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This week I looked at Mitski and what even is punk?
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Who’s Punk - Mitski
“Who’s Punk” is a series on artists who don’t make “Punk” music, but I argue, are honorary punks. In this issue, I wrote about indie-rock idol Mitski. She just released her sixth studio album “Laurel Hell.” This write-up will be a bit different from usual because it’s a more punk-by-way-of-emo look at Mitski.
Read this next lyric and tell me it’s not punk/emo:
“Good morning, heartache. You're like an old friend come to see me again.”
If you said, “No it’s not idiot,” firstly rude, second that was Rancid, so fuck you. Now, read this next lyric which is actually by Mitski:
“I wanna tell you about the young ideas, but you turn them into fears.”
Got you again! I pulled the ol’ double agent switcheroo! That was The Jam (Who? Sex Pistols era, okay. It just sounded Mitski to me). But alright for real this time:
“And I want a love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony.”
Fucking brutal. That’s off “Townie” from Mitski’s album “Bury Me at Makeout Creek.” It’s probably one of the better examples of Mitski’s blunt, authentic lyricism.
I played a game with a few friends where I showed them lyrics from classic punk/emo bands like the ones above and lyrics from Mitski. The results were pretty similar. People could mostly tell which were Mitski but the lyrics above mixed people up the most (I’ll attach the game with the answers at the end of the article if you’re interested. The highest score was 14 out of 16). Even my “willing” participants compared her lyrics to La Dispute and another to Taking Back Sunday and they felt many of the lyrics could go either way. My point in all this is that Mitski is as emo as they come lyrically.
But looking at static lyrics on a page is nothing like listening to the actual music. Like many indie rock artists, Mitski dabbles in several genres of music, with songs pulling more directly from punk influences than others. Tracks like “Townie,” “Your Best American Girl,” and “You’re Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars,” resemble traditional punk/emo the most, with crunching guitars in the forefront of these songs. But lyrical themes of songs like “Working for the Knife,” “Everyone,” and “Carry Me Out,” fit punk’s ethos as well (the whole of “Bury Me At Makeout Creek” is pretty punk, in my opinion).
Mitski’s new album “Laurel Hell” takes a genuinely punk attitude towards the music industry with musings on her success as an artist and the effect that all has had on her as a person.
In “Working for the Knife,” she addresses her choice to become a musician and to succeed, she must kill or cut parts of herself away to become appealing to the consumer. She sings about crying at the start of every movie because, at one point, she wanted to be a filmmaker but chose music instead. Part of the reason is revealed in the lyric: “I used to think I would tell stories / But nobody cared for the stories I had about / No good guy.” And she goes on to sing about feeling stuck in this career and ultimately will die by the “knife” she’s chosen.
Carrying on anti-capitalistic themes, “Everyone,” Mitski compares the music industry to a darkness that takes everything you can give in exchange for fame. For creatives, creating art is part blessing but also part bane. It’s an integral part of that person but it’s also their productivity and bottom-line if that’s their career. The closing lyrics sum up the song well: “Sometimes I think I am free / Until I find I'm back in line again.”
And finally, on the track, “There’s Nothing Left Here for You,” Mitski sings of being washed up — of having nothing left to give the darkness. In a lot of Mitski’s music, her songs portray romantic relationships but she’s stated in interviews that much of the “lovers” or “you’s” in her music are not people at all. In this song, “you” is the music industry and the “she” is artists. And because she’s built a career out of being a musician, there isn’t much she can do once she’s all used up until it all passes on “to someone new,” who will also ultimately become washed up as well— and the cycle continues.
Mitski has always had a bird’s eye perspective on the purpose of her art dropped in her music. “Laurel Hell” addresses the meta well but she’s even written about the subject like an album review she wrote of Weezer’s “Pacific Daydream.” The way she writes about Weezer seems equally self-reflective, “How do you keep writing pop songs when you stop having pop-song feelings?”
