It's impossible not to notice the proliferation of punk bands (or indie, or alt, or chill, or vibers, or whatever) who are being buoyed by the corporate entities we spent most of our teens and twenties railing against. Wasn't it only a few short years ago we were whining about how shitty it was that a cabal of large corporate labels, venues and media outlets refused to pay any attention to a music community that so unquestionably deserved it? Remember when we “won” by breaking the music industry? Now that our friends and comrades grace their shrinking pages and URL slugs, is it right to turn the other cheek? Do we all look at these corporations differently now because they've accepted us? After all: we're not selling out, they're buying in… right?
Now here comes the So So Glos with their new video for “Son Of An American” debuting today on Rolling Stone. Arguably the most punk band in Brooklyn, they live and record where many bands find their sea legs: Shea Stadium. Their new album, Blowout, will be released on the home-spun label that bears Shea's name. Maybe I'm a hypocrite, maybe they've done the dirty work that makes the national recognition that much easier to swallow, because even if we're all gagging on corporate cock, sometimes it's encouraging to see people you respect getting the respect they deserve. Besides, hasn't it been long enough since major money bastardized pop-punk? I, for one, am ready to un-ironically embrace the punk rock that made me want to start my own publication in the first place.
So if I'm going to give Rolling-Fucking-Stone some ad impressions by putting this video post this video on the pages of Impose, I should at least make mention that corporate media still fucking sucks. And when whatever the fuck you want to call independent music actually starts caring about socio-anything again, I certainly hope they have half the morals and talent of the Glos. Until then we'll have to wade through soft-ball interviews with neo-Nazi sympathizers and hearing how Black Sabbath is BACK. After all, even the man who boasted of making five million dollars and told the “indie fascist regime” to “eat vinyl” made fun of a corporate magazine on its cover.
