Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

It’s funny, over the weekend Karen and I visited a new store in town that has an ecclectic selection of merchandise. I bought a CD entitled “Punk Rock Sampler” and have been listening to it fairly frequently. I’ve been feeling fairly musically nostalgic lately, missing playing in a band and writing songs, as well as missing my old college friends. I was thinking of writing about my punk influences and the politics and social impact within music, but it’s been hard getting my ideas together as I grapple with writing papers for my classes.

So when I read this article this morning I had to laugh. The Ramones were my first exposure to punk, and they still remain an influence on my musical style and taste. At the time I didn’t really care much about politics or social justice, but hey I was like 12. So it never really ocurred to me that the band members might have different political views or what those views might even be. Something interesting always comes up.

Over time I realized I could write songs that would attempt to relay my beliefs and views on the world. Ironically, I never recorded any of them or in most cases even performed them. At the time I felt it was too preachy and presumptious to do so. I’m not sure that I think that anymore. Not that I would want to listen to nothing but political/social music, but it does have a place. Who knows, maybe as time goes on I’ll get around to really writing/recording again…