If only I had something funny to say, then my first comment of the post would be worth something.

Damn, Brad. I would love to hang out with you. Does anybody fun do a South Bay drinking liberally?

When I was a teenager, I had a chart or diagram that showed “authenticity” decreasing as record sales increased. On a completely unrelated note, I was an obnoxious prick.

Never been to the Milky Way (I’m in Somerville), sounds like a plan!

Mmmmm… beer…

Milky Way hell, do it at the Midway!

But then, I don’t live in Boston, so why would you listen to me.

As far as I know, the San Diego version of drinking liberally involves being alone at home with the blinds closed.

Jesus Christ, he’s 82, give Steve-o a break.

nothing is sacred in punk rock anymore

That’s nothing new. Joey Ramone’s corpse wasn’t even cold before you started hearing “Blitzkreig Bop” in commercials.

Ya know–Malcolm McLaren’s cash-out scheme for the Sex Pistols may have been different from, say, John Lydon’s.

Case in point: legal fight over the use of the name “Johnny Rotten.”

I never liked Punk at all, even though I was sympathetic to its sensibility. It had absolutely no sense of humour about anything, even itself.

That always makes me very suspicious about how genuine something is.

Besides, my manners were just too dainty.

Dammit, once again I’m on the wrong coast!! Ah well, I’ll drink along wit’ ya. I’ll even audition here for “Boston West” status. Ready?

EAT IT, YANKEES COBAGS!!!11!

Pinko mikey

Too far from Hopkinton, N.H.

(Why does Foulk suck so?)

“Holiday in Cambodia?” “California Uber Alles?” That’s some funny-ass shit right there.

Roots Radical–Rancid

Soulmate–No Use for a Name

Start With–Seaweed

Boy or a Girl–Imperial Drag

Lost Again–Dance Hall Crashers

Laudanam–Letters to Cleo

Softer, Softest–Hole

Of COURSE Punk has a sense of humor…

mikey

Too drunk to fuck. The pinnacle of teh funny.

“I Live in a Cake” isn’t funny?

“They Saved Hitler’s Brain” — Unnatural Axe

Any place in JP is cool.

Why does Foulk suck so?

Oh, Paul M., Foulke doesn’t suck. He was just adding drama to the game. He wanted to take what looked to be a blowout and give the Yankee fans the fleeting illusion that they could catch up. Why else would someone give up two first-pitch home runs in the same inning?

Honestly. He was just trying to make it interesting. Or something…

How can anyone talk about funny punk without talking about the Vandals? Master Race in Outer Space? Slap of Love? Anarchy Burger, good lord, Anarchy Burger!!

America stands for freedom
but if you think you’re free
try walking into a deli
and urinating on the cheese

While it’s true there are a bunch of funny (or at least humorour) punk songs, maybe Mal is thinking about punks themselves.

Punk audiences seem serious and stern and humorless, even as the music itself wasn’t. A shame, really.

Still the gold standard of this is Lester Bangs’ article about The Clash.

Yes, it’s a drastic overstatement to say that punks have no sense of humor–and maybe it’s more correct to say they had no sense of humor that would make any non-punk laugh, but while I’ve found a lot of punk music enjoyable and funny, I’ve never found any punk either of the two.

I’ve never found any punk either of the two.

Well, he’s not much of a punk anymore, but I’ve met John Doe, and he’s a really cool guy. And I like his music better than just any other punk band I’ve ever listened to.

Psycotic Pineapple — I Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Get Rid Of You, Head Cheese

And no, that is not a misspelling in the band name.

Hmm… that looks like one song title. In fact, I Wanna, etc. and Head Cheese were two different songs.

Does the blog bouncer come after me if I make “Plastic Bertrand” jokes?

Forget I mentioned it.

While it’s true there are a bunch of funny (or at least humorour) punk songs, maybe Mal is thinking about punks themselves.

Kind of both, but definitely, the fans of any trend are usually the way I gauge how valuable some part of popular culture is.

Humour’s a complicated thing…I don’t find nihilism and inchoate anger as a response to alienation all that funny or interesting (which is why I’m a fan of this blog.) I find it kind of draining. After Sid Vicious died, I just thought the whole thing was pointless and sad.

I’m not being judgemental here though; I understand why a lot people got into punk, but it just never really appealed to me. Also a bad experience on a three-hour bus trip once with a drunk, kilt-wearing be-Mohawked yob who was farting up a storm behind me kind of sucked all the charm out of it for me, if you know what I mean.

Hey! You’re highlighting my sanctimony in your post updates.

