7th Jul 2022
I loved a bit of punk when I was in my early teens. Mixed healthily (?) with a massive dollop of grunge, it was my gateway to the sort of music I've spent the majority of my life loving. For me it helped that it was angry, as angry as I was all the time. Whether that was because I was socially inept, or because that period of time was still the early days of my parents being split up, or just because of raging hormones, I was always raging and punk music was there to rage along with me.
I didn't really understand a lot of the political or social commentary side of it back then, and I'm hardly an expert now, but some of it clearly stuck. Despite many years of allowing myself to be brainwashed by the right wing, the part of me that is really me was never brainwashed away. The past few years of self-exploration, working out which of my thoughts and beliefs are really mine and which were planted, have re-awoken that anger in a different way. I'm angry with the way the world is, but it's a positive anger. It's a "do your bit, however small" kind of anger. It's a "wasted so much time being a selfish prick, got to make up for it" kind of anger. It's a "why do so many people not want the people around them to be safe, happy and healthy" kind of anger.
Anyway, now that anger has a soundtrack. Somehow they'd passed me by until now, but I saw the IDLES set at Glastonbury (on the tele, obvs) and was blown away. Best live show I've seen in years, and I haven't been able to stop listening to them since. They hate being called a punk band, so I won't, but if you like punk then give them a listen. You'll like this not punk band.