This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Well I remember at a party
A couple a years ago when I saw an emcee.
He ripped the mic then he passed it to me,
I learned a little lesson, he helped me to see.
It's not about choosing guitar or the decks;
It's doing it yourself that gets the respect.
Stuck like a sign, now was the time
I was ready for the beat, ready for the bassline and boom!
Now we're mixing the sound for the show
So punks say Oi! B-Boys say Bo!
We've seen them come and I’ve watched the bands go,
I'd better get a dedicated outlook yo.
And that’s the reason that we came and add a twist.
I thought that punk was all about the freedom mister!
Don't want to be the sound to tick off your list,
We're bigger than this punk rock.
Well anything we call 'punk rock',
In a category called 'punk rock'.
'Punk rock' is only ever going to be punk rock.
Some things are bigger than punk rock.
Look around,
No, we aren't unified by guitars crashing down.
Revolution is more than sound.
We're better together and still we're going nowhere,
Can't see the wood for the scene.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
Anyway, never going to never pin us down,
Any style, play it from a squat to a stage,
Strike Anywhere, spread it about like shareware.
Anyone far beyond little pond, respond,
Yet, this mindset;
Preach the converted, yet we forget
It's just Minor Threats and fanzines are
Empty of meaning if we're not being UK.
Stop pretending that it's not UK.
Not America we're in UK.
Got to sing it like we're from UK
And maybe then we'll find a way.
Look around,
Do we have all the unity we sing of in this crowd?
Revolution is more than sound.
We're better together and still we're going nowhere,
Can't see the wood for the scene.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
Round in circles. I can't see this. Revolution.
More than just a sound.
We're better together and still we're going nowhere,
Can't see the wood for the scene.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
A couple a years ago when I saw an emcee.
He ripped the mic then he passed it to me,
I learned a little lesson, he helped me to see.
It's not about choosing guitar or the decks;
It's doing it yourself that gets the respect.
Stuck like a sign, now was the time
I was ready for the beat, ready for the bassline and boom!
Now we're mixing the sound for the show
So punks say Oi! B-Boys say Bo!
We've seen them come and I’ve watched the bands go,
I'd better get a dedicated outlook yo.
And that’s the reason that we came and add a twist.
I thought that punk was all about the freedom mister!
Don't want to be the sound to tick off your list,
We're bigger than this punk rock.
Well anything we call 'punk rock',
In a category called 'punk rock'.
'Punk rock' is only ever going to be punk rock.
Some things are bigger than punk rock.
Look around,
No, we aren't unified by guitars crashing down.
Revolution is more than sound.
We're better together and still we're going nowhere,
Can't see the wood for the scene.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
Anyway, never going to never pin us down,
Any style, play it from a squat to a stage,
Strike Anywhere, spread it about like shareware.
Anyone far beyond little pond, respond,
Yet, this mindset;
Preach the converted, yet we forget
It's just Minor Threats and fanzines are
Empty of meaning if we're not being UK.
Stop pretending that it's not UK.
Not America we're in UK.
Got to sing it like we're from UK
And maybe then we'll find a way.
Look around,
Do we have all the unity we sing of in this crowd?
Revolution is more than sound.
We're better together and still we're going nowhere,
Can't see the wood for the scene.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
Round in circles. I can't see this. Revolution.
More than just a sound.
We're better together and still we're going nowhere,
Can't see the wood for the scene.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
But in the spaces between lies the truth that we've got
And it's bigger than punk rock.
Lyrics submitted by skacore_dude
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This song is great - it's addressing genre-snobbery. There's loads of people who would identify themselves as 'punks' yet scorn other types of music, even though many of them carry an identical message. As the lyrics say, change and progression exists outside of 'punk rock', so if we want change we have to work together as opposed to within our little cliques.
Great song to come from SB6 as they straddle so many different styles of music too.
"We're better together"!
This is why I absolutely love the radio clip at the start of "The Rape of Punk to Come;" "They are punks, those who threw out the commercial disco sound in the 70s for something else..." Punk was never about 4/4 time signatures and shouted vocals over three chord progressions. Punk was never about who owned the latest Fred Perry top, who wore braces and had massively crazy-coloured hair. Punk was simply a triumph of being different - and that's why "it's not about choosing guitar or the decks, it's doing it yourself that gets the respect." Ben is able to rattle off so many punk references, such as Minor Threat and Strike Anywhere, whilst still retaining the fact that he himself is more a folk singer, and the Boom are a reggae-punk-hip-hop-dancehall-hardcore soundclash of absolutely everything and anything. And it sounds amazing.<br /> <br /> The song is a view on how "punk" can be "anti-punk" - "not America, we're in UK, gonna' sing it like we're from UK," they're not every single "punk" band that adorns the pages of Kerrang! and similar popular magazines. Punk isn't simply a fashion, where thousands of guyliner-wearing kids can conform to one idea, and sing the words to Green Day's "Minority" in unison and not see the irony.<br /> <br /> If the Ruff Guide to Genre Terrorism was your first experience of Sonic Boom Six, yes, it is their first album, but not their first recording. This song harbours similar views to "Play Inna Day" on the Sounds to Consume EP - "all the stickers in the world on your guitar don't change the sound if it's a birthday toy, when you rock a reggae riddim like a middle class white boy!" Sonic Boom Six are quite possibly the most punk band I've ever seen, and that includes Rancid - they came into my life as Grimace, when I was a young teenager, bored of the staleness of the "third wave" ska punk scene arguably started by the Bosstones in the 1980s and kept the same for the last 20 years. I've always hoped that their label, Rebel Alliance Recordings, and the bands on it, being all so incredibly different to the norm as they are, might help to usher in a new, "fourth-wave" - where nothing is simply defined by a pre-existing idea, and nobody's afraid to mix it up a bit for fear of scorn from elitist wankers.<br /> <br /> Revolution is more than sound. :)
The idea is that punk was about freedom, right? like the freedom from the 'corporate rock' that bogged itself down in too many rules. then the punks came along and started dressing uniformly, and creating rules for punk bands, essentially stifling creativity. this contradicted the original idea of punk.
so the bands like the Clash (who are huge influences on SB6) started to experiment more with different genres. and thats why SB6 gigs have fans that like hip-hop and punk together. just like the line "we're better together"
"Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock." Thanks, Kurt.
I think the words "punk rock" are subject to far too much debate. The meanings there, don't let the scenesterism get you, stay true, simple!