…I like it.

If we’re talking unfunny here, then the sXe crowd has got to take the cake. Not only do they lack a sense of humor, but they combine the depression/hopelessness of goths with the anger/violence of skinheads.

Oh.. and the Yankees suck Barbaro’s balls.

The Sex Pistols are one of the funniest bands ever. In “The Filth And The Fury” I believe Lydon said something to the effect that the Sex Pistols were really conceived as a comedy band owing much to British pantomime. The Pistols had great wit.

Jonesy is very charming on his brilliant radio show “Jonesy’s Jukebox.” It’s hands-down the best radio show in the L.A. area. The other day Lemmy was on and Jonesy and Lemmy jammed on some Hawkwind tunes. You don’t hear that on your usual Clear Channel station.

Psycotic Pineapple — I Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Get Rid Of You, Head Cheese

[…]

Hmm… that looks like one song title. In fact, I Wanna, etc. and Head Cheese were two different songs.

Aw. That’s truly disappointing. I wanted to know how he managed to get rid of the head cheese.

but what if I really do want to get rid of you, head cheese?! Is there no song for me?

i went to the warped tour in 2005( i know i know, but come on … free tickets and ride?) and like 80% of the people there had donned the emo/goth robert-smith-esque “black is back” look. IN CINCINATTI!!! IN SUMMER! WTF? i felt out of place, both as an indian guy and for wearing an orange t-shirt and flip-flops.

this shock notwithstanding, there were some pretty good performances, and nearly all of them were in good fun, more so in the side stages where you could see that the dudes and dudettes were enjoying themselves despite the sticky heat and no crowds that weren’t passing through.

Bah. Punk rock arguments. I hate punk rock arguments. Any kind of punk rock argument.

“So-and-so’s not punk!” “Are to!”

“Punk is still a valid music form and not at all stuck in NYC circa 1979!” “No, it isn’t!”

“Punk saved rock & roll and was fresh and original and totally different from anything that ever came before!” “Are you fucking stupid?”

“Punks aren’t just simply another clique that’s more interested in having the ‘right’ fashions and taste in music, they are truly rebels!” “You all have the same haircuts. The only thing that seperates you from preppies is they bathe more often!”

There. I just saved us all a whole lot of time that can be better spent listening to Jimmy Reed or Willie Nelson or Swamp Dogg. Or Elvis. Elvis rules.

And sXe’ers can be tedious as hell. I’ve yet to meet one that didn’t feel perfectly justified getting all up in my area just ’cause I like smoking something that makes all the pretty lights that much more shiny, but I’m sure there’s at least one out there.

I tried to join a ping-pong club,
sign on the door said all full up!”

The Clash – What’s My Name

I mean there’s your self-depracating comedy right there (you would hope).

I’ve always loved Punko.

Milky Way is fine, but it’s just so JP. Full of JPers. Doing JP stuff. Like I mean, what you are on the 39 for an hour to get there?

No, just kidding, the Milky Way is fine. I won’t be attending. The 39 does not come to CA.

YANKEES LOSE!!! THAAAAAAAAA’ YANKEES LOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!!

http://oakland.drinkingliberally.org/

Congrats to the Red Sox, they beat a team that started Terrance Long and some kid named Melky in the same game.

grumble. It’s a long season wankers.

Anyone who thinks punk has no sense of humor needs to listen to more Killdozer.

I always thought “The Damned” were funny as hell.

Dave “the Vampire” Vanian backed by an ever-changing bunch of idiots.

After Sid Vicious died? Pointless and sad? No, after Sid Vicious got hired on, it was pointless… for that band. There was still the Buzzcocks, Wire, all of SoCal (including the humorful Circle Jerks and Descendants), etc.

Also a bad experience on a three-hour bus trip once with a drunk, kilt-wearing be-Mohawked yob who was farting up a storm behind me kind of sucked all the charm out of it for me, if you know what I mean.

Sorry about that – the gorgonzola and oatmeal stout were, in retrospect, an unwise combo.

But fun at the time.

There were punks with a sense of humor, but we had them executed for petty bourgeois deviance.

How many straight-edge kids does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None. SxE’s don’t screw before marriage.

ChrisS,

Predictable as the tides. Take out Matsui and Sheffield and the Yanks’ payroll is only $170 million. Poor dears. How will they ever get by?

There’s more to knock than just the sanctimonious straight-edge kids: there were also the sanctimonious peace punks.

Or Crass-holes, as we used to call them.

What about Flipper?

How does Skrewdriver band members know the stage is level?

