RadioKarlPunkMonster

The Windup

2012-02-19T16:52:00.000-05:00

[Playing: Be Your Own Pet "Fire Department"]

I'm still alive. I'm still unemployed, and Punk Rock is still a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Today I took a giant shot in the dark and sent an email to people affiliated with ... well, a company that produces television shows. I don't think that their identity is important. I pitched them an idea whose cancer had been growing in my brain for as long as I have been ignoring this blog and enjoying my Pandora radio station. I have this fantasy of hosting a Punk Rock musical variety show on a cable channel with an international audience.

Let me set the record straight; I have no illusions about myself. I dearly want something like this to happen, even if I cannot be personally involved in it. Punk Rock is long overdue for some manner of worldwide recognition, and this would be the best way to accomplish that. Also, a number of the great bastions of Punk are getting old. We need a show like this while these great people are still with us.

I did a little surfing to check some facts, in the course of writing my pitch. I had to be sure that Iggy was still alive. Marky Ramone has some 2012 dates for Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg. I believe Joan Jett is still active. There are even 2012 tour dates for Bad Brains!!! What? I didn't even know that they were still a going concern.

Shows what I know, right?

I reprinted the letter as a blog entry below. Mostly to create a copyright for the idea, but also for you to make fun of my idea. I wonder if Siouxsie is still alive?

I'm emotionally drained right now. When I write things that are important to me, like my NaNoWriMo novel, a lot of me goes out onto the page. Whew! Well, the important thing now is not just that I did something about my idea, for better or worse. Now that I have used a keyboard to download the idea from my brain, maybe the fantasy will plague me less. Or not. This is the kind of 'cure' that has mixed results, but it does tend to work with story ideas.

Punk is not dead.

The Pitch

2012-02-19T16:25:00.000-05:00

Hello,

[Introduction omitted by author]

Me.
I myself am nobody special. I am 42 years old, and have a degrees in Chemistry, and Electronic Engineering and Computer Technology. I do however, care dearly for the music that is Punk Rock. I have no contacts whatsoever in any part of the music industry, and have no ties to any particular musical group. In short, I have no real experience to bring to the project. Therefore, I am not going to insist that I personally should be a part of this project, if it does come to fruition.

Pitch.
My idea is to create a Punk-exclusive musical variety show.
Punk Rock is a musical subculture that has consistently been mishandled by the premier record labels, under-promoted by the cottage industry of small independent labels, and generally ignored by broadcast radio stations. I will freely grant that there are some exceptions, but most of these are limited or localized phenomena. There are local radio stations that may play broader selection. Larger cities have locally known bands, and occasionally the brighter stars may make an appearance on television - such as on The Late Show with David Letterman. Yet these exceptions do little to invigorate the larger subculture. There continue to be new venues for Punk Rock, and Satellite Radio is one of these, but Satellite Radio hasn't quite set the world on fire, owing to its barrier to entry for the average international listener. The rise in breadth and popularity of the Internet has done much to facilitate the availability of all music, but even the internet is not enough.

Using a television analogy; if you do not know what is on television - and you do not change the channel, then you can never know what other shows are on. I want to be the ombudsman who loudly proclaims "Punk Rock is out there! Punk Is Not Dead."

Format.
I envision a "Late Show"-esque general format, but without ordinary guests. A band would play an opening song or two (depending on the performers) followed by an interview (length would also depend on the performer) followed by more music. No 'host' band - such as Paul Schaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band - would be required (this would help to make it a low-overhead production), although 'support' musicians might not be a terrible idea. [A characteristic of early Punk Rock is a stripped-down sound, so I have mixed feelings about that.] All of the musical guests should be local talent; this *absolutely* has to be a travelling show. Not just around the United States, but internationally. While there is a wealth of material in the United States, a mandatory destination is the United Kingdom, and from there Australia, Scandinavia, Japan, Poland, the Ukraine, perhaps even Russia (unless the government demands additional fees be paid). My favorite group is Monkeystrikes, a struggling band in Scandinavia whose members live in Denmark and Sweden, and whose latest CD (You Hate My Beautiful Love, 2007) appears to be out of print.

