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!
ReadPretty in Punk: 25 Punk, Rock and Goth Knitting Projects
My good friend Jeremy Casella just made me aware that I’m in the new promotional video for the 2008 Together For the Gospel conference! I appear at 1:48 with my friends Micah Childs and Jason Meyer. Now, I’ll just wait for those royalty checks to start pouring in:
Visit the official Together For the Gospel website
We had the chance to take the boys to Sea World San Antonio yesterday. Great fun for everyone! Owen said that he wants to ride the whales when he grows up and that didn’t surprise us in the least! He loved the part where the whale throws the guy up in the air and tried it on the hotel bed later!
This is where it all happens. The blogosphere all centers on Colossians Three Sixteen, you just didn’t realize it. This is where I collect for you things that, for one reason or another or another, interested me over the past week. Just because I link something here, that doesn’t mean I necessarily endorse it, just that it made me think. Hopefully it will make you think as well.
Browse NPR’s list of the top ten artists you didn’t hear in 2007.
Read as The Atlantic asks if poetry can still matter.
Read about the fact that, as many states place moratoriums on the death penalty, for the first time in the history of the death penalty, 60% of executions took place in one state (can you guess which one?).
Read about the CA “anti-discrimination” bill that has many conservatives up-in-arms: “Warning that boys soon will be able to use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.”
Read the USA Today editorial piece that wonders just how close some churches come to telling congregations how to vote.
Read the piece which notes that: “When high school freshman Dawn Sherman learned that Illinois had a new law requiring public schools to provide a moment of silence each day for “reflection and student prayer,” she was outraged.”
I love year-end lists. I love to look back over a year that has just passed and intentionally think about what has impacted me and why. I love to compare my favorite music of the year with past years’ (see the Colossians Three Sixteen 2006 year-in-review here), seeing how my tastes have evolved, or stayed the same. I love to see what other people loved and why. As you know, I invite you to participate in this year-end extravaganza too. Here are some of the people who took me up on the invitation:
Mark Eldon Whiten is truly an enigma. What is there to say about this gift of God other than that he truly is a gift. He designs at Whiten Design and White Nile. He tries to keep up with the music, but you know, at his age, his hearing isn’t what it used to be. We humor him though. Won’t you humor him with me? Mark is one of the few people on this planet who thinks of music the way I do. He introduced me this year to The Snake The Cross The Crown, but I introduced him to both Jeremy Casella and Doug Burr. He tries to keep up, but again, the years are catching up with him and he doesn’t quite move like he once did. Humor him with me:
Welcome to my year-in-review. I look forward to this time of year. Maybe it’s the music nerd in me, I really don’t know. I look forward to seeing what other people loved during the year and why, and what I missed. I love the idea of Christians pro-actively evaluating popular culture rather than running from it, sanitizing parts of it and then wearing our “bread crumb and a fish” (instead of Abercrombie & Fitch in case you didn’t catch that) and then thinking we’re cool like everyone else. Withdrawal is not the solution, but neither is sanitizing bits and pieces to create our own little subculture, far removed from the rest of the world where we can be sure that we will only receive “Christian” influence, but whee we can also be sure we will influence no one else but ourselves. To that end, let’s review 2007:
Books:
I read quite a bit, but this year, I didn’t read many books that actually came out in 2007 but there were four that I did that I’d like to point out to you. The first, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, edited by Kevin Vanhoozer. This book is worth it for the introductory essay by Vanhoozer alone. Vanhoozer helps Christians begin to think about the surrounding culture and how to think about it and interact with it. Implicit here is the notion that withdrawing from culture should not be an option (which, sadly, for many, it is).
The second book was actually released in 2006 but I didn’t read it until 2007 so I’ll includeBody Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Music by Andrew Beaujon. Beaujon makes no claim to be a Christian. Instead, he is journalist for Spin magazine who decided to look into the multi-million dollar industry that has become “Christian” music. There’s nothing really groundbreaking here, but it is an interesting “outsider’s” look into a world so many Christians take for granted.
The third book is Andrée Seu’s Normal Kingdom Business. This is Seu’s second published collection of essays that originally appeared in World magazine and it is every bit as good as the first. Seu writes with wit, wisdom and spiritual sensitivity that is quite difficult to find these days. Her everyday observations remind us that everyday is truly about “kingdom business” whether we realize it or not.
I love discovering new music. There’s a certain thrill and excitement that I find upon entering a brave new acoustic world for the first time. Sometimes these “discoveries” are bands that I’ve known about but never really listened to. Other times, they are bands I’ve heard about for the first time.
