Punk lives! Driving home from my workout the other night, I tuned in to KMNR, the radio station run by UMR students, and I hear two great, old-school punk tunes, back to back: "I Am A Cliche," by X-Ray Spex, and "London's Burning," by the Clash. It does my jaded heart good to know that some of the kids these days do appreciate the classics.
I don't know, exactly, what it is about that early punk stuff that makes me so nostalgic. Is it the intensity of the sound? The loudness? The immediacy and urgency in their notes and voices? I try to listen to some newer stuff. Oh, how I try. But it all pales in comparison to the sounds of the Clash, the Pistols, the Ramones, Devo -- even early Elvis Costello.
I'm sure music fans of other generations feel the same way when they hear the music of their youth. My brother, no doubt, waxes nostalgic when he listens to Hendrix or Janis Joplin. The good stuff, no matter what era, lasts.