NOFX was one of the first bands I listened to to be cool. When I was 12 I had this friend Brittany (who is now a pretty cool graphic artist in San Francisco) and she had just come back from several years living with her dad and his 2 rebellious teenage step-daughters. She knew all about some general bad-asseries only those with older, more experienced sibling could know, things us only-children couldn't come close to fathoming. For instance, she shaved off all of her pubes. I would have NEVER thought of something like that, in fact I thought it down right naughty. Most importantly, she introduced me to music that was not main stream. Pre-internet and in suburban Orange County, how in the heck do you find music that is not on the radio, not at the Warehouse and again, not on the radio? By your cooler, edgy friends and their cooler elder siblings, of course! Ok, now that I have officially used the word cool way more than any paragraph should ever saturate, let me get into punk rock, what it meant to me, and what it did for me.
Punks, cover you ears, you will probably be angry to learn why I liked punk (it is so not punk rock of me...) People in the 80s probably lost limbs, maybe even died for the sake of punk-rock. It was political, it was cultural, it was important to our current society. However for me, it was a way to stand out from the hair-twirling, gum-chews twats I had to compete with for the saggy-jeaned boys that lurked my Junior High corridors in the 8th grade. Now I may not have been authentic, but I was smart, because much of the time, it worked. In fact, it kept working up until 3 years ago when I realized I was hiding behind it. I "liked" music that helped me to get what I wanted. To tell you the truth, I am not entirely sure I would have liked punk unless it were for any other reason that that. Actually, I take that back...
When I graduated Jr High and was heartlessly thrown into the bloodbath that is high school, I was really angry and I think that is where began to really connect with NOFX, Rancid, Millencolin and other punk bands' music. I appreciated the rebelliousness of it all, singing about drugs being good, death of friends, fat girlfriends, monosyllabic girlfriends, bottles to the ground, wolves, Mr. Clean and all around insanity that I felt inside but couldn't express for fear that my parents would ground me or deport me (I'm American but my stepdad is terrifying, he could find a way to abolish my citizenship). At the same time I was able to connect with other people who liked this music too, usually interesting people who were different from your "average" California guy or girl, whatever that may look like. I always felt different and was angry about it- punk rock connected me not only with these feelings but with others who felt like me. Even though I never went to a show, and even though I seldom listen now, I think punk rock has made me who I am today. I wasn't pissed off, screaming alone in an empty room- I was pissed off with other people, and got to laugh about it, sometimes in sick ways, but laugh nonetheless.
I will close this up with a song I still love by NOFX- there is almost something triumphant but sad about their sound, and I always appreciate punk's ability to touch an array of emotions, not just anger.
Kids Of The K Hole - NOFX