One artist that I’ve known about for quite some time but only this year, for a variety of reasons, really “got” was Woven Hand. The side-project of David Eugene Edwards while 16 Horsepower is on seemingly indefinite hiatus, Edwards weaves Scripture with praise and warnings of judgment over Gothic folk/alt. country/bluegrass/Celtic rhythms into a pattern you’ll never hear on “Christian” radio. Edwards is quite forthright about his faith and its central role in his music, but is also not interested in being classified as a “Christian”
Another artist in a similar vein (though not necessarily musically) is Daniel Smith, also known as Danielson. In fact, Woven Hand is signed to Smith’s Sounds Familyre label. I have known about the various Danielson incarnations for several years now. But after hearing last year’s Ships and seeing the Family Movie documentary, I was hooked. Mark and I were talking the other day about Danielson being like one of those cutting edge designers who you see on television and the models have some really weird stuff on that most people would never actually wear. But in the front row of that fashion show are the more “accessible” designers who take some of those more cutting edge ideas to the masses. Danielson is sort of like that, but he reminds us that there’s a reason people keep coming back to the original sources.
Along these same lines, I’ve been quite immersed in Bob Dylan’s trio of “Christian” albums, Slow Train Coming (1979), Saved (1980) and Shot of Love (1981). If you’re sensing a trend here, good. I have been fascinated lately by the idea of “Christians” making music that would not be considered by most to be “Christian” music. In fact, I think that the tag “Christian” music is fairly absurd, but that’s a topic for another day.
Music (in reverse order):
When I’ve done this sort of thing the past couple of years, I’ve always resisted numbering my final favorite albums of the year. Instead, I’ve simply put them up in alphabetical order, letting them stand for themselves. I had some reasons for doing that, but this year I’ve departed from those reasons. Here are my favorite albums of the year (in as best an order as I can say at this point):
05. Cotton Teeth by The Snake The Cross The Crown: Having grown out of their indie rock roots, The Snake The Cross The Crown has delivered an album that fuses modern sensibilities with class rock and boisterous, sing-a-long choruses. A perfect album for driving. This is surely to become a classic, at least among those who actually heard it this year. Being reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival is never a bad thing.
04. Sermon On Exposition Boulevard by Rickie Lee Jones Much of this CD was actually improvised and that carefree devotion to the music comes through very well. Loosely based on Scripture, you may not agree with all of Jones’ interpretations (referring to God as “Heavenly Mother” and the like) but this is a moving declaration of faith drawing heavily from the likes of Tom Waits and others. This is the music of someone genuinely moved the the Bible’s portrayal of Jesus, which is much more than we can say for much of what passes as “Christian” music. This is Jones’ best work in years.
03. Person Pitch by Panda Bear: How could I not love this CD, loving Pet Sounds from the Beach Boys and much of what has come to be known as “freak folk.” Panda Bear, of the Animal Collective, seamlessly fuses the two: perfect pop with psychedelic flourishes. Challenging yet accessible in many ways, this album reveals new layers with every listen. This disc reminds us that there is a reason so many continue to read Pitchfork, who named this their album of the year.
02. The Christ Tree Boxset (reissue) by The Trees Community: Originally released in 1975 and then out of print for many years. 2007 saw the re-release of this wonderful album in the form of a limited-edition four CD box set, including an informative booklet telling the story of the Trees Community. Preceding “freak folk” and smashing the boundaries of “Christian” music, this is music like you’ve likely never heard: crossing and fusing genres while remaining cohesive. Sincere and sublime and definitely ahead of its time.
01. On Promenade by Doug Burr and Recovery by Jeremy Casella: I can’t tell you how much these two albums have been part of my life this past year. Every time I thought one of them was my favorite of the year I listened to the other one and it switched again! So I chose both of them. It’s a tie! Though these are different albums, they are both as close to perfect as anything I’ve heard in a long time, just in different ways. Casella mines the world of majestic and moving pop while Burr plows in more solitary ground, playing what many would consider to be “alt. country” while transcending anything the genre has to offer.
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.
This is where it all happens. The blogosphere all centers on Colossians Three Sixteen, you just didn’t realize it. This is where I collect for you things that, for one reason or another or another, interested me over the past week. Just because I link something here, that doesn’t mean I necessarily endorse it, just that it made me think. Hopefully it will make you think as well.
Mark Eldon Whiten is truly an enigma. What is there to say about this gift of God other than that he truly is a gift. He designs at 
Welcome to my year-in-review. I look forward to this time of year. Maybe it’s the music nerd in me, I really don’t know. I look forward to seeing what other people loved during the year and why, and what I missed. I love the idea of Christians pro-actively evaluating popular culture rather than running from it, sanitizing parts of it and then wearing our “bread crumb and a fish” (instead of Abercrombie & Fitch in case you didn’t catch that) and then thinking we’re cool like everyone else. Withdrawal is not the solution, but neither is sanitizing bits and pieces to create our own little subculture, far removed from the rest of the world where we can be sure that we will only receive “Christian” influence, but whee we can also be sure we will influence no one else but ourselves. To that end, let’s review 2007:
05. 
04. 
03. 
02. 
01. 
