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I know this has been said on my old Xanga 23498 times, but I really want to start a band. However, I don't want to start a band with Pitter and Gerard. Why would I refuse to start a band with two of my close friends? First, I want to play with people who play for the love of music, nothing else. And second, I want to be able to identify with the rest of the band when it comes to ideals, beliefs, etc. The reason some members of Fear left the band was because of Lee Ving's conservative beliefs (Lee Ving was the band's vocalist/guitarist, who would often make fun of homosexuals). I don't like the idea of Pitter and Gerard being in the band, because somehow, I can see how they could destroy the band. I remember what happened with Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys, and I know something slightly similar is very likely to happened to us (The Dead Kennedys sued their frontman Jello Biafra because of "lack of promotion" wink . Most of punk music is so pure in the way that many of the songs of the genre were written out of pure honesty and true feelings. This is what I want for my band, but I know that being in a band with Pitter and Gerard will prevent that.

Speaking of music, I can definitely see Pitter going through the same phases I went through when I got into punk music. Like me, he's gotten into the punk image: studs, spikes, and all the boring s**t. Also, he's gotten into the political aspect of the scene, but never really applied the ideals and beliefs in his life (evident by the fact that he's not a hobo by now or one of the many people participating in protests and benefit shows).

Most punk rockers these days are incredibly stupid. There are two kinds of punks that dominate all others in size, those who are only in it for the fashion and image and those who make idiotic decisions based on their radical political views. It's very clear what the first kind is like. They concentrate on their image, which includes how they look and how people perceive them. They'll get into the politics of punk rock just to strengthen their image. I can definitely see this in Pitter. The other kind of punk chooses to live on the streets, and become a bum instead of fighting for their ideals (ironically). This is what is commonly known as a "crust punk". They choose to run away from the hardships of making a living in a capitalist society and justify it by saying that capitalism is evil.

I got the chance to watch Decline of Western Civilization 3 while I was in VCU. Most of the punks portrayed in this film were people who grew up in broken homes and broken families, and chose to run away at an early age. Most (if not all) were drunkards, lived in abandoned buildings, and panhandled during the day. What was so ironic about this film was the fact that some of the bands that were shown were extremely political, however, if my memory serves me right, I did not see a single political act from these punks. No protest, no "preaching", nothing! Not that any of that really matters, because such things don't affect our government nor do they make our apathetic masses proactive or aware of the problems that this nation faces. Everytime I thought about it, I could only conclude that Tab was right when she said that the only voices that are ever heard in our society are the voices of the powerful.

A huge part about being a punk rocker is that you start developing elitist feelings about the music, especially in this day and age when the term "punk" as a labeler is being used so loosely by the mainstream. Somehow, punks combine punk rock as a culture with punk rock as a music genre. Lets be really ******** clear that there's a very big difference between the two. Punk culture is a dying culture. The decline of it is largely due to its popularity in the mainstream world. For most, the image and elitist feelings become more important than the ideals and beliefs of the culture (why do you think most hardcore punks in the 80's were never seen to be dressed in those crazy clothes?) Punk music is a whole different thing though. It has no limits and no guidelines. Take it from Ian Mackaye when he said, "Punk is undefinable". The cliche "punk's not dead" line applies only to the music, not the culture.

After being a part of it for two years, I've grown to hate the punk scene. I'll never know what convinced me to think that joining their clique would be cool. Punk rockers are nothing but narrow-minded, elitist morons. Sometimes I wish I was born around 1960, so I could actually be a part of the hardcore scene (and be able to hit on Kira Roessler when she used to be beautiful). The hardcore scene was the only punk scene that was pure.

Nowadays, people have been saying how much they hate the emo scene. I'll admit, I used to be one of those people. But, when I looked into the history of emo music, I found out something that would surprise half of the people who hate emo.

Early emo music was a subgenre of American hardcore punk music. It first started in the mid 1980's in Washington DC. Ian Mackaye and Guy Picciotto, who were part of the DC hardcore scene (Mackaye played a huge role in the development of the scene with his band Minor Threat) were responsible for the birth of emo music, which back then was hardcore punk music with a lot of emotion (surprise surprise). Some would say that Mackaye and Picciotto's band Fugazi began the first wave of emo. Much of emo music in DC were recorded by Dischord Record, which was founded by Ian Mackaye and Jeff Nelson. The first wave of emo ended in 1994 when the band Hoover disbanded.

The second wave started when the indie underground scene adopted emo music and fused it with their own sounds. Bands that were of this second wave included Jimmy Eat World, Boy's Life, and Christie Front Drive. Today, "indie emo" is considered dead.

The third wave of emo, which is today's emo scene, includes bands like AFI, All-American Rejects, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance. A vast majority of people who enjoy older punk music reject today's emo scene. Some see it as a mainstream fashion, other see it as music for pussies. Jennifer Hopper of Punk Planet called it "sexist" because the majority of emo music include lyrics that are told from a male's perspective and often blame women for their emotional pain.

Most people wouldn't believe me if I told them emo was derived from 80's American hardcore punk. But, the fact of the matter is that it's music, and progression is a part of it. Most people fail to accept that progression which is a problem in the punk scene, because not only do they deny emo, but they also deny pop punk. To learn to accept them brings us one step closer to keeping the punk scene alive. It brings us one step closer to being a true punk scene, which to me has always been about diversity.