Foray into the Mainstream: 1990s Punk
While the 1990s was not void of punk rock politics it did not have the same tone of the 1980s that preceded it. Instead, the 1990s were perhaps best known as the age of punk’s acceptance into mainstream, musically speaking, as bands like The Offspring and Green Day had mass appeal outside of just the punk scene. Green Day saw mainstream success with their 1994 album Dookie, which was the fifth top-selling album in the country when it released on major Reprise Records.[2]
Perhaps one of their biggest singles of the decade, “Basket Case,” has Billie Joe Armstrong singing about his mental illness and starts with the lyrics “Do you have the time to listen to me whine.”[3] While the words could strike a resonance with listeners, the issue being sung about is much more personal and does not direct blame at a specific part of society. The sound was similar to some of the punk tracks from the previous decade but overall the sing along choruses are what made it easy to remember. Overall it was more palatable and sounded more like mainstream rock than the aggressive sound present in the 1980s.
Smash, the 1994 release by The Offspring sold 11 million copies on indie label Epitaph Records and was the precursor to the band signing to the major Columbia label in 1996.[4] The album featured a number of which did feature politically themed lyrics but the two big singles form the album did not. “Self Esteem,” one of the singles from the album appears to be more lyrically similar to Green Day’s “Basket Case,” as Dexter Holland describes allowing himself to be used by a girl due to his own self image.[5] Although not entirely the same as Green Day, it does appear to be a more relatable topic than politics. It also has the more mainstream acceptable style with a chorus that can become infectious.
This was the sound and lyrics that made the band famous but their politics were still there. Before they saw mainstream success, the band wrote the song “Baghdad” which criticized George H.W. Bush’s military policy. [6] The song originally was titled “Tehran,” and was released two years earlier in 1989 yet was adapted to comment on the Gulf War. [7] The interchangeability of the lyrics show that the band found military action as something worth criticizing but they only referred to George H.W. Bush as “the president” within both songs. Without naming him, the message becomes more generalized and lacks the unifying symbolism that was present in the 1980s with Reagan.
This distinction is important because even if these bands were political, nothing connected their beliefs which led to activism on a large scale. Another example of this can be seen with the mainstream punk band Pennywise which also had political lyrics. Yet it’s important to note that they tended to deal with specific issues as can be seen with their song “Homeless.”
The lyrics to this song describe the societal problem that they see and how it affects them. Sentiments of empathy and sympathy are portrayed in the lyrics that sing “too many bodies lie in the street / too many hungry mouths that have the right to feed.”[8] This went even further away from The Offspring who mentioned the president, and instead describes homelessness as something in society that is not necessarily the fault of the ruling political party. Although 1980s punk would not always do so, they often would ensure that they related problems back to the Republican party. Yet Pennywise became more well known for their punk rock anthem songs like “Bro Hymn.”
Starting with a catchy bass line, singer Jim Lindberg uses his lyrics to dedicate the track to his friends. The lyrics in the track are more appealing to the mainstream and feature “woah-ohs,” which are still recognizable today and used by various sports teams.[9] This is what also separates most of these punk bands from those in the 1980s, it is their more acceptable sound and non-political lyrics that made them famous.
After Reagan’s two terms as president ended, many of the punk bands that spoke up against him either broke up or moved on to other projects. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton did not see a massive punk opposition as Reagan did and George W. Bush would. Bad Religion did produce a split album with Noam Chomsky which was released by Maximum Rocknroll as part of a protest of the Gulf War, but this type of protest did not evolve into something that defined this era.[10] One of the two tracks included on this EP, “Fertile Crescent,” features Brett Gurewitz voicing his disapproval of the war and was later featured on their album Generator in 1992.[11]
Bad Religion was different from the other bands mentioned as they got their start earlier in the 1980s. Yet as has been shown throughout this section, there is a failure to name the president and direct the blame at him. This does not mean it was any less political or genuine, but instead to show how it was different from the common trait in the 1980s. NOFX voiced this concern in the 1996 track, “Reagan Sucks.” At multiple points in the track Burkett yells “I miss the days of Reagan punk, we all shared the same enemy.”[12]
Yet like many other bands during this era, NOFX was not famous for their politics. Instead it was tracks like “Linoleum.” From their 1994 release, Punk in Drublic, Burkett sings about his possessions and calls his floor “my closest friend.”[13] The sound is fast and reminiscent of the 1980s hardcore punk but the vocals are sung well enough to be catchy despite a general lack of a chorus. Their later involvement in the Rock Against Bush movement was then more surprising from others like Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys.
