On Sun, 1 Aug 1999 13:16:42 -0400 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> writes:
>Yeah, though mainly from the anarchist left. What about the Mekons
>and the Au Pairs?
Never listened to either (Au Pairs stuff is damned hard to find on CD, and I don't have a turntable). Both bands were from the Leeds University scene that spawned Gang of Four though, and GOF even gives a shout out to the Mekons in the liner notes to Entertainment!, so I can' t imagine the politics being that different.
>I agree that there was a lot of revulsion against the welfare state
>in early punk
Which is fine and dandy, but to act like there was no radicalism in punk, or that the bands who did flirt with it were poseurs, or worse, that there's something transgressive about donning a swastika..
>And a lot of early
>American hardcore was hyperindividualistic, strength-worshipping,
>racist - i.e., heavily tinged with an American pop fascism.
Yeah, no kidding.
"Gonna be a white minority all the rest be the majority
gonna breed inferiority gonna be a white minority
white pride! you're an American I'm gonna hide anywhere I can"
- Black Flag, White Minority
Then of course, there's the individualistic naval-gazing of the Germs, the "I'm bored and like masturbating" weltanschauung of the Circle Jerks, and the abrasive, homophobic nastiness of Fear.
And let's not get started on the straight-edge quasi-fascism of the D.C. bands like Minor Threat.
>was a lot of revulsion against the authoritarianism, moralism,
>violence, and greed of Maggie & Ronnie.
"Maggie yer a cunt." - The Exploited
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