Dude...who the fuck are Discharge?

Here are some punk, na na punks, look at them, don't they look wonderful!

OK, here's a thought, because I've been reading a lot of the discussions in regards to Lady Gaga wearing a "punk" jacket in her video.

here in Sweden where I live people are a bit "Different" Though it does exist individual thought is a bit special. It's like "ok, now you are a punk" so you have to dress like X and wear Y & Z patches. Not everyone but a lot of subcultures are a bit like that.

An observation.

I went to see DISCHARGE a few years back. On the way to the gig was the stud and spikes patrol, discharge t-shirts, patches, tattoos, dog clothes the works. I followed them to the gig (as I needed directions) and started talking to them. I asked if anyone had heard DISCHARGE's new album, was it any good? How were they with the new singer? and so on.

It was as if I was talking about a completely alien subject. In fact I would not have been surprised if one of them had turned round and said "dude, who the fuck are discharge?".

During the show when songs were introduced such as "Protest & Survive" there was a sea of blank faces. If someone got up on stage and had the mic thrust towards them to sing....again, blank face.

"Sorry I don't know the words to Free Speech For The Dumb".

After I while I came to think that maybe I was the only person in the audience that had actually HEARD Discharge. The rest of the audience had the patches and the painting on their jacket but I think it was more of just a punk 101 to have "I am punk therefore I must have this band on my jacket".

I have had some other cases where I have asked someone about a certain band they had a patch of and so on and it's usually the same response "ummm, yeah I think I might have heard that band, I'm not sure..."

When I was a wee 'un it was much the same too. We rockers would wear t-shirts for the same of being rock and it wasn't always that they were a fan of or had even heard the band. One friend of mine famously always wore a Nuclear Assault "Handle With Care" T-shirt and once asked another friend what band they were listening to when it was Nuclear Assault...Handle With Care, while she was wearing that t-shirt. Another friend of mine bought a Corrosion of Conformity t-shirt and when asked about the band by a bigger boy he said "oh, are they a band?". That a heavy metal no no.



Anyway, music, rock, punk, it's a lifestyle. The followers dress to be part of that scene and to identify with it. Punk has so many offshoots that it's hard to see sometimes. I myself have long dreadlocks and often hear "rastaman" yelled from across the room. People think I am a very big Bob Marley fan sometimes. Sometimes I will wear a punk t-shirt, ripped jeans and a leather jacket but I don't put too much thought into what I wear or how I appear, kinda just take what's there and what fits. Sometimes it's a hard job to tell people what kind of music I like.

However, we can say that some people want to just look the part and it doesn't have to mean they are fakes all the time, they just want to look like and fit in with that scene - let people know what they are into and that's kinda cool sometimes.

Today on my way home I saw a kid leaving school, messed up hair, a guitar slung over his back, fucked up eyeliner and a bag with "Sex Pistols" written on it. He looked like he didn't care, got shit for it and didn't care about that either.

Such great hope for the future.

Maybe...Lady Gaga does like DOOM. We'll have to ask her.













Twilight's "Bella" sporting a Minor Threat t-shirt.