"Hot Topic" is NOT Punk Rock

At 35+ my bleeding-edge days are long behind me, but as a former punk-ska-industrial-alternative scene guy I certainly haven't moved to the Michael Boulton catalogue. Today's subject line comes courtesy of MC Lars:

http://www.mclars.com , and I couldn't agree more.

I must confess that before a few months ago (I've re-posted this from earlier) I'd never heard of him or Hot Topic, but once again thank you, Internet, for instant familiarity with almost anything. Back "in the day" my friends (well, some of them) and I went out to the gigs, listened to the music, wore the clothes and hung out with the other punks, which made me one of them, even if I was never a "smash the state" kind of guy.

At that point in my life (roughly age 17 to 22) I was in school, by 19 I had moved out of the house, and I was pretty poor. The ripped jeans were just old and worn out, the punk t-shirts were cool, but mainly cheap, and the 14-hole Docs and leather jacket were a legacy from the motorcycle that I never managed to get running. Like real punk bands, things were run on a shoestring, but by necessity and not as some sort of slumming affectation.

I won't (presently) bore everyone with tales of the old days, but I'll put it out here that I blame MTV/Much Music and Nirvana for the commercialization and concurrent extinction of the alternative scene as a real alternative. I haven't paid a lot of attention for a number of years, but the fact that I can find a site ( http://www.hottopic.com/) selling, well look at what they're selling and ask yourself if the word "Punk" should be associated with US$20.00 t-shirts and baby clothes.

Probably not the last word on this topic...