Audience.
The first thing on your minds is that without an audience, there simply is no show. You are absolutely right. This show would at first play to a niche core audience; most of whom are 40-somethings who grew up with Punk Rock and rock 'n' roll. This would further be narrowed by the specialization in Punk Rock.
[Punk has been much maligned and misrepresented over the years (consider the episode of House M.D. where the patient was a serial drug abusing Punk Rocker) such that many people do not know what Punk Rock is.]
This would admittedly be a small core audience. However, I strongly believe that the audience would grow exponentially within the first year, once it becomes self-evident that Punk Rock is not that much different from everyone's beloved Rock 'n' Roll. If and when that happens, the show will become a parade of talent to an audience of fresh ears. I must mention here that the initial core audience would be international, and not just domestic, so this project would greatly benefit for a network that seeks international audiences.

Guests.
The first few shows are absolutely critical. Not just for the interest of the core audience, and to gain traction with new audiences, but because the surviving bastions of Punk Rock may not be long for this world.

The first show should exclusively feature Iggy Pop. He should be provided with a large red leather chair to sit in, and the host should kiss his hand and call him "Godfather".
[This vein of theatrics should be endemic to the show!]

Subsequent shows should similarly feature the old guard of Punk and 'Garage Rock': Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg, MC5, Joan Jett, Billy Idol (if not all of Generation X), Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Sleater-Kinney etc. I could go on and on. And that is not to mention whatever band reunions can be orchestrated, such as the Damned.

Similarly, the British bands that need to appear in the show's first year are Siouxie and the Banshees, the Adicts, the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Leyton Buzzards, the Buzzcocks, etc.

Expertise, creative consultants, other resources.
This project requires at least one person with a large amount of experience and contancts within the music industry, and preferably from within the Punk subculture. Off of the top of my head, the stand-out choice would be Henry Rollins. He fronted the California Punk Band Black Flag for years before embarking on a very successful solo career during which he produced new bands, appeared in minor acting roles, and contributed to various MTV productions.

If I were to try to move forward in a project of this scope, I would definitely seek Henry's advice. I would further try to contact influential Punk performers who have formed independent labels such as Joan Jett (Blackheart Records), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles Records), Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion, Epitaph Records), Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Hellcat Records) etc.

Unfortunately, there is a minor detail that needs to be mentioned here. Such a show will need its own independent security detail for safety and management of the studio audience. Every subculture has its own troublemakers, and Punk Rock may be overrepresented in this regard (White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, other groups). The issue can be managed with a dedicated group of professionals, and requiring that audience members sign waivers. It would be irresponsible of me do downplay the potential for violence. For example, many performances by the Exploited resulted in riots.

That is my vision. I want to thank the recipients for reading this far; I do greatly appreciate your sophisticated attention span. I would like to state in closing that I am pitching this idea to a single audience; the executives and creative talent at [omitted].

For more vague information see my struggling Punk Blog at:
http://karlmonsterpunk.blogspot.com/

and my Punk Rock Pandora Radio Station at
http://broadcaster.pandora.com/t?r=927&c=0&l=37961&ctl=17BE4C4:48C98F25DFFEAC3E1BFC382B24200693&

Thank you for your time

Karl Aune

"Hey You! Behind that door! I'm scared too, but I want more!"
- Monkeystrikes

The Latest, Greatest, Tiniest, Obscurity

2011-09-15T01:09:00.000-04:00

I'm still alive, just ignore those rumors. Uh, well, that other rumor might be true, but... uh... yeah, no comment

I just heard a new-to-me band on Pandora. Finally Pandora sends me flowers instead of recycled old stuff (it sent me some David Bowie today - I didn't have the heart to give Sufferagette City thumbs down, but I should have).

Yeah, anyway, so I head this... shoot, what does it get called these days? Oh yeah, I heard this 'revivalist' punk rock that I've never heard before. So I stopped what I was doing to go see the details. Its a Japanese??? band called Sparks & Twinky. They have a 2006 album called 'Chikara', which I can't find any information about. Now I don't know that I can say that it's particularly remarkable. I can't comment on their style, or their level of talent. What I can say is that I feel joy from discovering bands like this. Yes, it took 5 years to reach my ears. But for as long as there are small groups like this out there, there is a future for punk rock. A bright future.