She writes about consumer demographics and how important age is to making money as an artist. Most would agree, Weezer and specifically lead singer Rivers Cuomo is pretty washed up. But Mitski humanized the plight an artist like Cuomo must be going through. It’s the definition of a first-world problem but one that all artists must grapple with eventually.
All of this is to say that her ideas are punk as fuck. It’s anti-capitalistic, anti-establishment, and directly addresses the purpose of music in the first place. It’s the feeling of being literally consumed by your fans. It’s the realization that your creation is only a reflection of yourself and not your actual self— just a hunk of meat to be devoured by the masses or left to spoil. It begs the question, “why make art for such a system at all?”
And the way Mitski approaches songwriting is deeply confessional and authentic like a good punk or emo record. Unlike a lot of punk though, Mitski is a classically trained musician who is actually talented. She has suburb control over her voice, pulling off ranges of emotions hardcore screamers could only dream of doing.
Some surface-level arguments for Mitski’s “punkness” are her politics and origins within the scene. She started out in the early ‘10s performing in many DIY punk venues before eventually landing bills with many major punk/emo artists like Joyce Manor and Against Me!. As a POC woman, she has always been openly anti-racist, feminist and other values that fit in within good punk politics. Her importance through representation in music can’t be understated and as she broke into the mainstream and began headlining shows, she’d prioritize highlighting other POC women on her bills like Jay Som and Japanese Breakfast.
Mitski’s take on consumer culture, her brutal and authentic lyricism, politics and origins within the scene all make for solid punk credentials. Now with this series, I don’t intend to argue that Mitski’s music has to be anything more than it is but I hope I’ve given some compelling reasons to at least respect her.
Check out some highlight songs on this week's playlist and check out the Mitski lyric game I made at the end of the newsletter. Comment below on how well you did.
Orbiting Punk Playlist #3
Mitski and songs musing on Punk.
YouTube for my Spotify protestors.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit of square. I come from a middle-class upbringing. I’m 24-years-old. I don’t do drugs. I work a lot. I don’t have tattoos or piercings. I can’t write about music without a dorkish amount of reverence and seriousness. Maybe it makes me difficult to read— a bit stiff, overly meta or dry. But I don’t know how to approach writing in any other way than embarrassingly personal or clinically distant.
The whole premise of this newsletter hinges on the idea that punk is a “celestial body” that “pulls” a “solar system” of “art” into its “gravity.” And to keep this jank-ass metaphor going, seeing the “beauty” in its fucked up “constellation.” But for a dork like me to write about all those cool things that surround punk, I feel the need to have a (working) definition of what punk even is to start.
It’s one of the oldest, most tired discussions surrounding punk. One, two, three, four. Who’s punk? What’s the score? “You’re not punk and I’m telling everyone,” type shit.
Punk is old. The roots of it started in the mid-'70s mostly in NYC and the UK. Every decade since has at least a dozen subgenres spawning from it. And with each iteration, the definition of punk becomes even harder to nail down. People started calling punk vague things like a feeling or attitude. The definition became a “you know when you know” thing like falling in love or that Jesus is in your heart with faith (just make sure you pick the right denomination of punk).1
But over the many decades that Punk has been around as a descriptor of bands, many key virtues and characteristics have stuck around. So here is a list of key parts that I believe define punk mostly. Disclaimer: This is all going to be a bit reductive as you could write several books about each of the scenes and ideologies I’m trying to wrangle in here. Anyway, what does punk give a shit about?
“The People”
Punk is inherently egalitarian. When the first punks arose they were generally young, poor people rebelling against a world they saw as having no future, at least not one they could join. Rock music became the art of the affluent cultural elite who were teens in the 50s and 60s. The teens of the 70s wanted to create music and culture they felt belonged to them and the working class. DIY arose and so too did a lot of other virtues that I’ll discuss in greater detail. But class consciousness is a huge part of the punk mental framework. It’s the poor vs the rich. The bottom rungs of society sometimes violently fighting for a space of their own on stage and beyond. Punk provides everyone with an equal platform so long as you have a cheap guitar and a shitty amp. Or in a broader sense, punk’s goal is to give everyone in the community equal opportunity to live, create and be happy.