They drool from both sides of their mouth.

i don’t want to hear sawks fans complain about payroll. you are not the royals. selah.

Sorry about that – the gorgonzola and oatmeal stout were, in retrospect, an unwise combo. But fun at the time.

Yeah, well, you didn’t seem too happy when everyone on the bus rebelled and you were kicked off at an off-ramp in the no-man’s-land of suburban Kitchener-Waterloo.

It’s all fun and games until someone looses an eye.

I’ll be honest; I really stopped listening to punk music around 1984 when I lived in Germany…it was all too Orwellian for me. I therefore have nothing other to offer than sanctimony. I’m changing my name to Ann Althouse-Bartow, by the way.

Come to think of it, plenty of punk is amusing in one way or another.

Off the top of my head: BH Surfers, early Replacements, the Feederz, F, Big Boys, Naked Raygun, The Ramones, DOA, that one trick pony also known as the Pop O’Pies, Scratch Acid, the Happy Flowers, etc.

Then there’s the unintentionally funny, like Channel 3 (when they mimicked the Alarm), 7 Seconds (when they mimicked U2), SSD (when they mimicked ACDC), Discharge (when they mimicked Merciful Fate) Sham 69 (when they were just being themselves), etc.

And don’t forget Letch Patrol.

Yes Punk no sense of humor:
Pinhead
We’re a happy family
Psycho Therapy
Teenage labotomy
were all deadly earnest yep as humorless as an accouting lecture.

And lets not forget the Cramps. So painfully self important they were.

And is it me or do the Yankees these days remind me of a sterotypcial Red Sox Team of the 50 to the 80’s – a band of slew footed sluggers with so so pitching who either win games 11-6 or don’t win at all? Just odd the way krama peeks out from time to time.

liberalsouth,

Who’s complaining about payroll? It ’twas the Yankee fan bemoaning his Melkies and his Terrences, despite unlimited money and resources (but, evidently a shitty, shitty farm system).

I promise that I’ll never bitch about payroll. Anyway, shouldn’t you guys be mad at Wal-Mart? When Kaufmann owned the team, he spent money and they won…

And let us never forget the TV Personalities’ “Part Time Punks” from 1978:

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

They play their records very loud
And pogo in the bedroom
In front of the mirror
But only when their mum’s gone out
They pay half fares on the buses
And they never use toothpaste
But they got two pound fifty to go and see The Clash.

And let’s not forget the similar spoof “Young, Dumb, and Ugly” by Weird Al.

Not really punk, but still captures that feel.

You mean the DKs weren’t serious when they sang “Kill The Poor”? My personal fave, though, was the new NSA theme song, “Stealing Peoples’ Mail.”

Don’t forget, they were on Virgin Records in the U.K. — Branson picked them up after EMI and A&M dumped them. So maybe Jones is still loyal. (Or maybe he still owes Virgin money.)

What’s the parking situation like in JP?

a drinking liberally at the milky way? sounds good to me.

Buzzcocks
Devo
SplodgenessAbounds
Surf Punks
Klaus Nomi (perhaps unintentionally)
The Damned

Shit, three-quarters of “Urgh! A Music War” is piss-your-pants funny — the parts without Sting-a-ling-a-ding-dong. Good times, good times.

Well, since I live in JP, that sounds good.

Gotta agree about Steve Jones’ LA radio show (http://indie1031.com/shows/jonesy.php). I’ve been listening for a couple of years now, it’s the best thing going. Jones is really funny in a completely lame sort of way. He’s a “fat old middle-aged sod” (his own words) who just doesn’t care about being fat, old, middle-aged, or a sod. He tries to be funny but mostly he’s not and for some bizarre reason it always comes off charming. I THINK it’s Clear Channel but with some more complicated content deal or something. Because his musical guests trash Bush all the time. Even if Jonesy himself professes to “know nuffin about politics.”

I’m usually drinkin’ liberally at Bukowski, Inman Square. Hey, they even sell T-Shirts that say “Stone Cold Fucking Liberal”…and the beer selection is mammoth.

So, how about those Tigers?

Practically everything the Dead Kennedys did was funny/witty/satirical – my personal favourite is “Chemical Warfare”. If I broke into a military base and stole numerous chemical weapons, the first thing I’d do is use them on a golf course, too.

And then there’s “Night of the Living Rednecks”, an early spoken word piece. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard from anyone.

Straight-edge punks are indeed tedious, to say the least. A combination of the most self-righteous features of punks, militant vegans, Catholic priests, and your mother. If I ever meet Ian MacKaye, I’m going to moon him.