This is how I felt when I found out about my current favorite (yet defunct) punk group 'Monkeystrikes'. Man, its a good feeling. It makes me want to be a record promoter for these tiny groups. Which I imagine I am, in some tiny, unhelpful way.

In other news, Jemina Pearl (Be Your Own Pet) has apparently given up on maintaining her Punk Til You Puke blog. I'm sure that just means that she has a real social life. I still expect to see many great things from her.

Happy New (PUNK) Year!

2011-01-03T12:02:00.005-05:00

        I got my Associate's degree in Electronic Engineering and Computer Technology, and I am excited about my future! I'm going to set the world on fire.... after my nap.

        I have a terrible crime to confess. I let my Pandora subscription lapse. The *really* big bummer was that I continued to listen to the station in December as if my subscription was still going. I was so horrified on December 11; when my free Pandora time ran out. Three agonizing weeks with only my sparse Punk recordings to keep me company. I was so depressed about it that I didn't realize until today that I could be listening to the station again if I wanted to.

        Not a whole lot of news right now... and what the hell am I listening to? 'White Witch'??? A Whitesnake sound-alike band? Hehehehehehehe. Mwahahahahaha! They get the finger. Thumbs down!!! Ah, I missed doing that. Some decisions are tougher, but I love kicking Pandora's stupid choices off of the station.

        Just gave thumbs up to a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song 'No No No'. Don't get me wrong. I like Art Rock like them, TOOL, and several others that I cannot remember just now. I'm a TOOL freak, but I won't play them on my station because the 'Art' part doesn't quite make them punk. Then Pandora sees the 'Art Rock' tag and puts all manner of junk on the station. This makes it really tough to play only certain songs from these groups. I have to thumbs down 10 songs for each one that I want played. And that brings me to noise rock.

        I won't claim to be a huge fan of noise rock, but I am trying to add a few bands like The (International) Noise Conspiracy, whom I am mildly impressed with. This will naturally lead to some... 'interesting' music getting played. Since I am not going to re-subscribe for a while, it is going to take me longer than normal to cull the undesirably harsh things that Pandora throws into the mix. Also, I definitely need to get more Iggy Pop on the station. This is puzzling to be because I started the station with Iggy.Punk out!

2010-10-19T11:30:00.009-04:00

Woah, I haven't posted since February? Again, too long since I've updated. Well, at least I'm a little better than Jemina Pearl of Be Your Own Pet!

(Ha! Just kidding! No, really! Um... hey, that looks heavy, what are you... Noooo! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!)

But I've been crazy busy and there isn't much to say. I'll be free of school in December, and I can't wait. When I'm employed again I'm going to start filling a long, long wish list from Amazon.com. Red Aunts, Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Rise Against, Reagan Youth, Rocket from the Crypt, The New Bomb Turks, X-ray Specs, help I can't stop typing names of great bands!

I haven't done much with the station, partly because I'm studying over there and can't be bothered to walk all the way across the room to give a massive thumbs down to some weak-ass alternative song that Pandora slipped in. That and I may be getting soft again; letting some so-called 'pop-punk' slide in if I can't decide how much I like it. I did add the God-Awfuls, The Gits, The Hudson Falcons, 7 Year Bitch, The Oppressed, Leatherface, the Viscious, Spiveys, Cold Cold Hearts, Kleveland (WOW! Great band!), the Excessories, the Eyeliners, the Go-Sheilas, Rotten Apples, the SubHumans, and one of my new favorites, the U.S. Bombs.

The Subhumans are one of those "how could I forget about them?" bands that I didn't remember form the old days. The U.S. Bombs are a good 'punk revivalist band' - which apparently means they don't care to blend their punk rock. Check out the song "Destroy the Nation". The themes of Kleveland songs - and Stephanie Smith's accusing tones - make them a Riot Grrl band in my book. The world needs more Riot Grrl. And spankings.

It irritates me that I can look up at the list of bands that I've added, and wonder if Pandora has been playing them for me. Its possible that I added a few of the bands because I heard a single 'marquee' song that Pandora digs out occasionally. I usually seed the group because I want to hear more. Pandora may not necessarily oblige.

