I just heard this term the other day. Essentially an Earth Punk inhabits the grey area between being a hippie and being a punk. Taking the better parts of hippie culture and combining it with the better parts of punk culture while rejecting the bullshit aspects of each. I thought that describes me pretty well. C/S, Rev J
There's some nice middle ground there. My friends and I might fit into that term. Along with many followers of the Dead these days. Newcomers anyways. Seems during the 90's there was a LOT of angst. Growing up in the latter part of the 90's everyone around me was going through 'cultural phases.' From atheist to anarchist, from goth to punk to sad punks, to the seldom borderline emo kid. Hell, I'm glad I made it out of those years alive. Sort of? Glad to be here, but not sure why
To me in terms of message The Clash were almost an extension of certain more radical edges of hippie culture. I also see connections in some of the more intellectual sub movements/bands within punk like Patty Smith, Television, The MC5.. I think a lot of punk grew out of aggravation when the momentum of the hippie movement became more of a fashion statement than a means of actual social change (yeah I know the Sex Pistols were put together to promote a boutique but that's beside the point). To me I think the whole "Earth Punk" thing is partially a reaction to the dipshits that latched on to the scene, the crusties, the trustafarians, the freeloaders, the proliferation of hard drugs such as heroin and meth on the scene etc. Interestingly the Punk scene has a lot of the same problems. I joke about being every punks hippie friend because I can't count the number of times I've heard "Fucking hippies! Not you J the other ones." To me this is the epitome/beginning of the Earth Punk concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYGyySCI9kE C/S, Rev J
One of my favorite moments was at a metal show in a small club I went to a few years ago. I was near the mosh pit and all these big guys were slamming into each other, really violent. After the song, it was smiles and hugs and "that was great, man, thanks" kinds of remarks. So cool to see. There's common ground in lots of sub-cultures, especially the ones reflected in musical genres. Interviews with Henry Rollins, Joe Strummer, John Lydon, metal band members, rappers, hip-hop artists, etc. frequently show a common ground. Differences, yes, but a similar underlying thing. There are the haters too, but I believe they're a minority. So, yeah, earth punk makes sense. Just another way to describe a way of looking at life and love of unity.
Even though my mosh pit days are behind me at the beginning there was a certain tribal bonding thing about it. It was a little violent and painful but there was that love. If someone knocked you over they would stop and help you up you'd have a laugh etc. But for me then I noticed a certain Jock Contingent that came in and treated it the same way they treated whatever contact sport they were into people would get signaled out in the pit and 3 guys would take them down. That was about the time I got out of it. This is one of my favorite songs about Moshing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oup1XQ6vNZ4 I was just thinking about this as a musician and remembering all of the tempo and feel changes in this. C/S, Rev J