Although no longer in the band, Biafra still created political content, however this primarily came in the form of spoken word albums. This form allowed him to go more in depth than he had previously with his lyrics. Yet it is important to note how this change in medium affected the dynamic of what was represented at a punk show. The lack of music and elongated speeches allowed for more fleshed-out ideas, but the energy that was present in punk music was now gone. As seen in the track, “If Voting Changed Anything…,” Biafra would choose a topic and discuss all his opinions on it.[14] Both political parties are seen as problems and Biafra voices his disdain for nearly everyone in power. While not punk in the sense of the musical sound, this was still part of the 1990s.
Anti-Flag who would be another of the primary members of the Rock Against Bush movement were founded during this time. Politics for them were Their name had its roots from their local punk scene where they saw punks who they saw as fascists wearing the American Flag.[15] Justin Sane and Pat Thetic took it upon themselves to make a statement against this by naming their band Anti-Flag. They wanted the band to be seen as “a vehicle that would force them [people] to think.”[16]
As seen here in their 1999 track, “A New Kind of Army,” Anti-Flag often sang about being against the military. Yet the way they present this idea directs their anger at the leaders of countries as can be seen when Justin Sane sings “it’s time we refuse to fight in any of their wars.”[17] While they also discussed various issues in other songs, this was the most common theme that would continue into their involvement in Rock Against Bush.
Again, this is not to say that there were no political punk bands in the 1990s, but the overall atmosphere of punk in this period was different. While some punk groups would continue to have political undertones, there were still differences that prevented them from being well known. Goshert argues that the policies of Reagan that continued under Bush and Clinton were harder to oppose as they became increasingly normal within the United States.[18] He also noted that punks did maintain an opposition to the Gulf War however.[19] While this was true to an extent, most of these bands did not try and connect their political beliefs directly to Bush Sr. or Clinton, aside from Bad Religion’s EP. Instead, what has been noted by scholars such as Theodore Matula was that punk was more well-known for becoming part of the mainstream, despite some punk bands’ avoidance of this.[20] The punk bands that became mainstream and took the forefront of how punk was remembered lacked the politics that others had at their time. Punk’s politics did not end in the 1990s—they just lacked a nationally unifying focus and those that became well-known in this era did so because of their mainstream acceptable sound.
[1]. NOFX, “Separation of Church and Skate,” in The War on Errorism, Fat Wreck Chords, 2003.
[2]. Neil Strauss, “POP VIEW; Has Success Spoiled Green Day?” The New York Times, February 5, 1995, accessed June 27, 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/05/arts/pop-view-has-success-spoiled-green-day.html.
[3] Green Day, “Basket Case,” in Dookie, Reprise Records, 1994.
[4]. The Offspring, “The History,” accessed August 8, 2017, http://offspring.com/thehistory/.
[5] The Offspring, “Self Esteem,” in Smash, Epitaph Records, 1994.
[6]. The Offspring, “Baghdad,” in Baghdad, Nemesis Records, 1991.
[7]. The Offspring, “Tehran,” in The Offspring, Nemesis Nitro Records, 1989.
[8] Pennywise, “Homeless,” in Pennywise, Epitaph Records, 1991.
[9] Pennywise, “Bro Hymn,” in Pennywise, Epitaph Records, 1991.
[10] Bad Religion and Noam Chomsky, New World Order: War #1, Maximum Rocknroll, 1991.
[11] Bad Religion, “Fertile Crescent,” in Bad Religion and Noam Chomsky, New World Order: War #1, Maximum Rocknroll, 1991.
[12]. NOFX, “Reagan Sucks,” in Fuck The Kids, Fat Wreck Chords, 1996.
[13] NOFX, “Linoleum,” in Punk in Drublic, Epitaph Records, 1994.
[14] Jello Biafra, “If Voting Changed Anything…” in I Blow People’s Minds for a Living, Alternative Tentacles, 1991.
[15]. Justin Sane, “History,” Anti-Flag.com, accessed May 19, 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20020603170451fw_/http://www.anti-flag.com:80/anti-flag/history.html.
[16]. Ibid.
[17] Anti-Flag, “A New Kind of Army,” in A New Kind of Army, A-F Records, 1999.
[18]. John Charles Goshert, “‘Punk’ after the Pistols: American Music, Economics, and Politics in the 1980s and 1990s,” Popular Music and Society Vol. 24, 2000, 97.
[19]. Ibid., 99.
[20]. Theodore Matula, “Pow! To the People: The Make-Up’s Reorganization of Punk Rhetoric,” Popular Music and Society 20, no. 1 (2007): 19.
