Nixon Rodeo – Crooked
Similar artists: Lovejoy, The Wonder Years, Simple Plan
Genre: Punk
Some music fans get awfully excited when the U.S.A. chooses to elect an eccentric president.You see, many of these listeners believe that punk-rock, the most honest of music genres, will be spurred on by these events. Like a cloaked vigilante superhero, punk-rock is ready to kick butts, take names and put the world to right.
It’s just that there are very, very few good punk-rock songs written about specific events or specific political characters. There are many songs written about those topics. They just tend not to be any good. Punk-rock is usually very good when it’s vague and, yes, when it is driven primarily by anger. Like giving a toddler sugar, allowing punk-rockers to be angry, usually yields strong results.
Nixon Rodeo’s “Crooked” may be named after one of the biggest political figures, whom some might call a villain, in American politics, but it’s really just an emotional, angry punk-rock song. The world is unfair and bad people do bad things to reach their own ends. But that aside, it’s hard not to get a real kick out of punk rock when it’s being ignited and rolled down a hill ablaze.
Friday Boys – Depressed Gang
Similar artists: The Clash, Green Day, Ramones, The Damned, Buzzcocks
Genre: Punk, Lo-fi Rock, Garage Rock
Punk-rock music is all about finding the bare essentials of what holds music together. It’s a strict set of zen-like rules. Once each of these is materestered, what practitioners get in return is a sense of balance. When there’s nothing superfluous about your actions, you must be doing perfectly. Punk-rock is about doing simple musical things perfectly.
Now, the kinds of folks who cook brown rice and practice guitar in their room for six hours a day will scoff. After all, there’s so much music that one has to hear and learn. But that’s exactly why you might want to make a concentrated effort to avoid it. Life is not about all the things you choose to do, but mostly about all of the things you choose not to do.
Friday Boys’ “Depressed Gang” is a clever, meat and potatoes punk-rock song. It’s music that is carefully designed to offer a summary of all of the musicians’ lofty ideas. But it does so in the most precise fashion, choosing the rambunctious, energy-filled sound of classic punk rock as its vehicle. Not straying from these principles will not be easy, but who knows where this could take Friday Boys.
