Punk of the 2010s Part 2
When I was in college at the beginning of the decade, there seemed to be a clear division among the different sub-cultures. Specifically, there seemed to be a clear distinction (in my head, at least) between the “punk” bands and the somewhat more amorphous category of “indie rock,” which included bands with clear punk aesthetics (the Thermals, et al) but were decidedly (again, in my head) not punk. I thought of the people that listened to these other bands as being “hipsters,” a category as ill-defined as, well, punk itself. The hipsters had some similarities to punks — a somewhat distinct outfit cobbled together out of thrift stores and the left-overs of other, older sub-cultures, a clear love of art and aesthetics outside of the seeming mainstream, a predilection toward getting fucked up on cheap beer and weed. There were also some clear differences; I don’t know that you could’ve tied hipsters to any specific political identity other than a vague sort of liberalism. I remember being at a party and watching a bunch of friends jump up and down wildly to a Wavves song (hipster) and thinking, this isn’t so different, how come these guys don’t just listen to the real thing? Or perhaps more specifically, how come they don’t listen to my band, which played speedy pop punk once or twice a month at a local dive bar, usually to crowds of nearly no one. No wonder I was grouchy! In hindsight, the hipsters were just trying to enjoy the exciting music of their own, just as kids of every generation do. I mean, Punk in Drublic came out in 1995, I might as well have been wandering around trying to espouse the merits of Foghat to them.
I think what changed in the second half of the decade is that… nobody cared. The hipsters started approaching 30, the sound of youth music switched over to soundcloud rappers with face tattoos, a scene which has its own kind of DIY aesthetic, though perhaps more through necessity than any sort of ingrained value system. As for the rest... I’m sure there are plenty of hold-outs still fighting the old genre battles, but the world mostly seems to have moved on. Everyone knows who Minor Threat is, and also Discharge for that matter, but we also all had a ska or pop-punk phase; with the internet, no one can really stay a “poseur” if they don’t want to. Or maybe I’m just old and out of touch, and there are plenty of kids still arguing about this stuff (it is a lot of fun).
UPDATE 4/15/2021: Removed one of the bands due to allegations of abuse.
The Coathangers are a great rock n roll band. They have some of the same stripped down, almost hypnotic quality of a sludgy proto-punk band like the Stooges. They have two main singers (though I think they all sing), and the drummer has got this great, gravelly bellow. When I saw them live, they all switched instruments mid-way through, lending an air of unpredictability that is often missing from live shows. Also, the first time I saw the video linked above, I just assumed the dudes in the video were in the band, but apparently that’s the band Mastodon filling in.
Women put a ton of stellar punk albums out in the 2010s. Punk has often largely been a bro’s game, from meathead tough guys in the hardcore scene, to sideways baseball cap wearing, lip-ring sporting pop-punkers in the 2000s. Meanwhile it often seems like women have had to scrap their way in. Without taking away from the extent to which women still struggle in the scene, it does seem like it got a bit more equally represented among the genders. It makes sense to me; punk’s always been a great medium to express alienation and anger, and women of course have a whole set of reasons to feel alienated and pissed off.
Another heir to somewhat sentimental “Replacements” style indie rock, with huge triumphant choruses. The one I jammed to was 2012’s Celebration Rock, which in a lot of ways seems like an ode to the days between straight up youth (officially 23) and legitimate adulthood (officially 28). Smoking and drinking, intense relationships both platonic and otherwise, and a clear feeling that the glory days are already slipping past you. This album came out when I was 25, and I was already missing the long lost days of 23 when I heard it.
Did I mention I’m not always making a clear distinction between punk and indie? Fucked Up might be one of the clearest bridges between the two. Ostensibly a hardcore band (from Toronto), and there are definitely plenty of hardcore tropes here: gruff, bellowed vocals, walloping drums, ample distortion, and a killer chaotic stage presence, but also plenty of more diverse elements which also made them darlings of the Pitchfork set: layers of guitars and effects approaching almost shoe-gaze levels, cooed background vocals, a clear sense of melody, and a cohort that consisted of Wavves, Vampire Weekend, Tegan and Sara, and other indie luminaries.