“An Attitude”
Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols is often revered as the first true embodiment of punk attitude— nihilism, hedonism, and violence. At worst, Vicious was a murder and at least a complete asshole that enabled a great deal of toxicity to be glorified in the scene as outlaw-ism. Undeniably, aspects of early punk virtues embodied by Vicious and others have held strong in defining punk. Self-destruction almost seems like a prerequisite for many punk legends. The nihilistic idea has evolved over time to include self-destructive anxiety, tongue-in-cheek irony, and what I call positive apathy (Not caring about the purpose of things and doing good anyway). This is the aspect of punk that seems more a feeling you have about someone than a hard-set rule, so ultimately it’s subjective.
“Counter-Culture”
This is where I get a bit meta and abstract, sorry. Punk only really exists within the context of modern society. There’s never been a punk, utopian state as the dominant culture.2 And so punk virtues are very “anti-” this and “anti-” that. Punk is anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic, anti-sexist, et cetera. Punk is what it is not. And defining punk gets even muddier when actual musical elements are thrown in the mix. However, the inherent anti-mainstream characteristic is crucially punk. Not in the hipster, I only listen to unpopular music sense (although sometimes that’s the case) but in the larger cultural sense that punk can only exist in opposition to the current society. This whole point might be kind of moot since there likely won’t ever be a punk utopia but it’s a key characteristic any artist related to punk should have.
“Authenticity”
Hip-Hop and Punk have a great deal of historical, musical and ideological links between one another. The value of “keeping it real” was an early connection that became a key part of both genres. Original punks created DIY scenes to counter the music industry through home venues, independent labels, grassroots touring circuits and fanzines. It created an economy of its own that operated on street-cred as currency. The result was an emphasis on authenticity, fabricated or otherwise. This would become a regular point of contention within the punk community of who was really real or not. Who were the poseurs and sellouts vs the hardcore punks?3 Some “punk” bands often held false values to buy their way into the scene which rightfully pissed off some people. In turn, it led to a gatekeeping crisis that poisoned the punk well. Authenticity is one of the issues that makes artists like Killer Mike, Dolly Parton and Mitski more punk than some punk bands.4 Punk has to be real in some way or another.
“The Island of Misfit Toys”
Ideally, punk is a place for everyone. Not to get all mellow-dramatic, but punk is the roots for the rootless, worth for the worthless, a voice for the voiceless, and arms for the armless. Most of the subculture (excluding Nazi punks, fuck off), is accepting of anyone despite class, race, gender and sexual orientation. It’d be disingenuous to say that punk has always done a good job of this but that’s the dream. It’s in the name. “Punk” literally means a worthless person. This aspect drew me into the genre. If you’ve ever felt alienated and tired of the status quo, punk can be your home and your weapon. Ultimately, punk is there for everyone.
“A Moral Compass”
It’s no secret that punk is a sacrilegious and godless genre a lot of the time. It kinda has to be to rebel against a religious and well-mannered mainstream. Like I mentioned earlier, punk is an egalitarian genre that sees all people as having equal value and purpose aka humanitarianism. There is a reason why so many punks work in activism, nonprofits, shelters and other humanitarian efforts. Punks use nihilism as an excuse to dedicate themselves to helping others. I’m not trying to be preachy but a critical part of being punk is giving a shit about others.
“The Music”
Notice this was last on my list. Being punk has almost nothing to do with how you dress and the music you play or listen to. But I’d be doing a disservice if I defined punk without its sonic characteristics. Generally speaking, punk is heavy, fast, aggressive, openly political and emotional.5 It’s historically guitar-based rock music but punk has evolved into an ideological/influence descriptor for many bands rather than a hardline genre. Not all music inspired by punk is punk but it helps. Punks often emphasize complete creative control and nonconformity when making music. There is no better way to make your music completely yours than doing it yourself (DIY). And punk music can be made by anyone regardless of talent or technology. Traditionally “bad” sounding music is a sought-after quality in punk albums— lo-fi recording, harsh vocals or basic but potent power chords. The more flaws an artist or album has, the more sincere and raw the music seems. You get to witness artists’ flaws connect with them on a ground level.
