12 Imaginary Inches
Ever notice how punk rock is more often than not bad, and that there is always this influx of upstarts and garage bands who think that they have the key to being the next Clash?...or I don't know, maybe the Dead Kennedys, or the Adolescents, would be more accurate. But regardless, then the upstarts invariably turn out sounding awful, or at best, just very average, boring, and unremarkable.
True, every genre has this problem, but it's especially aggravated in punk, I believe, because the three-chord standard encourages more people to try.
The other problem - and I just discovered this last night - is that no one actually knows what constitutes excellent punk. I'm convinced that this is true. Even the people who were successful at it one time really had stumbled onto the secret ass-backwards, as it were; and not understanding the process, they are not entirely capable of reproducing it.
Take for instance the Stitches, one of my recent crazes. Their 8x12" from about 10 years ago was truly excellent. I've come to believe that people should not attempt to sound like the Sex Pistols because the Sex Pistols didn't exactly leave much lattitude for invention in their style; but if there was anything that managed to inherit the Sex Pistols sound and STILL be fresh and exciting, it was 8x12". Seriously, that's much more a unique and ambitious accomplishment that one might think.
Then yesterday I got in the mail my copy of the Stitches' sophomore cd (as far as I can tell), 12 Imaginary Inches. I thought the band had cracked the code, but it turns out that 8x12", like all good punk, was a mere accident. 12 Imaginary Inches ranged from mediocre to poor, awash in the vast ocean of music just like it.
I was pretty sad.
True, every genre has this problem, but it's especially aggravated in punk, I believe, because the three-chord standard encourages more people to try.
The other problem - and I just discovered this last night - is that no one actually knows what constitutes excellent punk. I'm convinced that this is true. Even the people who were successful at it one time really had stumbled onto the secret ass-backwards, as it were; and not understanding the process, they are not entirely capable of reproducing it.
Take for instance the Stitches, one of my recent crazes. Their 8x12" from about 10 years ago was truly excellent. I've come to believe that people should not attempt to sound like the Sex Pistols because the Sex Pistols didn't exactly leave much lattitude for invention in their style; but if there was anything that managed to inherit the Sex Pistols sound and STILL be fresh and exciting, it was 8x12". Seriously, that's much more a unique and ambitious accomplishment that one might think.
Then yesterday I got in the mail my copy of the Stitches' sophomore cd (as far as I can tell), 12 Imaginary Inches. I thought the band had cracked the code, but it turns out that 8x12", like all good punk, was a mere accident. 12 Imaginary Inches ranged from mediocre to poor, awash in the vast ocean of music just like it.
I was pretty sad.
posted by Rex at 2:22 PM
3 Comments:
Awesome review. I like the thought of peaking almost by accident.
I generally agree.
By the way, I don't know the guy who wrote above me ("que-ni", perhaps "Kenny"?), but I approve heartily of his XTC and Animal Collective choices. Cheers, que-ni!
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