LisaCharly

Hah, I think Hospital Music is the most fitting title. Of these, though, LOTGA.

Alanis Morissette - "Moratorium"

With the exception of Avalanche and the HM tunes, I'm not too excited about that set. I'd rather some old Audio of Being stuff than White Light. That said, can't please them all, and as I can't get to any of these shows anyway, my opinion's pretty moot, and I'm sure other people are really enjoying these.

Mindless Self Indulgence - "Get It Up"

I can try and record piano and vocal bits. I already know how to cover MG's version of Moon Over Marin and am learning I'm a Window.

Kate Bush - "Never Be Mine"

Dead Kennedys - "Well Paid Scientist" Favorite DK song ever.

I'm a huge dork for MSI. I think they're truly one of the "punkest" bands of this era, especially the Frankenstein Girls blah blah blah record. I'm actually writing my senior thesis on the way various punk bands throughout history have addressed sex, and spend some time talking about how that album fits the mold of 80's punk. Despite the band's claims that they hate politics and social convention and don't give a fuck, they're actually (perhaps despite themselves) making some very smart statements about society and modern issues. Perhaps punk is about doing away with arbitrary social conventions that do nothing but hold people back? The Dead Kennedys song "Halloween" kind of illustrates that point, with the song's protagonist being so terrified of keeping his reputation and social standing that he allows himself to be miserable ("so why don't you take your social regulations and shove them up your ass?"). Punk would, then, not be intentionally offensive but offend as a side effect. It's not that you meant to offend anybody by stating your opinion, but it just happened, and all that. I guess we agree on that!

Eels - "P.S. You Rock My World"

Rage Against the Machine - "I'm Housin' (Live)"

Hole - "Northern Star"

Yeah, it's hard to be counterculture while being part of a culture. ;) I appreciate punk for the music and political sentiment, not so much for the pretentious dress codes that determine who is "punker" than thou.

Public Enemy - "Welcome to the Terrordome"

Re: politeness. I worded myself badly. My point was that punk historically, especially in its music, has embraced what was deemed by mainstream society to be crass, indecent, inappropriate or unusual, and adopted those traits to insist on social change. So maybe the word I was looking for was conformity? Punk's often been rooted in being confrontational, and spitting in the face of social expectations is a way of doing that - be it through dress (piercings, bizarre hairstyles, DIY, studs, etcetera), language (profanity), sex (being explicit about STDs, oral sex, portraying sex as filthy and animalistic rather than sacred and loving), music (simple chord structures, short songs) or otherwise. As punk evolved it gained the political aspect and the confrontational aspects have been used to shock, draw attention, and force people to think about the pre-planned common lives we live. That's what I was trying to say, sorry if I was unclear before.

You mean songs in a similar vein or style? I'd say The Day the World Went Away (Still or Album Version), Beside You in Time, In This Twilight, A Warm Place, The Fragile, Hurt, Something I Can Never Have, Sanctified, All the Love in the World. And just because they kick ass, Ruiner, Sin, We're In This Together, Wish (Live), Eraser, I Do Not Want This and The Great Destroyer.

I'm hoping for A Boy and His Machine Gun. I'm not sure if it's been done live before, but it's an absolutely enchanting song. I'm excited to see what becomes of Champions of Nothing, too.

In my mind, punk is an attitude that one can enact social change by being confrontational and pushing people outside their safe ideas of social decency. In that case, punk has never really died. It's mutated into various formats, but according to that definition, Diamanda Galas and Mindless Self Indulgence are punk as the Dead Kennedys or the Clash. It's about purposely being indecent, impolite or unconventional to try and get people to re-examine their values. A true punk would eschew traditional social values of propriety to try and make a point about politics or society, and to highlight a wrong. Now granted, a lot of punk music has been adopted by the record industry and turned into a product...but as long as it's still trying to shake things up by offending people or making them squirm, it still has traces of punk left. Just my two cents, that is.

I'd agree with AoB. I feel like it's a crowning achievement of an album. Champions of Nothing Symbolistic White Walls Weapon Avalanche Under the Influence Advertising on Police Cars A Boy and His Machine Gun Prime Time Deliverance I Miss New Wave I'm a Window Truffle Pigs Failing the Rorschach Test The Rat Who Would Be King Tripoli Encore: House of Smoke and Mirrors Alert Status Red It would be a crazy downcast and depressed show, though.