by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I remember the last time punk “broke.” It was the early 90s and I remember hearing Green Day on the radio and thinking, “punk is back.” The thing about punk is there are two clear versions of it.
Australia’s G-Flip
There is just regular old punk that you usually can only hear in dim, dank bars that are scary. And then there is what you might call “pop punk” or, in an earlier era, “New Wave.”
There are a number of bands floating around now that seem indicate there is at least a small possibility that some form of pop punk “breaking” again might happen. There are IDLES and So Good from Great Britain. There is G-Flip from Australia.
But I have my doubts.
I think all my talk about “pop punk” says more about me than any possibility of a vibe shift where, like, good music is pop again. I think we’re doomed to shitty music from here on out for technological reasons, if nothing else.
I will note, as an aside, that if Tik-Tok had some sort of “music” tab that that would be a great way for the audience to passively discover new music. I already do that with Tik-Tok as it is, but it would be nice if there was a specific area of Tik-Tok devoted to breaking new music.
