Buzzcocks Boo

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saw this story about the Inland Punk Festival in California, kinda funny--

Before we strangled each other, Jack told me the rest of the story.

The lead singer of every band that day had gotten huge cheers in between songs by shouting things like "ANARCHY!" or, "F--- CORPORATIONS!" or just, "S---!" and all fifty thousand kids would scream their approval, whoop, and shove their fists into the air. Typical, I guess. Then, "Buzzcocks" came on, played their first song, and the lead singer stepped forward and shouted this (verbatim from Jack, he wrote it down) into the mike: "F--- GEORGE BUSH! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM. WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN IRAQ, NO MATTER WHAT HE SAYS." And here comes the good news.

There was a long pause, complete silence. And then they started. The boos. One here, one there. Then everyone. Everyone. Louder and louder. Jack told me how the puzzled singer blinked in surprise, looked at the rest of his band, and then stepped forward again to try to save the moment. "NO, NO, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I SAID F--- GEORGE BUSH. F--- HIM." The boos grew even louder, and then people began shouting back up to the stage, "NO, MAN, F--- YOU!" "YEAH, F--- YOU, A-----E!" More and more, ceaselessly rising, until the shaken band caucused quickly and just blasted into their next song.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 00:44 (twenty-three years ago)

If that's "good news" then maybe we're not gonna be best buddies after all.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that...is extremely disconcerting. glad i'm somewhere else right now!

― Charlie (Charlie), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 01:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Welcome to Southern California, Pete Shelley! Congratulations!

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 01:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Would there have been the same reaction if he had said it in a dumbass 'spring break' style hollar rather than a wee-bit camp manc accent?

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 01:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. How would they have responded if Greg Graffin or Mike Ness had said it, not some old fruit from England?

― Arthur (Arthur), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 01:43 (twenty-three years ago)

The whole article is here, btw.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 04:28 (twenty-three years ago)

george w as the new icon of calipunk, huh? i love it. yay subversive punk TEAM!!! bet they all think the dead kennedys are 'way cool' though...

― angelo (angelo), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 06:35 (twenty-three years ago)

It's very sad that they play these idiotic festivals for glue-sniffing morons. In the UK they regularly play those ridiculous all-dayers with gumbies like Chron Gen, Anti-Pasti and the Anti Nowhere League. Why? They're a fantastic pop group and have no place amongst these fools.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 07:36 (twenty-three years ago)

The article is even more pathetic than the reaction of the kids. Just look at the title: "And Now, Some Good News
A sign of hope at a punk-rock concert in Southern California."

And the Dr. is OTM again.

Mass psychosis is a terrible thing, it really gives me the chills. Did Bush brainwash the Americans?
This reminds me a little of a speech hold almost 60 years ago. The darkest chapter of German history. Goebbels asked (after the German disaster of Stalingrad) "Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?" (do you want the total war?) and the spectators answered in unison "Ja" (yes): realaudio link here.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 08:50 (twenty-three years ago)

bdum bdum

― jon (jon), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 13:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Sean Hannity to thread!

― Andy K (Andy K), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 14:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I find this little anecdote more sad and scary than anything else. For a start, no one seems to appreciate the incongruity of someone getting cheers for shouting something as hollow as "Anarchy", yet when someone steps up and shouts something with some credible specifics about not trusting the government, they get boos and jeers?!?!?! Isn't that a bit of a flip-flop?

There's also the inherent weirdness of the Buzzcocks -- a band that has *ALWAYS* avoided avert political sloganeering in their songs (they were more concerned with getting a steady date, not staging a coup d'etat) -- making a political statement. Of all bands to do it, I mean.

Lastly, regardless of how you care to define "Punk Rock," it seems to me that if there's any binding aesthetic to the movement beyond tonsorial/sartorial shenanigans and high decibels, it's a communal appreciation for inherent cynicism. There are exceptions (Johnny Ramone of the Ramones and Lee Ving of FEAR are staunch, meat-&-potatoes Republicans), but nine-tenths of the Punk Rock "community" tends to adhere to the sensibility that demands the questioning of authority (whether in a contrived manner or not). So, if anything, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks was dead right to be mystified about getting boo's and jeers for his statement. Of all the types of crowds that this sort've statement should've gone over well with, this woulda been it. Who would've thought a nation of mohican teenagers would applaud George Dubya Bush's campaign against Iraq?

Further evidence that Punk Rock is dead.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 14:57 (twenty-three years ago)

www.buzzcocks.com has a response

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Ooh. Cheers, Jonathan!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Here's that response:

October 8: The story in the Daily Standard, And Now, Some Good News, written by
Larry Miller, is completely false, and in our opinion, libellous. Neither Pete Shelley nor
any other band member said anything of the sort on stage. This story was also
referenced on OpinionJournal (part of the Wall Street Journal family). There are so
many obvious inaccuracies and outright falsehoods, it would take too much space
to point them all out here but there are many reviews online which state that
Buzzcocks simply let their music do the talking and barely spoke to the audience
during their short, crisp set. The reason that Robert Hilburn and the LA Times did not
make any reference to this is that it simply did not happen! How Larry Miller can
quote Jack Burditt, who supposedly wrote down - verbatim - what was said, is
beyond us. Whatever political views held by Buzzcocks were not espoused publicly
at the KROQ/Levi's Inland Invasion 2 concert on September 14, 2002. Anyone
wishing to help set the record straight can respond to the article, or contact the
WSJ.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm sure Larry Miller has his bands mixed up. I still couldn't picture the Buzzcocks saying it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:15 (twenty-three years ago)

So it was all made up? Very fishy all that.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:23 (twenty-three years ago)

punks not dead then!

