years old. One of them in particular caught my eye, with his “punk rock” jacket. You know the type, an old (or so they want you to think) Army Surplus jacket with some holes in it and some band patches safety-pinned, not sewn, to the back, featuring your garden variety punk, The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Misfits in this case. The next day, getting out of the car at Sea World, I saw something quite similar. This time, a young teen boy, maybe 14 or so, getting out of a minivan with what appeared to be his parents. Under a similar trendily ripped jacket, this boy where a t-shirt for the band The Dead Kennedys.

So my first thought at seeing both of these spectacles was that I’m getting old, because I used to listen to all of those bands. But then I began to think that, in fact, I did listen to all of those bands, so I started remembering some of why I listened to them and what they were saying. But then I began to realize the huge disconnect between the actual content of some of these bands, and what their image has become.

Many are drawn to the idea of punk music because it supposedly contains anger, anarchy, angst and the rest. While The Sex Pistols and to a lesser degree, The Misfits and some others did exist primarily for the shock value, when you add bands like The Clash (a band that never truly fit the “punk” bill) and especially the Dead Kennedys to the mix, you must consider more than just teen angst.

I remember listening to the Dead Kennedys and, honestly, for much of the time, not really understanding what they were saying. The lyrics were clear enough, but the message was not, because I did not have the appropriate level of cultural literacy to understand what Jello Biafra was so mad about. I did not know who “Governor Jerry Brown” (from the song “California Uber Alles“) was and I did not understand the significance of a song like “Holiday in Cambodia.”

Truth be told, I liked the idea of The Dead Kennedys more than I actually got The Dead Kennedys. That was almost 20 years ago. Now, seeing kids less than half my age wearing shirts for bands I didn’t entirely get, 20 years removed from bands I was 20 years removed from, I wonder how much of the angst these young people actually understand. Instead, bands like The Dead Kennedys have become something they in fact railed against; they have become images more than anything else. They have become a product.

I wonder if today’s young punks claiming to like classic punk music actually only like the idea of the bands. Without the proper level of cultural literacy, I’m fairly certain that these teens don’t understand the message behind the music because I know I didn’t at the time. Without a cultural understanding, a band like The Dead Kennedys becomes little more than a product, something they intentionally tried to avoid.

I’m not sure this phenomenon of becoming a product is the plight of just classic punk acts. A band like Rage Against the Machine had very clear political agendas behind their music, but most of the people I knew who liked them liked the idea of the angst more than the actual message of the band. Let’s face it, even now, who knows much about Leonard Peltier or the Zapatistas? But quite a few of you know the words “This is for the people of the sun….”

In the claws of popular culture, the worst thing that could happen to a band like Rage Against the Machine and The Dead Kennedys is for them to become popular. While this might seem antithetical, (after all, if you have a message, don’t you want more people to hear it?), the reality is that when bands become popular, they simply become a product and their message, no matter how strong it may be intended to be, becomes nothing more than a context-less sing-a-long.

Punk music, for the most part, is more about an idea (or ideal) than it is about any actual content. Cultural content, by its very nature, becomes dated and once it becomes dated, it loses its sting. So, while suburban CA kids might still be singing along to “California Uber Alles,” few could tell you just what Biafra was so upset about, they just know that they’re upset (though they’re not sure at what) and Biafra sounds upset (though they’re not sure at what), so the two must go together!

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