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PASSING_AS_PASSE

                                             March 9, 2004
                               Rearranged:   June 18, 2006


Labels such as
"beatnik", "hippie",
"punk", "goth" are
useful in many ways.
                             They provide a handle
                             for people working
                             with the material.       ACTIVE_NAMING


But there are difficulties...

One is that the label can also become
exclusionary: the outliers get ignored
after awhile... e.g. there's a
revisionist take on Punk that focuses
on the Ramones and ignores Television,
and definitely ignores groups like the
Talking Heads ("oh, that's just yuppie
music").

But the diversity of the early
scene may be the thing that makes
it interesting.

The generic punk of the 90s -- endless
hardcore re-takes, with exceedingly        DECADENCE
minor sub-divisions ("emo") -- looks
like a symptom of complete decadence...

   (and not in a good way).



                I've heard rumors that punk is
                getting more diverse these
                days.  Smurph (a DJ at KZSU)
                suggests that the narrowness of
                punk in the 90s was a                     FAST_MEDIA
                protective reaction against the
                media attention it was getting.       (Nirvanna and the
                                                       "indie rock"
                Now that that's blown over they        break out.)
                can relax a bit more, and book
                a wider variety of bands over
                at Gilman's...

                                There are advantages
                                to being passe'...

                        LATE_STAGES

                                       PURLOINED



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