Additionally, punk music is original. True punk artists defy convention and push the genre further and further into new territory. Clones of bands copying historic ‘90s acts like Nirvana and Green Day led to entire swaths of garbage, unpunk music in the ‘00s like a lot of pop-punk and post-grunge. It’s hard to say if punk ever died since it's a continuous evolution and splintering up the punk family tree. Progressions led to the dreaded modifier post- this and post- that to be used as descriptors for music everywhere. Post- implied a lineage but it’s not always clear how best to label it beyond after so and so.
First, there was hardcore punk and then there was post-hardcore which would be a genre (within a genre, within a genre and so on) for over 20 years. There’s a wild difference between the post-hardcore bands of the ‘90s and the post-hardcore bands of today. Post-post-hardcore doesn’t exist in name but despite generational divides, defining any long-lasting genre of music proves difficult. But one thing is for certain, punk is not dogma. Punk is radical and bold. Punk is sometimes spontaneously kicking a garbage can but sometimes it’s a loving hug. Despite whatever long-winded descriptors, new artists keep cropping up carrying the punk banner forward.
In summary, some checkboxes for punk musically include: music made DIY, influenced by punk music or philosophy, is original, bares human flaws plainly and defies convention.
It’s not my place to decide what punk is or isn’t. I’m not sure who could rightfully claim they could, anyway. But each of these pieces all fit together to explain at least how I define my perspective on punk. I’d love to hear your thoughts or if you have any ideas of your own of what punk is in the comments. Thanks for reading through my rambling if you made it this far and check out the playlist I made for this week with punk songs from Mitski as well as some punk musings from a variety of artists.
Mitski Lyrics Game (answers at end)
Guess if each lyric’s below is M - Mitski or P/E - Punk/Emo. You may want a notepad or notes app to keep track of your answers. Correct answers are at the end of the newsletter.
We'll meet again when both our cars collide.
I'm pulsing, my blood is red and unafraid of living.
And I want a love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony.
Good morning heartache, you're like an old friend, come to see me again.
I wanna see the whole world. I don't know how I'm gonna pay rent.
Sometimes I think I am free until I find I'm back in line again.
I'm not sure what I meant to you then, so I'm not sure what I owe you now.
If your hands need to break more than trinkets in your room, you can lean on my arm as you break my heart.
And I'm the idiot with the painted face in the corner, taking up space.
The mirrors lie, those aren't my eyes. Destroy them. Raise my hand; reflected in savage shards.
I wouldn't mind if you took me in my sleep tonight; I wouldn't even put up a fight.
I always wanted to die clean and pretty, but I'd be too busy on working days.
We are not our failures; we are love.
I wanna tell you about the young ideas, but you turn them into fears.
Just the way you were raised; just the way you were raised.
‘Cause nobody butters me up like you, and nobody fucks me like me
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Mitski Lyric Game Answers
Footnotes
There is a whole lot of crap I can get into with this metaphor. Punk for a lot of people is a moral compass or at least it was for some in the punk subculture like straight edge kids. And like Christian denominations, each genre of punk has their own virtues and problems associated with each. Hardcore has the issue of being browbeating sometimes like Catholics. Pop-punk is so far removed from punk roots that it seems virtue-less outside the virtue of selling teenage angst, similar to modern Christian rock.
It’s almost always been a subculture overwhelmingly dominated by a single demographic- white men. I’ll go into how punk values inclusivity in a moment but historically, the fact remains punk is mostly white dudes.
I want to explore problems in the punk world in the future and the issue of authenticity is a big one.
Authenticity gets complicated because it hinges on what values and characteristics people use to define punk
Punk is political. Music is political. If you think differently, you are wrong.