I've just realized (through Pandora) that the Adicts (first wave British punk) released 'Life Goes On' in 2009. I listened to samples from the album, but I didn't hear anything that excited me. Maybe it needs to grow on me? Does that make me a bad punk?

Edit: insert a parenthetical question mark after 'first wave,' I'm not entirely clear when they got their start. Kubrik immortalized the 'Droog' very early on in his 'A Clockwork Orange'. Can't beat that with a sharp stick in the eye.

I think Pandora wants my lunch money...

2010-02-26T14:56:00.001-05:00

Its been a long time between updates, and I've been quite busy both with school and tweaking the radio station. I don't know for sure whether it is Pandora or my own pics, but I still keep hearing music that doesn't belong here. I just now gave thumbs down to Audioslave, Slade, and Primus. How the hell did they get picked for my station?? The only band I see that is a big wild card is "Television". I added them because they were an influence on of early punk. I haven't heard more than one of their songs in about a month, so I'm afraid that they are the reason Pandora keeps flinging Indie rock bands at me.

So I'm going to have to review my artist seeds yet again. I finally cut the Buzzcocks - though I really hated to do it. Not more than 2 songs later, Pandora plays "Just Lust" by the Buzzcocks. I could interpret that in a number of ways. 1) It was already in the queue and thus has no real meaning. 2) Pandora thinks that the Buzzcocks are a good fit with the remaining artists that I have seeded - which justifies my original decision to seed them. 3) Its a big "FUCK YOU" from Pandora. Since Pandora skipped playing "Sex Object" by Manda and the Marbles - a song that I really like - completely on its own, I'm leaning towards interpretation number 3.

I beleive that I solved what I refer to as the "Hardcore Issue." I took Agnostic Front out of the list of artist seeds. I didn't want to do that either, but the diversity was getting much too broad. There are still seeded punk artists that lean towards hardcore (as I define it), so hopefully I'm not actually sacrificing any punk/hardcore hybrids. Perhaps I should re-seed Clit 45 just to make sure?

Slade, Primus, and Audioslave. I still can't believe it. At least I heard Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" today. That tells me I'm doing something right. Rock on.

What "Alternative" Music Is

2010-01-18T16:05:00.001-05:00

Go click on the title. You'll like it. Be nice and browse more of Gunshow Comics.

Do you know why truth is stranger than fiction? Do you? Reality is weird enough, but fiction is a human convenience. Its a book or television show that you soak in for entertainment. If something happens in the story that you find farfetched (think Agatha Christie's detective stories etc. where a miracle happens leading to a sudden 'blue sky' conclusion when everything was baffling right up to that point) the knee-jerk reaction is WTF sort of contrived story is this? Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense - or it doesn't sell well.

Pandora positively mystifies me. I've been working on this radio station for 6 months, and just yesterday it played L7 for the first time. Argh! I couldn't make that up if I wanted to. I've seen referneces to the band for months, but generally don't add groups that I haven't heard. I cannot claim to be perfect either. I have not thumbed-up or seeded the UK Subversives. D'oh! I'm not really trying to seed *every* good band, I have been trying to seed core groups to let Pandora fill in around them. Also I like a little time to agonize about whether to seed them or not. Another realization that I have had is that if I am to allow 'primitive' rock bands, then I should un-thumbs-down T-Rex and the Troggs. Naturally this will lead me to another Hardcore problem - Pandora will start cramming in primitive rock bands, and I'll have to issue an assload of thumbs downs. Not to worry, my guiding star here is the overall mix, so just like Hardcore I'll allow a good sampling without going overboard. Maybe.

New additions; the Partisans, UK Subversives, the Sainte Catherines, Authority Zero, the Lurkers, L7 and the Shocker (former L7 bassist). Also added Venom Lords, a band name that puzzled me 25 years ago. I was into Chicago's Naked Raygun, and Venom Lords used a similar font and colors for their band name on their album covers. So a casual glance might confuse one for the other. With record prices what they were, I wasn't in a hurry to buy records of bands that I've never heard of. Radio ignored these bands, Pandora does not. Now I dig Venom Lords. Does that mean I've come full circle?

