Tag: Punk (Page 1 of 2)

Iggy Pop’s New Album Every Loser Is Insanely Good!

January 9, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

The song Frenzy which is heavy as fuck!

EDIT: I am half asleep and mistitled this post! LOL It is now fixed! Iggy Pop is literally one of the people who helped invent punk music so to say that his music is very important is not an overstatement at all. When I learned the other day that this album had been released, and that people were praising the hell out of it, I knew I had to give it a listen.

Back in 1988 I went to go see The Jesus & Mary Chain open for Iggy. I knew a few Iggy songs back then such as I Wanna Be Your Dog and Cry For Love, but after watching his performance that night I went right out and bought a copy of his newer album Instinct and didn’t look back. I was also getting into punk music during that time so that album was definitely a step down the road of the musical journey I would take and that I am still on. So, as a musician he has always been important to me and I respect the hell out of him.

The song calling out famous pop punk musicians.

I am waiting for the cd of this album to get to my house so I have been playing the YouTube videos for each of the tracks and I haven’t been disappointed at all! In quite a few songs he is calling out rich pop punk musicians and their corporate bullshit, which I am totally here for because if one person has the total right to criticize that crap it is him. This album must be causing the boys in Green Day a huge amount of discomfort and that can only be a good thing.

Biting social commentary.

Even the slower songs on this album have a huge amount of social commentary to them. It feels like Iggy got up one morning and said ‘fuck all of this bullshit’ and wrote out some of his frustrations about this rock in space that we are living on. I can’t overstate this enough, but I think this is probably one of the best social commentary albums to come out in quite a while. If you are into punk music you will love this, and if you are new to Iggy Pop this album would be an excellent place to start checking out his music.

The Sick New World Festival Has Booked She Wants Revenge, A Band That Includes Known Sexual Predators

November 8, 2022 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Sexual predators, wannabe goth bands and shit nu metal…oh my!

Before I start I would like to state for the record that I do actually like some of the bands featured above; Killing Joke, Body Count and some others. However, it’s on another continent than me and I tend not to go to shows where known sexual predator musicians are being featured. Just wanted to get that out there in case somebody thinks I’m being hypocritical about all of this.

Anyways! There sure seems to be a lot of new ‘alternative’ type festivals going on these days, mostly put together by the mainstream music industry. The above band line-up is so chaotic that it feels like they put a bunch of alternative band names in a hat and picked them out randomly. There is a whole lot of ‘I remember this band being edgy in the 90’s’ vibe going on here. Nevermind the fact that general admission tickets start out at $250.00. That is an insane price to pay for a one day event. It’s obvious that it is all about the Benjamins and not the actual music. Remember, all of the kids want to be goths or alternative these days so the people who put this together are counting on that to make a pile of cash.

EDIT: Just found out that it is being put on by Live Nation. No surprise there folks. They want your hard earned cash, and if women get sexually assaulted by musicians performing there so be it.

Screenshot I took of when post punk dot com featured the band a little while back. They only took it down when a bunch of people, including myself, complained. They can never deny that it happened.

There is one more thing even more messed up than all of the stuff I have already mentioned; they put known sexual predators She Wants Revenge on the bill. This article by The Los Angeles Times is the most complete as to detailing what went down exactly at the club Cloak & Dagger, a space both members of the band ran until it was shut down due to public pressure in 2021. They broke up for a time, but are now back together being covered by such problematic websites as post punk dot com. I’m guessing they handed the site a huge wad of cash to feature them, since that is what they do to the majority of the bands featured on their site. I guess money is more important than protecting the lives of women. Go figure.

The only way that any of these mainstream produced festivals are going to change is if people stop going to them. Cruel World featured Morrissey, a racist windbag. This one features She Wants Revenge, a pair of sexual predators. People will crow online all about how black lives matter and how woman should be treated with respect, but will turn around and go see bands who are the antithesis of what they claim to believe.

The end.

Yet More Very Cool Patches!

September 30, 2022 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

This is kind of a lazy post but I have been up to a lot this past week and don’t really have the time to write a long post. My husband and I have been planning a cruise to Scandinavia and that has taken out a large chunk of my thoughts and free time.

As you can see more patches have arrived for the Glenn Danzig themed jacket. I will use the others in some other projects in the future. Again, I got all of them off of Etsy from various sellers. My favourite above is the Jackie O. Misfits patch.

