On the commodification of skate culture
Since we posted that song with Chris Hannah, there’s been quite some buzz around the online punk community. First of all, a lot of great responses ranging from “holy shit” and “awesome” to “why hadn’t I ever heard about this band?” (us, not Propagandhi). Secondly, quite some Propagandhi adepts decided to check out our music. Thanks for that! Besides all that, there’s also been quite some discussion. On our own site, on Propagandhi’s facebook page, on punknews.org and their own podcast.
Feel free to check out the song and an excerpt from the punknews podcast:
The song
The podcast
Anywho, we’re flattered to hear so much discussion about this song going on, and we’d like to clarify some misunderstandings about it’s contents.
This song is partly about skate culture indeed. But the skate culture is an example of (or a metaphor for, if you wish) subculture and counter culture in general, including the punk/hardcore scene. These cultures came into existence because people didn’t feel welcome or didn’t want to participate in mainstream sports or culture. So indeed, this song is about distinction rather than unity. But that can be a good thing! Second; the fact that subcultures partly exist by the grace of gadgets, fashion items and other commodities doesn’t mean that this is desirable nor that subcultures can not exist without them. That’s too easy and fatalist in my opinion. It’s not a given and we can change it if we want.
Nijmegen
Bottrop
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