When Is Offensive Too Offensive?

In the upcoming show, I will be talking with Clean Girls alumni Josh Makela about the bands Poison Idea and the Meatmen. Though these bands seem to be unrelated, I have found one thing that they share: both bands felt a need to offend. Both of the bands were proud of how offensive they were, with the Meatmen priding themselves on being one of the most hated bands in hardcore, a genre that generally prides itself on being offensive (we looked at this earlier with Black Flag and will revisit it when we talk about Minor Threat's "Guilty of Being White"). The question is this; in a world where things such as 4chan, encyclopedia dramatica, and South Park exist, were these bands the start of a movement towards having no boundaries in the realm of joking? Is there any topic that is off limits for these bands? Is saying things like "Crippled Children Suck" an endorsement of the idea, a mockery of it, or neither? I will try to play the devil's advocate, so please keep in mind that what I say on my show is not an expression of my particular opinion unless I specifically state it as so. I'll be playing some of the Meatmen vinyl hopefully, but I don't have a setlist together yet (Saint Patrick's Day took a lot outta me).

The High Fidelity

"Student Hip Hop Organization is at it again with its 3rd Annual Concert sponsored by IPAX, The Center for Student Diversity and AMP Late Night Funding. This is a concert you definitely do not want to miss and its FREEEEEEEEEE!!!!" The second half of my show this week will be interviewing artists who will be playing at this awesome show that you will all go to. For the first half of my show I'll just play random 80's hip-hop to sort of meld the show's theme with the interviews. Please tune in, please come to the show.

I Ain't No God Damn Son Of A Bitch: How The Misfits Could Create A Whole Genre Of Music

On the next radio show, DJ Saucy and Stephanie Monohan are going to be discussing how the Misfits not only created a genre of music but also were a cultural phenomenon that continues to have effects on music and fashion. I can't think of a better person to discuss this with (except maybe Michael Willems PLEASE COME ON MY SHOW)because of her love of in-depth sociological analysis of pop culture. Can we refer to the Misfits as being a pop cultural phenomenon, or are the effects of the emergence only felt in the subcultures of Goth, Punk, and the genre they created Horror Rock? I'm going to argue the later due to the popularity of their image (I mean there are fucking Misfits t-shirts with gold teeth) and the popularity of music that they influenced (AFI started out as a Misfits cover band, and bands such as Alkaline Trio, The Ataris, Guns N' Roses, Hatebreed, Jawbreaker, Metallica, My Chemical Romance, and Sum 41 all claim to have been influenced by the Misfits). We will talk about where the Misfits name came from, where the logo came from, and how Danzig is a tool for not doing a Misfits reunion. The Misfits never write very long songs, so this show is gonna be a whole lotta talking. Setlist:
1.Bullet
2. Horror Business
3. Teenagers From Mars
4. Night of the Living Dead
5. Where Eagles Dare
6. Vampira
7. I Turned Into A Martian
8. Skulls
9. Ghouls Night Out
10. Astro Zombies
11. Die, Die My Darling
12. Earth A.D.
13. Devilock
14. We Are 138
15. Attitude
16. Last Caress
17. Horror Hotel
18. Halloween
19. Halloween II
20. Demonomania
21. Hellhound
22. Bloodfeast

Nihilism and Narcissism: Observations on the Dead Kennedys

Hey Jason and the blogonauts,
The upcoming show for this Saturday will have me talking with guest host John Klepadlo about one of the OGs of 80's hardcore, the Dead Kennedys. Though there are plenty of things to rant about in terms of this revolutionary band, such as "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," "California Uber Alles" and Jello's own mayoral candidacy, I am guessing what we will spend a considerable amount of time talking about is the controversy over Jello Biafra, front man of the Dead Kennedys, funneling money from the band into his label Alternative Tentacles. Though I have heard many valid justifications of this action, I'm going to make the argument that not only was this wrong to do, but that the action arose from Jello's narcissism which can also be observed in his music. It'll surely be an interesting show, and this issue is the equivalent of the OJ Simpson trial for punks. Here's the set list:
1. Kill the Poor
2. Forward to Death
3. When Ya Get Drafted
4. Let's Lynch the Landlord
5. Your Emotions
6. Chemical Warfare
7. Your Emotions
8. I Kill Children
9. Holiday in Cambodia
10. Religious Vomit
11. Moral Majority
12. Nazi Punks Fuck Off
13. Terminal Preppie
14. I Am the Owl
15. A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch
16. Chicken Farm
17. Goons of Hazard
18. MTV Get Off The Air
19. Stars and Stripes of Corruption
20. Rambozo the Clown
21. Macho Insecurity
22. Anarchy for Sale
23. Chickenshit Conformist
24. Where Do You Draw The Line?

First show

Hey kiddies,
First show, first blog post. Man I'm excited. 80's hardcore is what I'm all about, it is what I live for. Can you remember the first time you heard "12XU" or "Teenagers from Mars" or "Hate the Police" or how about "Rise Above"? Black Flag is often the poster child of 80's hardcore music; just look at how they're used to review Converge's new album: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13625-axe-to-fall/ and yes asshole we may not "remember" Black Flag but just cause you got to get spit on by Henry Rollins at some show doesn't make you special.
The way my radio show is going to work is that guests will come on and we will talk about a certain band (if they are as influential as black flag) or a certain scene (early d-beat, straight-edge, etc.). Due to the marvelous inventions of Google, Wikipedia, and blogging, I don't really feel a need to provide anything more than interesting tid bits and stories about the band, and instead will focus the show on more personal things. For this show, I'm having Kelly Houck, who is not just a Black Flag fan but also white and a woman. Why do I point these two identities out? Because both being a progressively minded white person ("White Minority") and being female ("Slip It In") can make listening to Black Flag rather awkward, uncomfortable, and even sickening. I want to hear if you can justify, defend, or ignore these songs and the applications of this response to the rest of the Black Flag discography.
This will probably be one of the hardest shows for me to do, considering not only did Black Flag's albums sound consistently good, but there are 6 of them, as well as material pre-Henry Rollins. But here is the set-list I've decided on playing, please consider my 2 hour limit before crucifying me for leaving out a few really great songs:
1. Nervous Breakdown
2. Wasted
3. Revenge
4. White Minority
5. Clocked In
6. Rise Above
7. Spray Paint
8. Six Pack
9. TV Party
10. Thirsty and Miserable
11. Police Story
12. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
13. Depression
14. Room 13
15. Damaged 2
16. Padded Cell
17. Life of Pain
18. Damaged 1
19. My War
20. Can't Decide
21. Beat My Head Against the Wall
22. The Swinging Man
23. Nothing Left Inside
24. Scream
25. Family Man
26. No Deposit-No Return
27. Slip It In
28. Black Coffee
29. Modern Man
30. I'm the One
31. In My Head
32. Drinking and Driving
33. Louie Louie (live from the last show)