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Modern punk is boring MICHAEL
BORTH
special to lmprint
S
ometime in the last five years, punk music developed an inferiority complex. More andmore punk bands have emerged that just seem to want acceptance, for whatever reasons (no doubt financialinmostcases). The unfortunate result is that the music has become boring. If you like punk rock, these observations probably seem either obvious or tired to you. You may like what passes for punk these days, poppy fluff that it is, and Iam not out to criticize your musical taste. You also might simply not care, knowing quite well that the fad will pass and the real rockand rollerswill continue beating on their rock and roll drums. My frustration lies in the fact that people are taking the latest incarnation of punk rock for what it claimstobe, whenit is reallyjust some record executives' excuse to use the most easily-reproduced elements of the genre to sell an empty vision of rebellion to yet another generation of disillusioned youth. I stress that my love of punk
music hasnothingtodo withpolitics. In fact, if there's one thing the current generation couldlearn from the last 50 years of rock and roll dominance in popular music, it is that rock and roll rarely measures up to its inflated image as a force for social betterment. Sure, punk bands like Crass earned a fair bit of recognition for their politics in England in the late '70s and early '80s. There are other examples Bob Marley, Midnight Oil, Public Enemy, Jello Biafra, and so on, but these acts usually attract attention through their extra-curricular activism, not through their music. The political angle of rock is largely a myth. That does not mean that it cannot be challenging. I also stressthat my definition of punk rock is no doubt not the same as most punk fans'. I do not claim to be hardcore in any sense of the word. To me, punkrockisaboutmaking music out of sounds that are repugnant to most sensibilities because they have rarely been heard before; noise held together by asimple beat andgivenmeaning by lyrics. Regardless, I think most punk
fans will agree that no matter how much baggage the word carries, the aesthetic is anti-establishmentat the core. As such, its marriage to pop music is ludicrous. Sure, pop music hasits place, but it is by nature part of the establishment: fun, accessible, and pointless. I do not object to the popularity of blink 182, Green Day and their ilk. I take offense to the idea that their music is different from the stuff Warrant and Poison were churning out at the b e w i n g of the '90s. Itake offense to callingit punk. Butthe really frustratingthing is imagining that some kids out there are actually picking up the new Papa Roach album because theyidentify with the sad, alienated kids in the band'svideo. Of course, there is nothing new about selling rock and roll as rebel music and the key to salvation.Somehow, the falseness of that idea just seems more obvious when punk is the product in question. MicbaelBoTthisan international arms smuggler currently residing in Santa Fe. His music program airs Wednesdaymorningsfrom 6-10 a.m. on CKMS-FM, 100.3.
Imprint. Friday, October 13, 2000
Meet the Parents directed by Jay Roach FrederickandFairway Cinemas
JARED TH~EIEAU specla1 to Imprint
C
onsidering the recent "lowdown for laughs" theory that has been adopted by almost every major studio in Hollywood, it is so surprising (in a good way) to see a comedythat isshockingly funnywithout the shock being- generated from the grotesque. Not that I mind gross-out comedies; some of them in the past couple of years have been outstanding. Unfortunately, they produce mimics; mimics that also do very well at the box office andcreate the idea that thisis the only type of comedy that people want to see. TheAwtin Powers moviesare a perfect example.The firstone, which did much better on video than in theatres,wasadever, sharp andwitty parody and satire. The sequel, for some of its highlights,was reduced to scenesof an incredibly fat man sloppinggreasy chickenall over hischest and of Mike Myers drinking coffee that "tastes like shit" because it actually is. It almost seems risky to do anything clever or screwball with comedy in Hollywood. There are probably only a couple of reasons why Meet theparents wasmade, one being the cast, which is an automatic sell. Two is that the people who see films in the fall are not usuallv the same people who see films in the summer, which means one can afford to take a risk and aim for a different group. As I watched this film, I noticed that theaudience was primarily made up of people in their mid-30s to midSOs, but the important thing was that the theatre was full. Everyone who decides to see Meet the Parents is in for a surprise becauseit isa fun, awkward,spirited, down-right humiliating,belly-aching
jaw dropper of a comedy. Ben Stiller plays a nurse named Greg Focker who decides the time has come to propose to hisgirlfriend, Pam (Teri Polo). But it turns out that adoctor, who knew wellenough that he should ask permission from her father first, has just proposed to Pam's sister. Stiller puts his plan on hold until he has met the parents. Lucky for him, the opportunity has arisen with the marriage of Pam's sister. Thingsbegin to go wrongimmediately for Stiller, first with lost luggage, and then with his game thrown out the window after he realizes that Pam's fatherJack (played withperfectnuance by Robert De Niro) is not the easiest man to win over. In fact, because he was a CIA operative for most of his career, it takesmore than a simplevow of trust to convince this man of sincerity. It just so happens that Stiller becomesa compulsive liar when he is nervous, and De Niro can see right through it. The film continuously creates pleasure out of awkward silences, embarrassing moments, and downright disasters. The key to the picture is that Stiller doesn't know when to stop, and he keeps on screwing up under the intense pressure of trying to please Pam's father. Yes, some of the incidents get unbelievable, but it is the sincere and plausible characterizationsthat keep us wanting to chew. And there's plenty to chew on in between moments of peace and quiet and moments of anarchy. The balance works perfectly because, along with every humiliating moment creating uncontrollable laughter, there is an immediate implication of emotional disaster. It really is true that timing is everything in comedy. And no one knows this more than Stiller, who came into true form in Flirtingwith Disaster and became a household name with There'sSomethingAbout~ry. In fact, he is so good at screwball, dysfunctional comedy that one hopes he didn't learn by experience.
A shocking, but not grotesque, comedy.