That huge Samhain Initium death dealer patch is going to be the centrepiece of the Glenn Danzig jacket and I got it from this store. If you like any Glenn related band you will probably really enjoy looking through their patches and pins.

Most of the above patches I got from Grimoria on Etsy. What I really like about their patches in particular is that I can shape them to fit into spaces; they don’t come already cut out like the skeleton hands and bats above in the photo.

That is it for today. Remember to buy patches that you actually like, not what you think other people would like. Stay true to yourself.

20 Of My All-Time Favourite Punk Songs

August 20, 2022 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

That is me on the left in early 1991. I painted and studded the jacket myself.

As most of you know I have been listening to punk music for as long as I have been listening to goth/alternative music. I refuse to use the term ‘post-punk’ for that time because we didn’t use it and punk was still fully alive and kicking. I am more in tune to modern goth type bands than I am with modern punk bands so these songs will be mainly from the 80’s. I like everything from UK 82 type bands to skate-punk and horror-punk so there is a wide variety here. If you always wanted to get into punk music but didn’t know where to start any of these bands would be a good jumping off point. By the way, the Sex Pistols would have appeared on this list but Lydon is now a supporter of fascist bullshit. Fuck him, he is now dead to me. Included is hands down the best Joy Division cover song ever made ; Day Of The Lords by Neurosis. I saw them do it live at the punk club Gilman in Berkeley over 30 years ago and it literally gave me goosebumps, it was that powerful. Don’t skip it, you are in for a treat. Also, some of these songs may be considered deathrock or metal but some bands don’t fit into just one box and that is a good thing.

These songs will not be in any kind of order because sometimes my top spots totally change. I hope you enjoy these songs and that you discover music that is new to you.

MISFITS – BLOODFEAST (1983)

BAD RELIGION – DO WHAT YOU WANT (1988)

GBH – I AM THE HUNTED (1982)

BODY COUNT – COP KILLER (1992)

7 SECONDS – 99 RED BALLOONS (1985)

CANCERSLUG – GIRLS CHAINED UP IN THE BASEMENT MAKING BABIES TO KILL (2013)

UK SUBS – LIMO LIFE (1982)

RAMONES – BONZO GOES TO BITBURG (1986)

JELLO BIAFRA WITH D.O.A. – FULL METAL JACKOFF (1990)

NEUROSIS – DAY OF THE LORDS (1990)

SUBHUMANS – THINK FOR YOURSELF (1986)

THE VANDALS – THE LEGEND OF PAT BROWN (1982)

DEAD KENNEDYS – CHICKENSHIT CONFORMIST (1986)

DISCHARGE – STATE VIOLENCE STATE CONTROL (1982)

THE EXPLOITED – FUCK THE USA (1982)

GWAR – SICK OF YOU (1990)

TSOL – CODE BLUE (1981)

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES – INSTITUTIONALIZED (1983)

BLACK FLAG – LOOSE NUT (1985)

SAMHAIN – HALLOWEEN II (1986)

I Have Been Working On Another Denim Jacket

June 4, 2022 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Over the last month or two I have working on yet another denim jacket. This one has no theme and is just a collection of films, bands and other things I am a huge fan of.

I bought this plain black denim jacket from New look, mostly because their denim is pretty good for the price and won’t fall apart after a few weeks of wear. The photo above is of the jacket after I did some bleach work to it. I wanted it to look like something dripped onto it and I am very happy with the results. Remember, not all black clothing looks the same when bleached. Another brand might turn out orange.

The first thing I did after the bleach work was create a hole and sew some neon green fishnet behind it. I wanted all sorts of colours involved because it just makes the jacket look more realistic and wasteland based, rather than something that looks ready-made and too perfect. After that was done I studded black and purple pyramids all along near the bottom of the jacket ending at the front. I went with those colours because I have heavily relied on green and black on my two other jackets. I just wanted something different. Lastly, I cut the ruffle off of a blouse I have never worn and I sewed it onto the jacket below the studs. I roughed up the ruffles with some sandpaper, which created some holes and wear and tear.

The next step I took was trying to figure out patch placement. I hung the jacket in a doorway so that I could look at it all day and it really, really helped me. Safety pins held them in place while sewing them on with green thread. I used the green thread because it made the patches stand out more, and again it is more realistic when it comes to the wasteland. If some of them go on crooked that just makes it look more DIY, which I am perfectly happy with. Out in the wasteland you will use whatever you can find.

Since I have created my own post-apocalyptic/dystopian aesthetic I can make up my own rules as I go along. Which is something that is fun as hell. I will give another update once I am done with the front.