Thought my few readers might like this; a search for punk rock on Amazon.com

Evolution

2010-01-14T16:43:00.000-05:00

In Nature, Evolution occurs as tiny changes that accumulate over great periods of time. Such changes seldom affect only a single charactersitic of any species. Various traits of many species will be affected, and populations in different geographic locations will be affected differently. Language also evolves, but follows additional patterns, including word borrowing (inter-breeding?) from neighboring languages. This becomes self-evident from only a cursory survey of dialects, accents, slangs, and jargon within a single language.

Music evolves faster than any other cultural hallmark that I am aware of. This happens for a large number of reasons; large differences of musical vision, the free global exchange of ideas (no borders), rampant (and shameless) borrowing, culture clash, culture shock, commercialization....
If I were to forget what I was writing about, I might think I was writing a list of band names. My point is that it is extremely difficult to point out all the inspirations and forebears of Punk Rock, and dutifully honor all of them. Similarly, its impossible to track everything that was influenced by it. Musical genre names become more and more meaningless to me, especially with respect to Punk. I understand what "punk revivalist" is, but I'm still not clear on what "post-punk" is. Even more difficult for me is being open-minded about potential bands to keep as "proto-punk" groups.

If you happened to select Pandora's generic punk station, I can tell you exactly what you're listening to. The Ramones, the Clash, Iggy Pop, the Clash, the Buzzcocks, the Clash, the Damned, the Jam, Rancid, Fugazi, and a little from the Clash. The Jam??? It still mystifies me that anyone thinks that the Jam is a Punk Rock band. I suppose the same could be said of the Buzzcocks. Personally, I have to lump the Clash in the same category. They were a major reason that I started this station from scratch, I just could not control the airplay. "The Clash are Punk!" argues my buddy Jim. I think that London Calling was an important album for Punk Rock. What bugs me is that for every song like "Death or Glory" or "Brand New Cadillac", theres a song like "Lost in the Supermarket" or "Ghetto Defendant" - and Pandora doesn't do much to distinguish one from the other for seeded artists. Very anti-climactic. I'll give 'Brand New Cadillac' a *trial* thumbs up and see what happens.

Thats how I'm treating the Detroit Cobras right now. Its not hard to map their sound as pre-Punk, despite their playing all covers of previously recorded primitive rock and roll hits. I'm actually pretty happy with how they fit in, expect them to be seeded soon. Fake Fictions, Magenta Lane, and Manda and the Marbles are other bands that will probably be seeded in the near future.

I've recently realised that Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' was released in 1971. Holy Cow! The Stooges' first release was in 1969 (and to be fair, Led Zeppelin issued I and II the same year). It floors my modern perspective to realize that anyone was grindingly heavy like Sabbath that early. I like Black Sabbath, and I can hardly say they had NO impact on Punk, so I'll not give them a thumbs down if Pandora plays them. Pandora has played Black Sabbath and Motorhead on rare occasions, I'm just uncertain how much I want to encourage their appearance on the playlist. I definitely want to see more Motorhead.

I'm still agonizing about hardcore bands. I worry a little that I'm giving short shrift to some important bands. I'm sure there hardcore stations out there, so I'm not consigning anyone to oblivion. At the same time I know that the world of Hardcore Punk is very much greater than just Agnostic Front, the Cro-Mags and GBH. I worry about balance *way* too much, huh?

Added 4 Skins, the Adicts, City Mouse, Clit 45, Crass, Conflict, the Dicks, the Diodes, the Messengers, Television, Virus, and I think I forgot to mention the addition of X-Ray Spex previously. Some of these were thumbed up before and are graduating to being seeded. Clit 45, 4 Skins, Conflict and the Diodes are getting seeded so I can try to get Pandora to play more than one song. Call it probation, but I havent heard enough of their stuff yet to make a sound decision.

I thumbed-down a Pennywise song. I really do like them. They have one hit song thats tantamount to a cover of Bad Religion's ... crap, I forget the song now, but "the anchorman can't stop lying" is a musical and lyrical lift of "and the lamppost can't stop crying"... but I'll chalk that up to flattery. (By the way, Bad Religion FUCKING rules and they get less play than Stiff Little Fingers - something very wrong with that) Uh. Anyway, I like Pennywise but I don't want Pandora leaning so heavily in their direction.

