nevermind the sex pistols, it’s f**ked up
that I liked the opening two seconds of the new Earth track(s) way more than an attempt to listen to at least 15 seconds of the new Fucked Up (even skipping past the tortuously slow opening). just saying (that Fucked Up are such a bland, formulaic - like a clock that chimes punk riffs - rehash of melodic hardcore that I think it’s insane that they’re so popular, even if Andrew’s excellent end-of-year piece* on David Comes To Life actually made me feel sympathetic towards the idea of liking them**).
*”more modern melodic punk bands like Husker Du, Leatherface, and maybe even Hot Water Music” = a trio of my favourite bands, and I can’t help but read his comparison as saying Fucked Up’s grand achievement is to approximate a sound that already existed.
the Undertones connection mentioned there as well is interesting, but it’s probably worth underlining just how much of their music, post-1979, was really kitschy too - and, much like the Ramones, a failure to keep up with developments of post-punk and hardcore. the Undertones’ 2003 album Get What You Need is really good example of classic punk and kitsch done well, and essentially a less - let’s face it - pretentious version of what Fucked Up are trying to do now.
**which is cool, I just wish I could find the space/words to articulate why people should be sympathetic towards the idea of not liking them, vis-a-vis their slightly-self-assumed mantle of ‘modern punk’, and/or separate from issues of authenticity, the relative lack of aesthetic quality compared to other contemporaries.
