Every now and again, there’s a glimmer of hope for the future. (from Larry F’ing Miller no less!)
The lead singer of every band that day had gotten huge cheers in between songs by shouting things like “ANARCHY!” or, “F— CORPORATIONS!” or just, “S—!” and all fifty thousand kids would scream their approval, whoop, and shove their fists into the air. Typical, I guess. Then, “Buzzcocks” came on, played their first song, and the lead singer stepped forward and shouted this (verbatim from Jack, he wrote it down) into the mike: “F— GEORGE BUSH! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM. WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN IRAQ, NO MATTER WHAT HE SAYS.” And here comes the good news.
There was a long pause, complete silence. And then they started. The boos. One here, one there. Then everyone. Everyone. Louder and louder. Jack told me how the puzzled singer blinked in surprise, looked at the rest of his band, and then stepped forward again to try to save the moment. “NO, NO, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I SAID F— GEORGE BUSH. F— HIM.” The boos grew even louder, and then people began shouting back up to the stage, “NO, MAN, F— YOU!” “YEAH, F— YOU, A—–E!” More and more, ceaselessly rising, until the shaken band caucused quickly and just blasted into their next song.
Although this isn’t exactly a glimmer of hope, it is reassuring to see that the Commander-In-Chief can rally up a bit more support from the troubled youth of today than Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks. Funny to see the lil’ bastards cheering and giving hurrahs for “Death to big business” and “Anarchy” while paradoxically defending a Republican, big business backed President. That would be like being at an Ice-T concert, and cheering through a rendition of “Cop Killa”, then booing when he ends it with a rousing “Yeah suckaz, fuck da Po-lice!” Just a little bit stupid is all, and I know that’s how you MTV kiddies are these days so I’ll just pat you on the head and say “Good job, lil’ whitewashed punkers. Good job.” Let me know what you think of the current situation after you get a Goddamn job.
Punk is dead, by the way. Just filling in those of you who didn’t get the memo.