Edging my Punk garden

2010-01-05T14:14:00.000-05:00

Last time I said that I 'cut out' a number of Proto-Punk bands. What I did was remove them from the list of 'Seeded Artists'. A number of them are still being played occasionally. Most of them, actually. They are being played much less often, which is more in keeping with what I really wanted. Its just difficult to finely tune Pandora in matters like this.

At some point in time I removed Social Distortion. I wasn't happy about pulling them, but they were causing Pandora to pitch me some seriously not-Punk bands. I suggested to Pandora that they add a tool like: Play This Artist, But Do Not Play Others Like This. Even knowing what artist seeds caused Pandora to pick additional artists would be a great help. I'd like to bring Social Distortion back, but not for a while yet. I'm still pruning back some hardcore. Seeding Agnostic Front turned out to be dangerous from a Pandora perspective - the band has a large body of recordings and thus an enlarged influence on Pandora.

Added Be Your Own Pet, Betty Blowtorch, the Gossip, Vice Squad, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Be Your Own Pet and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are actually "on the fence". The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have some really Punk songs - and a number of songs that simply do not belong here. I've opted to actively manage that by thumbing down every song that I disapprove of. Thats more work, but the resultant mix is worth the effort.

Also added Television. I may give them the same harsh treatment as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but Television was one of Punk's cornerstone bands. They belong here more than others.

I mentioned waaaaaaaaaaaay down there that I gave a thumbs up to TOOL. I removed that thumb, leaving them neutral and will give thumbs down if Pandora adds it to the mix. I'm a great fan of TOOL, but they are an oddball from the standpoint of music genres. Keeping them would seriously screw up the mix.

I'm no longer going to list the individual groups that get a thumbs down. There are too many of them, and they often don't seem to be related to anything that I'm playing. The exeption will be to seeded artists that I give thumbs down to, and other bands that are played quite often that need controlling. Listening to such a one right now; Fugazi. Too much airtime. I havent decided which song to harsh on, but it will probably be one of the Minor Threat songs... no, that sends the wrong message. Guess I'll have to pick something from Repeater. I'm concerned about Rancid's airplay as well, but I want to be very careful with them.

So Very Much Punk... So Little Time

2009-12-18T16:09:00.002-05:00

Many, many changes made. I decided to cut out all of the proto-punk bands; MC5, the New York Dolls, the Dictators, and others. I really like the Dictators, so it was hard to make that decision. The resulting radio station sounds better (more punk) so it was definitely the right decision. Those bands still get played occasionally - a result of Pandora's heuristics of playing similar music. Bonus for me.

I do like Faith No More, and I consider them to be punk. Many bands, unfortunately, evolve to different musical styles and genres during their lifetimes. Pink Flag, the Mekons, X, Glenn Danzig over his career, and I have to include FNM. Pandora kept playing cuts from the Angel Dust album, which I found very disappointing. So they had to go. Can't have that crap on my punk radio station.

Also dropped The Donnas. They aren't a bad band, and I sorta like them. While their names are inspired by the Ramones (their 'band' names are all 'Donna' ) they mostly play party-themed Glam Rock. They're more like Kiss than the Ramones. Out they go.

I've added a number of excellent bands in their places. Bands that I had never heard of, like the Adverts, the Black Halos, the Briefs, the Drones, the Queers, and the Ruts by a suggestion from Jim Zito. Best of all I've added a few Riot Grrrrl bands, or just female punk bands. Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Jack Killed Jill... , Red Aunts, and the Hedrons. I am *very* impressed by the Hedrons. This is why I love Pandora radio - there is a shocking amount of great talent out there that are getting zero recognition, and you just never hear of them through mainstream outlets.

Another band that I intentionally added was the New York Hardcore band Agnostic Front. Naturally, Pandora is playing more hardcore along with AF and the Exploited. I am trying to limit how much hardcore is being played. I think its important to have hardcore, especially some of the early groups that were hardcore innovators, but I also don't want to lose the focus on punk rock.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. Until then, pogo 'til ya puke!