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Alex, if someone confused bands it would be Larry Miller's friend who attended the concert with his daughter, "Jack Burditt, a wonderful and award-winning Hollywood writer"

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 15:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Yer right, Alex. In any event, any friend of Larry Miller's is an enemy of mine.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 16:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Jack Burditt may have also gotten the venue mixed up.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 16:58 (twenty-three years ago)

From the Metafilter thread on this subject:
"Not only is it made up it's bullshit. It never happened at all cause I was there too. The only thing you might have called controversial at that festival were the fires set in the lawn area after dark, the lead singer of Pennywise encouraging 20,000 people to storm the stage, and the fact Blink 182 was booed thruout their entire set. I suspect the nice daddy who took his TRL daughter and friends to the Inland Invasion were Blink 182 fans. All I know is the last place I'd ever want to be with my dad is a punk rock show. It was hard enough being there with the pre-teen Blink 182 fans."

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 19:50 (twenty-three years ago)

i like the thought that yelling 'anarchy' is too vague to warrant cheers but that shouting 'fuck bush' is specific, ha.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 22:48 (twenty-three years ago)

What's inspecific about it? Shouting "Anarchy" is a relatively meaningless statement (let alone an appalling cliche). "Fuck Bush" -- however inarticulate -- still asserts a specific position. Moreover, it wasn't simply "Fuck Bush," but: ""F--- GEORGE BUSH! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM. WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN IRAQ, NO MATTER WHAT HE SAYS." I'd wager the third sentence is the major thrust of the statement.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 23:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Shouting "anarchy!" is pretty much akin to shouting "capitalism!" or "meat!" Yeah? So what about it? That doesn't go into the fact that anyone who shouts "anarchy" as a rallying cry probably doesn't even understand what it means.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 9 October 2002 23:59 (twenty-three years ago)

the weekly standard's passion for the facts is spotlighted once again.

ugh.

― maura (maura), Thursday, 10 October 2002 02:55 (twenty-three years ago)

The jackasses as the Standard have corrected their account.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/753uxjza.asp

These guys should stick to screwing the poor and stay away from culture.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Friday, 11 October 2002 12:53 (twenty-three years ago)

So it was Blink 182 criticising Bush's Iraq policy. That really makes them sympathetic to me. Never ever heard anything by them. Should I check them out now?

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 11 October 2002 13:21 (twenty-three years ago)

"Punks should be either right-wing or apolitical, or else they're just hippies!" - Johny Ramone

― dave q, Friday, 11 October 2002 13:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, but Johnny Ramone's just a surfer dude.

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 11 October 2002 13:31 (twenty-three years ago)

No he's not. He's from fuckin' Queens.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 11 October 2002 13:51 (twenty-three years ago)

but didn't the Ramones have a song that was critical of Reagan? Bonzo goes to Bitburg? Am i mis-reading that? Generally, no died in the wool Repub ever criticizes Reagan, or any Republican for that matter, unless attacking them for being "moderate" or even (horrors) "liberal"...

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 11 October 2002 16:03 (twenty-three years ago)

No he's not. He's from fuckin' Queens.

Yes- he's a surfer dude wannabe. Like The Trade Winds.

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 11 October 2002 16:30 (twenty-three years ago)

No he's not. He's from fuckin' Queens.

Yes- he's a surfer dude wannabe. Like The Trade Winds.

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 11 October 2002 16:30 (twenty-three years ago)

You're right, G, the Ramones did do "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg." They also stopped talking to each other and started actually hating each other, so that's something to think about to. Remember at their induction to the R'n'R Hall of Fame, all Johnny really said was "God Bless America and God Bless George W. Bush!" Ya don't get much more Republican than that. Those "U.S" pins on his leather lapels were NOT ironic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 11 October 2002 17:18 (twenty-three years ago)

fuck bush is a reasoned statement, i am corrected.

― keith (keithmcl), Saturday, 12 October 2002 01:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I hoped that a team up between Pete Shelley's great, great band and the wonderful Betty Boo had been announced.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 12 October 2002 11:39 (twenty-three years ago)

two months pass...

FUCK GEORGE BUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY STOP HIM????
WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HITLER!

― fuck george bush, Friday, 3 January 2003 20:41 (twenty-three years ago)

The Buzzcocks are still around? Wow. I find the amount of dinosaur punk bands roaming the planet to be amusing. You got The Buzzcocks, a rendition of The Misfits, The Damned (I heard that some of the original guys got back together), Murphy's Law, FEAR (well, really just the Lee Ving Backup Band), The Circle Jerks, The Bad/Soul Brains, The Dead Kennedys (w/out Jello?!?!)... I wouldn't be surprised if the remaining Clash guys hired Tim Armstrong and did a "reunion tour".

Are X still together?

― Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Saturday, 4 January 2003 03:15 (twenty-three years ago)

There's so very much wrong with this. #1. Proof that punk is dead... look who's going to punk concerts! It's not longer disillusioned kids looking for some sort of change. It's teen mall-rats who love America as much as their daddy loves guns. They don't like thinking, they'd much prefer to buy a 15 dollar Anarchy shirt from Hot Topic to look totally badass and punk to their high school peers. That was no punk concert. #2. Blink 182 made a totally wrong move. Pandering to the crowd (like they attempted) is not punk. If he would've screamed something like, "Up with Capitalism! Hooray for America," that would've been punk. Then again, he didn't know what fucks he was performing for. #3. He made a valid point. That news article totally missed that. #4. Anarchy is a joke.

― David Allen, Saturday, 4 January 2003 04:07 (twenty-three years ago)

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