I wish I was a punk rocker

I really do.

The closest I have been to achieving this goal so far was being interviewed and playing two songs live on “Punk Hour” on Portland Community Radio.* All I can remember about the interview is that the host, who I had known for two years, called me Steve during the interview.

That is not my name.

I should add that the songs we performed were closer to folk rock than punk, but if Portland Community Radio had an “Obscure folk rock bands no-one has heard of hour”, then we didn’t know that.

Someone else who apparently wishes she was a punk rocker is Sandi Thom. Unlike me, Ms Thom has a successful recording career. Her song is not only number one in this country at the time of writing this, it is also rather catchy. And I have been trying to work out why it bugs the hell out of me.

Some possible reasons…

1. It may seem obvious, but a punk rocker with flowers in her hair would be routinely mocked by the other punk rockers (although Ms Fits could probably pull this off);

2. The only way to make this song sound less punk would be to get Lee Harding to cover it

3. The irony of getting a recording contract by broadcasting concerts over the internet and then singing about how great life was before the internet is apparently lost on this woman and everyone who has bought the song;

It’s actually “4. None of the above.” The real reason that this song bugs me is this:

NOSTALGIA FOR HOW GREAT THINGS WERE WHEN ONE’S PARENTS WERE TEENAGERS IS THE. LEAST. PUNK. THING. EVER.

Sandi Thom is 24 years old. This means she was born around 1982, so this song is entirely about what life was like before she was born. What is the point?

Really, can’t we all just be happy to live when we do instead of longing for a golden and possibly utterly fictitious past? Does all this nostalgia actually serve any useful purpose whatsoever, other than apparently correcting my excessively low blood pressure? If we don’t like the way things are working out (and anyone with any sense of justice must be pretty damn unhappy with the stuff the Australian government is currently doing in our name) could we perhaps look forward and imagine a better future?




*That’s Portland, Victoria, population 10,000, not, say Portland, Oregon or some such place.