Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Hot Topic is not Punk Rock!
Most people feel that Green Day, and Blink 182 are punk. I feel that their intentions of creating a punk image were not as important as selling out to them. They did open the eyes of modern society to punk music, but in a more pop way. Their concern with adopting a mainstream culture tarnished their reputation as great punk bands. Today's society feels that music all about currency, but little do they know that by "selling out" they are killing their reputations as musicians and moving more towards a product. I'm not saying what they are making isn't still considered good music, but it is most certainly not punk rock.
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Jeremy-you raise an excellent point here in regards to commercialization, main stream culture, capitalism, and authenticity regarding punk-or any genre of music, really. I think that has a lot to do with accessibility to mainstream audiences/culture-the average middle class youth that might spend their evening at the mall on the weekend will inevitably pass Hot Topic. If they are drawn to the store-I'm sure the Twilight posters in the window will beckon them to enter-then they might feel that they are in fact engaging or being a part of this "punk" subculture. But to me it seems that you are arguing that this is not authentic-that is presents a more commercialized side of things, bands like Blink 182 who have sold out, selling their merchandise to such a store. Am I correct in my assessment? I'm curious as to what you think about punk bands that are not what one might categorize as "mainstream" and if their merchandise is sold in this store-would that be detrimental to their career? And what does all of this have to say with capitalism and culture?
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