That Time I Gave Ronald Reagan’s Secretary Of State, George Shultz, The Finger

April 24, 2022 / dystopiagal / 1 Comment

I have always been left winged and I openly hated Reagan all through high school in the late 80’s. Conformity was a total way of life back then, so I of course got a lot of crap in high school for disliking him. The cult of Reagan was a real thing. With all of that being said I jumped at the chance of visiting DC in late 1987 with a group called Close Up. It was an organization which taught teens about politics, and I met other teens from all over the country there. Most, if not all, of the teens were Reagan supporters so thinking I was unpopular is correct. I actually won an award on the last night for being the most politically engaged out of the entire group and I got booed. I also got booed at my high school graduation so this was the start of a trend. You know you are doing something right when all of the conformist Reagan cultists hate you.

With all of that being said, the week I was in DC was also coincidently the week that the US and the USSR signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces(INF) Treaty. One of the days we were allowed to walk wherever we wanted to before a big lunch. Two friends and I were walking near the Capital Building when we noticed a motorcade of black limos coming towards us. First the Soviets came by and they actually slowed down, rolled down their windows, and happily waved to us as they drove past. There were little USSR flags on the front of the limo, so yes it was them. Then came the Americans, who didn’t open their windows or wave to people at all. Being the savvy teen that I was I knew that Shultz had to be in one of them and sure enough as his limo slowly went past I could see his very recognizable profile. Immediately I gave him the finger while shouting repeatedly for him to go fuck himself. My friends told me to stop because they were scared of being arrested but I kept going until he was out of sight. I told my friends that they could not arrest a sixteen year old for using her constitutional right to criticize the US government. I was correct.

Looking back on my teen years this is the event I am the most proud of. As a sixteen year old I had a bigger set of balls than a lot of the adults did during that time. I talked the talk and walked the walk, the same as I do today. During that time I was into The Dead Kennedys, U2 and other politically minded bands. All of that music taught me that it was more important to stand up against horrible situations and people, rather than just sitting back and doing nothing. I hope this inspires you to do the same.

Albums That Shaped Me: Bedtime For Democracy – The Dead Kennedys (1986)

January 23, 2022 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

If you were a left leaning teenager going to high school in a conservative suburb in the U.S. in the 80’s you were surrounded by the cult of Reagan. It cannot be overstated enough just how much his racist, xenophobic and homophobic beliefs permeated society during that time. Woe onto you if you disliked Reagan and refused to join the cult. Because of ‘red scare’ tactics being a tried and true method to shut down voices on the left you would constantly be called a commie, and told that if you didn’t like his policies you should just leave the country.

Conformity was king, not only were you supposed to love Reagan you also had to look just like everybody else; perms, neon clothing, pastel clothing, tans, etc…were the standard that you were supposed to want to achieve. If you went outside of that box with your appearance you would get shit on not only by fellow students but by teachers and total strangers. In my senior year in 1988 I got my first shaved undercut, wore skull buckle pikes and applied a lot of black eyeliner. So, I got a lot of negative attention, with one teacher even telling me that if I dressed like everybody else I wouldn’t be bothered.

What helped me get through all of this shit was the music of the Dead Kennedys, and Bedtime For Democracy was my first taste of them. I don’t remember the year I bought this album but I think it was late 86 because I had this when I transferred schools in early 87. Songs such as Rambozo The Clown made me realise that I was not alone in my hate for Reagan and that it was totally okay to not want to conform to his cult. The music made me feel like I was a part of something that opposed social injustices and fascism. In other words it got me in touch with the way punk music can carry a important political message and speak for those who have no voice.

I don’t think I would have become politically active without this album and it fuelled my love for political punk music; something that I still care about and listen to. So, thank you Jello Biafra for helping me realize that I will never be alone in thinking that the Reagan administration was shit, and that not conforming to society should be praised and not scorned.

Holy Crap, Somebody Uploaded The 1990 Danzig VHS Tape!!!!

October 29, 2021 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTFh3pnL-HY

The man, the myth, the legend.

Yesterday I was innocently perusing Glenn Danzig related videos when to my shock and surprise I discovered that somebody had uploaded the 1990 Danzig VHS tape! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! EDIT: The video has been taken down by Glenn. RIP video.

