i remember this as being one of the first truly nuanced depictions of punk identity politics. most often, punk's antiestablishment style ethos ("the ragged clothes, the matted down hair") was presumed to be rooted in anger -- specifically the working class anger of punk's british roots. in the us and canada, where snfu is from, the rejection of mainstream values seemed just as often rooted in fear and alienation, a fear of nuclear devastation, say (this was the '80s after all), or an alienation and self-abnegation born of middle-class malaise (the rejection of materialist values of preceding generations) or racial otherness (mr. chi pig, snfu's vocalist, who wrote these lyrics, is of chinese descent). when i was growing up, it came as a welcome contrast to the one-dimensional rage of a lot of punk, post-punk, and hardcore bands, and one that still seems rare today.
i remember this as being one of the first truly nuanced depictions of punk identity politics. most often, punk's antiestablishment style ethos ("the ragged clothes, the matted down hair") was presumed to be rooted in anger -- specifically the working class anger of punk's british roots. in the us and canada, where snfu is from, the rejection of mainstream values seemed just as often rooted in fear and alienation, a fear of nuclear devastation, say (this was the '80s after all), or an alienation and self-abnegation born of middle-class malaise (the rejection of materialist values of preceding generations) or racial otherness (mr. chi pig, snfu's vocalist, who wrote these lyrics, is of chinese descent). when i was growing up, it came as a welcome contrast to the one-dimensional rage of a lot of punk, post-punk, and hardcore bands, and one that still seems rare today.