UnCramped

2009-10-20T23:18:00.000-04:00

Got rid of The Cramps. Inserting them at all was an error on my part, but I will seed the Meat Puppets in their place. Un-thumbed down The Clash and The Jam. I didn't like to eliminate them in the first place but I could not control their air time. I put them back in because of all the other bands I added; I want to see what the complete 'mix' sounds like.

I'm concerned about the Proto-Punk bands that are seeded. I rather like having MC5 and the New York Dolls in the mix, but they cause Pandora to include other rock and roll bands. Apparently nobody told Pandora they were Proto-Punk. The 'Dolls in particular cause Pandora to include Johnny Thunders' post-'Dolls solo stuff. Its sloppy 3-chord Rock and Roll which is fine - but its less punk than the Dolls. So I may ultimately decide to lose the Proto-Punk bands. And the Donnas. They were inspired by the Ramones and others, but their music has mostly followed the others into a Party Hard Rock. More in common with Johnny Thunders than the Ramones. I'll decide over the next week or so.

What is Punk Rock?

2009-10-18T18:40:00.005-04:00

To use a bizarre allegory; equating musical styles as family members, punk rock is something like this. Garage rockers are the great-grandparents. Iggy Pop is the Godfather. The Ramones are the Patriarch. Velvet Underground is an uncle. Offspring, cousins, nephews and neices include Art Rock, Indie Rock, Heavy Metal, New Wave, Power Pop, Grunge, Goth, Thrash, and eventually 'Alternative' music - whatever that is. All of the above, including 'punk' are labels that have been variously ill-conceived or misapplied by people that just wanted to label something that they did not understand.

Edit: I apologize for the above paragraph. Sometimes I'm creative in a stupid way. -K 10/18/2010

In the early 1970s it seemed like Rock'n'Roll had gone horribly wrong, and the developing sound has been described as a natural rebellion. Growing out of the popularity of garage rock and underground rock bands, punk rock appeared in the mid-1970s in the form of The Ramones. It should be noted that they were wildly popular in England, but couldn't sell out even tiny venues in the U.S. Initially, very few record labels were willing to sign punk bands, they just didn't see any market-ability in the strange noise. The only way to become popular was an extensive touring schedule featuring many small venues - which was previously unheard of; many bands would play New York, L.A., and maybe Chicago or Cleveland - and that was it.

At first, hallmarks of punk were a bare-bones sound, limited musical ability (3 chords were enough), fast-paced and brief songs, an anti-establishment attitude, and antagonizing the audience (largely discarded in the interest of record sales). The Sex Pistols undeniably hold the record for thumbing their nose at the establishment. Their first *released* single "Anarchy in the U.K." caused such a indignant reaction in England that their record label dropped them - before releasing the rest of the recorded album! Shortly therafter, their bass player left the band. A replacement was eventually found in the drummer of Siouxie and the Banshees (who were all great fans of the Pistols). This lineup change presaged the tumultuous nature of all future punk bands. The drummer's name was Sid Viscious, and he couldn't play bass.

Re Fine

2009-10-18T17:17:00.006-04:00

Added Faith No More but I may change my mind depending how they change the mix. Gave thumbs down to Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Alice in Chains, Johnny Lives! and Reverend Horton Heat. I hated to do it, but there is already too much diversity. Thumbs up to TOOL, Iggy Pop and Jack Killed Jill...

I've made significant adjustments to the blog template. It looks a lot better now. I have also added ads. I generally hate ads. Its not their content, or even their distraction that I do not like. I don't like ads because most ads are loaded onto the page from a noticeably different location. That can screw up page load times like you wouldn't believe.

Edits

2009-10-17T23:18:00.001-04:00

Added Linoleum, MC5, the Dollyrots, the Boys, and the Cramps. Gave a 'thumbs up' to "Dead and Gone" by the Ettes (which means I want Pandora to play more songs like that).

I gave thumbs down to songs by Johhny Thunders, Discharge, the Jam, the Fastbacks, New Order, Carina Round, Marion Raven, and Upwell.

I actually like the Jam. They sound like... well... maybe a 1960's Dire Straits? But they aren't really punk in any way that I can tell, and they were getting way too much airtime. Discharge was a little too thrash metal for me. The Fastbacks are all right, but that song "Don't Eat That Its Poison" was just God Damned Annoying. The other thumb downs are pretty much self-explanatory. Or feel free to ask why if you think I gave them a raw deal.