Singer Damian has a diverse body of media work outside of the band as well, including presenting for Vice (punkish, but also a co-option of punk aesthetic into a more consumer friendly “hipster” subculture (not that it wasn’t co-opted already)), hosting the podcast “Turned Out a Punk” which has interviewed everyone from Jack Black (not punk, sorry) to Milo Aukerman (punk) and a wrestling podcast (definitely punk).
There was sort of a wave of these lo-fi indie rock bands in the early 2010s as indie rock somewhat moved away from the more jangly stuff of the previous decade and back toward a more distortion heavy sound. I wrote above about being a little put off by this in college, but re-listening to this stuff, I’m not even sure what the big difference was. Cloud Nothings sound like a noisy rock band with a frontman who’s clearly passionate about music, and who’s guided by his own influences slightly askew from the most popular sounds. What’s not to like about that? I suppose part of it was that I didn’t want to be just another near-sighted indie nerd (and instead became a near-sighted indie nerd who was a snob about the bands that other near-sighted indie nerds liked).
The other almost but not quite punk indie band that the hipsters at my college liked. I like Cloud Nothings a little better than Wavves; it seems a little bit more nerdy bedroom angst, while Wavves is a little bit more bros getting stoned at the beach. I suppose both of those things have their merits though.
Alright, no more scuzzy beach bum dirtbags here, this is a moody post-punk band, pure and simple, with thick, driving bass lines, sharp, banshee-esque guitars, and pointed vocals from singer Jehnny Beth. They don’t seem to be too active these days, but I suspect they’ll be back eventually.
In the semi punk-centric movie 20th Century Woman, at one point a disgruntled punk vandalizes one of the main characters’ car. On one side of the car, he spray paints “Art Fag” and on the other side he spray paints “Black Flag.” The owner of the car, a woman in her 50s (it’s 1979)is confused as to what these messages could possibly mean. A friend helpfully explains that “art fags” are punks who listen to more thoughtful, subtle music like the Talking Heads, whereas Black Flag represents the “hardcore” side of the genre. I invoke this scene to justify my inclusion of bands like No Age, another Pitchfork staple. All the same, listen to a song like “Depletion” and tell me that doesn’t have some Ramones DNA in it?
In the mid-2000s it seemed like there was quite a bit of Springsteen nostalgia floating around certain segments of the punk scene, probably best exemplified by the Gaslight Anthem. Restorations reminds me of that a bit, with soaring, anthemic songs and a bit of a gritty Americana feel. That’s a pretty radical guitar line on “D.”
There was kind of a wave of women centered bands that took a lot of cues from 60s pop and surfy sounds. Man, that hook on “Bedroom Eyes” perfectly captures the romantic longing of a classic girl group like the Shirelles, updated for the modern era.
In the 6 years between Hell Bent and SNAFU this band sort of cleaned up their sound, but you know me, I like the grungier more ramshackle stuff better. “Black and Studs” really nails this kind of lo-fi, 90s aping aesthetic that makes me think of a band like the Breeders. Also has a bit of a surf feel to it, now that I think about it, especially in that cruising guitar line.
Hazy, reverb heavy garage surf punk, at least the early stuff. Like Potty Mouth, they’ve cleaned their sound up a bit with a recent release (and singer Bethany Cosentino has gotten sober). It makes sense of course that bands (and people) would want to evolve. Is evolution punk? It probably depends on who you ask.
It’s always hard to definitively declare where certain styles or trends came from, but I’m pretty sure the Vivian Girls were at least one of the earlier bands to do that particular lo-fi/surf punk/60s pop blend. I think they were more active in the 2000s, but they put an album out in 2011 (and 2019), so I reckon they warrant a mention here.
Singer Alicia Bognanno has a great Courtney Love-esque howl. 90s alternative rock is a clear lodestar for a lot of the bands on this list. Bognanno even had an internship at Steve Albini’s studio in Chicago. The band seems to have skipped the “indie record” phase and jumped straight to Columbia Records — just like a random alt rock band from the 90s might, much to the chagrin of their peers (the peers of the hypothetical random alt rock band, not Bully)! Like the idea of punk “purity,” the world mostly seems to have moved on from the apostatizing of so called “sell-out” bands (Bully has since moved to famed indie label Sub Pop).
