punk rock..
This article was originally posted at Dogmatic Law
"Punk Rock: Not Only A Genre Of Music, But A Choice To Make"
Writer: olly
Imagine you are in one of the biggest punk rock bands around (if this is too hard to imagine�. well just try harder!) You are offered a contract by a major record company, which means millions of dollars, big arena world tours and also mass exposure of your music on MTV and radio stations. Would you take it and lose the respect of your loyal fans by �selling out,� which is totally against what punk rock stands for, or would you turn the contract down and stay loyal to punk rock ethics, your small record label and your fans?
Well if you are a musician, this is a hard choice for you to make. A great example of a punk rock band that has been in this situation for almost ten years is no one other than NOFX. These guys have been offered so many major record deals over the last couple years but every time they turn them down. The question is why are they doing this? By refusing to sign with a major label, the members of the bands will probably have to get jobs once they retire from being professional punk rockers because they won�t have any money. Also without the exposure that comes with a major record deal, they will never sell many albums or have any �hits� on the radio or MTV. In order to avoid this mess, all they have to do is simply have to sign with one of those major labels and they are assured to retire as millionaires.
Even with this in mind, NOFX still turn down these record deals without giving it a thought. To them it is more important to be true to punk rock and poor rather than going against everything they believe in and be rich. Many other punk rock bands follow NOFX and stay on their indie record companies. Some example of punk rock labels include Epitaph (the biggest punk rock record company), Lookout, Mojo, Fat Wreck, etc�
On the other hand, some punk rock bands decide that money and fame is the better way to go. A great example of a band jumping onto a major label is a little band called Blink 182. Before signing onto MCA records, making millions of dollars and having hits such as �All the Small Things� and �What�s My Age Again�, Blink 182 was a small punk rock band signed to Kung-Fu Records that spent about five years on the punk rock circuit prior to their MTV explosion. In their opinion, they do not consider themselves sellouts but rather �representatives of the punk rock genre.�
This issue that been discussed for many years every time a punk band signs on to a major label. Some example of other bands that made the switch in recent years include Green Day, Rancid, The Offspring, Social Distortion, and Bad Religion. Some of these bands keep their punk sound (Rancid, Bad Religion) while the others eventually crumbled into the world of pop music by changing their sound in order to please MTV and their record companies (Green Day�s most recent album �Warning� and every Offspring album after �Smash.�)
Is there truly a right or wrong in all of this? This is a topic that I could debate for hours but I believe that this more a matter of personal opinion. I believe that punk rock is more about a band�s identity. As long as they continue to make music without having to change their sound in order to please MTV or some stupid record company, they�re punk rock in my book.
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