'The Boys' are the very first 'power pop' band, but they never got the attention that they deserved. At Christmas they turned into 'the Yobs' and they released some very rude Christmas songs. You've probably heard "Run Rudolph Run". The Dollyrots are just damn good. Joan Jett gave them a contract the first time she heard them. Linoleum has a sound that is more new wave, mostly I want to see what Pandora throws into the mix.

The Cramps is a band name that I remember, but I never heard anything of theirs that I can remember. Pandora played some interesting things around the Cramps - like 'Surfin' Bird'. I like Surfin' Bird, but I may have to boot the Cramps if I get many more like that in the mix.

I'm thinking that I need more bands that are fundamentally punk. I'm not coming up with much of anything on my own. Many of my good ideas were Pandora reminding me of killer bands that I'd forgotten about. As always, hit me with your suggestions.

What the Sam Hain?

2009-10-17T22:45:00.001-04:00

I started out by selecting a generic "punk" station that was already available on Pandora. That ended up driving me nuts. I seeded bands that needed to be added or just didnt get enough play time. That was better, but it didnt solve the problem. Some bands were getting excessive play time regardless of what I did. The basic problem was Pandora itself.

The generic punk station played Iggy Pop, the Ramones, the Clash, and some other bands. Thats a decent mix to start with. What was driving me apeshit was that Pandora seems to treat bands based on how large their discography is. AND Pandora was treating a band's live recordings as if the live band was a separate entity from the studio band. The Clash have a large discography and a great volume of live recording, and they were getting about four times the airplay of bands like Black Flag who deserve more air time, not less. I do like the Clash, but I've gotten so overloaded by hearing them 4 times an hour.

I tried to wrestle with Pandora to get the mix under control, but I eventually gave up and started from scratch. This time I started with the fundamentals; Iggy Pop, the New York Dolls, the Buzzcocks, and the Damned. Then I added my favorites; the Anti-Heroes, the Exploited, Naked Raygun, Black Flag, Bad Religion, Mission of Burma, Social Distortion, Monkeystrikes, Stiff Little Fingers, Go Betty Go, Reagan Youth, and the Dictators. Those were the important ones that I could remember at the time.

Pandora did a good job of filling in with other bands that I not explicitly add, and like the Sex Pistols they get played at about the right frequency. I've intentionally seeded some bands that Pandora casually threw into the mix. That way they get more airplay. I have removed others like Joy Division - 'nuff said. There are still a few bands that I haven't decided yet whether to keep or kick. I'll probably lose Johnny Thunders; he's not bad, but he's not really punk either. I think its a good idea to have girl bands like the Donnas, so they'll probably stay, though they are mostly rock and roll. Generation X may also be 'on the bubble'. I like them fine, but what seems to get played most is 'The Ballad of Phil Silvers' - or whatever that guys name is. Not quite the sort of song I'm looking for.

I'll keep a list of the seeded bands listed on the right. Let me know if somebody is missing from the list.

Afterbirth!

2009-10-17T22:18:00.000-04:00

Welcome to MonsterPunk Radio.

Pandora Radio is GREAT for punk rock because nobody really ever gave proper airtime to punk rock with the exception of a few bands that were so close to pop music, or popular enough to count as pop music. Pandora can't decide to NOT play punk rock, but they are limited to what is in their library.

The guidelines for this radio station are:

1) Must be punk or punk-related. This means a large pool of talent to draw from.

2) I will give preference to bands that are obscure or got less exposure over their lifetime.

3) The opposite of (2) applies. You will not hear The Clash and probably one or two other punk bands just because I've been over-exposed to them.

The consequences of these guidelines are that you'll hear some things that you don't think are punk. I will try to weed out stuff that does not belong, but I would prefer to err on the side of having too broad a playlist. But I'll be nice and give you a say in what gets played. Like the Clash? Well... I might even consider adding them again, but they were seriously getting way too much air time.

I'm describing the radio content (or at least the bands that I have *intentionally* seeded or removed) so that you can see how this radio station is a work in progress. Bottom line, just relax or rock out.

If you have ideas for other bands to add to the mix, I'd like to hear them.