How many punk rockers are right-wingers?

[KamaAina]

The Ramones' political views are, of course, well-known. Now Exene from X is all fired up about this BS anti-Obamacare truckers' strike next month: She tweeted me this:

@kamaaina hahaha!! "right wing obama-hating nut jobs"... name calling!! that doesn't work so well anymore, people are waking up.

(No, @kamaaina is not my name on Twitter. )

Are there more? Remember, a sizable percentage of punk fans were/are racist skinheads. On the other hand, there's always the Dead Kennedys.

Aside: #@$!% YouTube has slapped ads in front of the first EIGHT versions of Kill The Poor that came up.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Modern Rock... and all its mutations and variants... chrystalized in the late 60s.

It WAS a product of its time. Therefore, the rebellious confrontational stance that WAS ALREADY PRESENT in the youth demographic as a consequence of Viet Nam and the draft (and all of the other anomalies shortcomings and iniquities of American life that people became AWARE of *because* of VN and the draft) became identified w. the popular music of that time.

Point: There is nothing INTRINSICALLY progressive about punk, metal, heavy metal, grunge, etc etc etc.

W. the draft gone...and therefore its bogus political context..... its just pop music.

Ya got yer RWers and ya got yer LWers.

[Bunnahabhain]

3. Rock had "chrystalized" way before the late 60s.

and the late 60s rock explosion was fueled by British performers and influences. Hell, even Hendrix was basically British during his music career getting his big breaks in the UK after having moved there in 66. The reason Hendrix was included in his first Monterey Festival was because of another Brit, Paul McCartney. His first two studio albums were produced and released first in the UK and it was not until his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, that he returned to the US for production.

[Bunnahabhain]

2. Punk rockers are people

and people can be left wingers, right wingers, or more moderate/sensible/pragmatic or apolitical.

I think punk is structurally anarchistic and anti-establishment. This would tend to make it libertarian but then you get anti-establishment bands like Bikini Kill which deal with issues usually associated with left wing politics and then of course Bikini Kill opened the whole riot grrrl thing which also seems to be labeled "left wing." I think what is deemed "right wing punk" was punk's usual anti-establishment and those twerps were raging against certain societal movements seen as areas of the left.

Some of this labeling all really makes no sense to me so I'm just applying it as I think others would.

[nomorenomore08]

4. Johnny Ramone, Michael Graves from the Misfits, possibly Roger Miret from Agnostic Front.

Actually the story goes that Johnny started dating Joey's ex-girlfriend at one point, which prompted Joey to write "The KKK Took My Baby Away."

And I refuse to post any Graves-era Misfits because they sucked ass!

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

10. As far as I know

after that incident Joey and Johnny stopped speaking to each other. Although it seems like relations between the two were tense at best to begin with. I'm surprised that, considering that Johnny seemed the odd man out and also an asshole, they didn't just kick him out.

Luckily Joey and Dee Dee handled most of the songwriting, so the songs that are political remain essentially leftwing. I guess Johnny saw his part as little more than a job; he clocked in, played guitar and clocked out. Maybe as long as the money flowed in he didn't care what the songs were about.

[nomorenomore08]

11. He did object - being a Reagan supporter - to the title of "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg."

Other than that, yeah, just seems like the band was his day job and not much else.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

12. Hey, at least the money was good! :)

I can't imagine being in a band with a rightwinger.

Actually, I did once join a band where the singer was a rightwinger, but he never talked about his politics and he left only a few months later. I only found out about it after he was gone. Maybe, because the guitar player was a bigtime lefty, they had decided long ago to keep politics out of the band...

[Arcanetrance]

23. I've always found agnostic front to be more left leaning than right

[nomorenomore08]

25. You could be right. Miret's ex-wife, at the time they were married, was in the crust punk/

anarcho-punk band Nausea. Not that that necessarily means anything.