I bought this over 30 years ago and my friend Sheri and I would watch it and just drool. Seriously, if you like dudes with muscles playing evil sounding music then this is the video for you! It’s composed of a few music videos from the first Danzig album entitled ‘Danzig’, along with various interviews. My favourite is the one in which Glenn discusses the lost books of the bible. Glenn knows his stuff when it comes to Christianity, probably more than most Christians.

What trips me out is how young they all look. I am now older than they were when this was made. I actually saw this original line-up of the band on their Dirty Black Summer tour and it was the best concert I have ever been to. The audience was at least 80% men, and filled with everybody from punks to bikers. It was really close to Halloween, and for an encore they played the Samhain version of Halloween II. That is my favourite song off of November Coming Fire, which is my all time favourite album, so to say I was thrilled would be an understatement.

So, watch the above video and bask in it’s glory because it’s a very cool video if you are into anything Glenn related.

‘Grunge’ Never Had A Connection To The Goth Subculture

September 20, 2021 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

This man did not make goth music, did not invent wearing thrift clothes and has been dead for almost 30 years.

I wrote this rant elsewhere out of frustration when it comes to younglings claiming that they are ‘grunge-goth’, because in truth grunge was never a subculture and has never had anything to do with the goth subculture. Enjoy!

The amount of people who think grunge was an actual subculture is disappointing and yet doesn’t surprise me. Just because some dark fashion retailer is trying to sell you something that they label ‘grunge’ doesn’t mean that it was a damn subculture. You know what grunge was? It was a marketing label used by mainstream record execs to sell pre-packaged ‘safe’ rebellion. Those bands that they labeled ‘grunge’ were playing punk meets garage music and their original audience was made up of mostly punks.

All of that changed when the label ‘grunge’ was pushed into the mainstream and the new audience was mostly made up of trend whores who thought they were now at the peak of being alternative. They were the same people who would give punks and goths massive amounts of shit for looking too different or for listening to music that was too strange. The lyrics for Nazi Punks Fuck Off say it perfectly:

‘You ain’t hardcore ’cause you spike your hair when a jock still lives inside your head’

THIS! Needless to say grunge had nothing to do with the goth subculture. Did some goths like grunge? Of course, but that didn’t mean that the two were connected. Punks, metalheads, and everybody generally alternative wore flannel, military surplus gear and thrift store clothing way before ‘grunge’ made its appearance. The bands labeled ‘grunge’ were just wearing what other weirdos wore, they didn’t invent a style. The mainstream took that style and marketed it to the masses.

Now there are a bunch of people who are using the term grunge-goth, which makes zero sense because of the reasons I talked about up above. It is a term made up by dark fashion companies to sell nostalgia to kids, as if grunge was also a subculture equal to goth. ‘If you buy this grunge-goth top you are going to be double cool and ultra rebellious!’ No, no you are not because grunge was never a subculture and if you buy into those marketing tactics you are nothing but a fashion victim, the same as those mainstream trend whores from 30 years ago.

Goth is not grunge, grunge is not goth. The end.

I found a Spooky Band Called Fright Night Club And I’m Excited!

August 4, 2021 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

I went down a rabbit hole on Bandcamp last night, and to my surprise I found a band that performs spooky Halloween music called Fright Night Club. Being a huge fan of Nox Arcana I got really excited because I think it’s great that another band is creating unsettling music.

They perform both instrumental and original songs. Some albums are filled with instrumentals, while others are packed with original songs about monsters, horror movies,etc… There are even a few cover songs which is pretty cool! I am currently listening to their album called Creepshow: Re-Scared, which as you can guess from the title is full of sonic landscapes that flesh out the scenes in the film Creepshow. It’s seriously good stuff! I love listening to this kind of music while writing because it gets me in the mood so that I feel extra spooky!

This band has a ton of people contributing songs to the albums, so it is a collective; a spooky version of a band such as The Joy Thieves. I honestly don’t know who the people listed are, but I am betting that at least a few of them are goth or horror-punk musicians. They put out one album every year and also some separately themed albums . They take an obvious cue from John Carpenter, which can only be a good thing! There are lots of keyboards and guitar mixed together which makes for a spooky unsettling journey through a horror filled landscape.

I seriously love this band, as you can tell. Surprisingly all of their albums, save one, are free to download off of Bandcamp. Sit down, because this next part is a bit shocking. There are NINETEEN of them! Their newest one titled Sounds Of The Season Part II, which was released last year, is a name your price album.

So, get your spooky behind over to Bandcamp and check this band out! It’s great spooky music to listen to all year, and to scare the kiddies with during Halloween.