[Arcanetrance]

26. In fact they penned a whole album and song that was one big Fuck you to giulliani

[nomorenomore08]

27. Yeah, "NYC Police State" is a great tune. Simple but highly effective.

I guess they've always been populist, which can mean left or right, depending.

[Arcanetrance]

28. I'd probably say that about most of the NYHC bands from back than

[Throd]

5. More than you would probably think.

[OriginalGeek]

6. I don't listen to as much pure punk as other things..

..like cross-over thrash. I think DRI are pretty lefty.

(This was from 1989 btw)
Automatic weapons were meant for the war
But here they are right outside your front door
Gangs and thieves are armed to the hilt
Ready to kill without all the guilt
Lock and load
We need gun control
We need gun control
A shot rings out from down the street
The gangs are restless from the night heat
The cold, black metal has made them insane
Killing each other is part of the game
Lock and load
We need gun control
We need gun control
The barrel of a gun at the back of your head
Your money or your life is all that he said
Do you want to die or live to be old
Don't think twice about gun control
Lock and load
We need gun control
We need gun control
We were given the right to bear arms
When our land was all ranch and farms
The law is old and in need of updating
There's no time time for hesitating
Lock and load
We need gun control
We need gun control.


I love the Dead Kennedys though.

[nomorenomore08]

13. "Five Year Plan" is awesome too:

"I win, you lose!"

[Taverner]

7. I have a friend who isn't just RW, he's downright Alex Jones NAZI

Blacks are trying to kill white grandfathers who fought in WWII

They are evil and we need a racial solution


THAT KIND OF SHIT



Child of two hippies no less

[KamaAina]

8. Alex Jones is a Nazi?

I thought he was just a looney-tunes RW conspiracy nut.

[Taverner]

9. My friend mixes Alex Jones into his "Blacks are gonna kill us!" BS

But Alex Jones has shown himself to be Christianist and Racist at times

[zappaman]

14. You're missing a HUGE RWer.

Michael Graves of the MISFITS.

Graves was a vocal conservative and co-founded Conservative Punk, a counterpoint to Fat Mike's left-liberal Punk Voter organization. Graves was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for his involvement in the conservative punk scene.[14]
In recent years, Graves has shifted towards libertarianism.[3] In 2011, he endorsed Ron Paul for president.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michale_Graves

[MiddleFingerMom]

15. K

[pitohui]

16. ok a suggestion or two here plus an ask

first you just need to update your adblock and you won't get ads from youtube any more, i just did so a couple three weeks ago, very happy

as far as old right wing punkers, idk, i guess TIL that exene is still alive

but i can't say much since i'm blanking on any punk song being produced since 2006...

if some punk rockers are wingers so be it...i'm not sure i need to get my politics from kids who dropped out of school at age 17, why not enjoy them for what they do and ignore them when they say stupid stuff and everybody goes away happy?

i am mainly posting in hopes that someone will link to some new punk songs, i love the dead kennedys and the clash but ffs i can't listen to the same tunes for this many decades, i need some strange, help me out here people!

[KamaAina]

17. Why doesn't Adblock tell me when it needs to be updated?

Like, oh, I don't know, every other piece of software in the universe?

[pitohui]

19. that i cant say why

i wish i knew! it's like the one piece of software we would all willingly update everyday if need be so maybe they want to be all indie and standoffish? fuck if i know!

[madinmaryland]

18. No wonder we don't let you out of the Sports Group!

[KamaAina]

20. Let me guess... you're seeing a right-wing punk rock goddess

who's a diehard Cowpies fan.

[madinmaryland]

22. Uhmm, my wife hates football. Fortunately, she does hate the Canadian band, Rush.

[derby378]

21. Does Keith Morris count? (Circle Jerks, Black Flag)

I know he's a bit of a mixed bag, but it seems he leans more right than left.

[NewJeffCT]

24. and, of course, Nazi Punks Fuck Off

on Dead Kennedy's Vevo channel.