Amanda Song Analysis

Bikini Kill

The song “Tell Me So” by Bikini Kill starts off with the playing of a few simple chords and the drums kick in and then the rhythm guitar and vocals come in and make the song come together. Kathleen Hanna starts to sing and the lyrics seem somewhat personal and it appears the Kathleen is angry and wants an answer to some question. Kathleen, along with Tobi, Kathi, and Karren all made powerful noises with their instruments and voices while also trying to make a statement and a movement towards riot girl punk. However, I felt that the whining voice of Kathleen was a little too much and felt as if a cat was screeching instead of actual lyrics coming into play. The song as a whole is only two minutes and twenty one seconds long, it Even if this particular song did not appear to be as punk rock as other songs, it still made an impact on the punk scene and helped a lot of girls find their place in the punk music world.

The Reatards

Jay Reatard was the pioneer of this band and did a majority of the work. The song, “I’m So Gone,” was off of the album Teenage Hate and is only a minute and thirty seconds. The shortness of the song makes it appealing and not so arrogant. The song starts off with a simple catchy riff and Jay screaming go and then the drums kick in and the lyrics just sound like shit but it makes the song complete and totally punk rock. With a few simple lyrics, this song makes the garage punk scene successful and has the attitude of not giving a fuck that punk was so familiar with. The song had a feeling of grime and filth that came with it and made the song sound so great. Overall, the song allowed me to envision the band just sitting around getting fucked up and just playing whatever they wanted to play and shoving it in everybody’s face. The lyrics, drums, and guitar are all pulled off perfectly and this song makes for the perfect garage punk song.

Minutemen

Minutemen’s song, “History Lesson,” is very chill and does not have the harshness that hardcore punk and garage punk have. There is a hint of ska in there and has the go with the flow, fun time, kind of sound. Mike Watt and D.Boon began playing in the late 70’s and early 80’s and soon became a leader in making independent music and not sticking to any labels. With only three main chords, Minutemen made the A, G, and B string sound perfect in this song and gave the view of the band sitting and smoking chilling with each other and jamming on the acoustic just fucking around and realizing that what theyre playing could actually be turned into an actual song. This makes the song so much better and more punk rock because it just goes to show that something that could seem meaningless could have an effect on people and on a genre of music, without the creators fully realizing it. In the end, the lyrics talk about them pretty much just playing music together and expressing their appreciation for punk rock and sharing their views with us. I would most definitely define this song as punk rock

Alec Wenzel Song Analysis

The Ramones: Needles and Pins

The song Needles and Pins by the Ramones is not a punks song. It’s a cover of a song released in 1963 originally written for singer songwriter Jackie Deshannon. The song length fits the criteria for a typical punk song by being a short to the point two minutes and twenty-two seconds, however the similarities end there.

Punk songs we are used to hearing are usually fast and aggressive, sporting distorted guitars and heavy hard hitting drum beats, but this song has none of those. The guitar parts in this song are chime-y and barely distorted and the drumbeat is a time keeping basic rock beat with very little embellishing. We defined the lyrics in punk songs as being decidedly more violent, angry, and with a directed message. In Needles and Pins the lyrics are a remorseful love story. The most violent the lyrics get is “she’ll feel those needles and pins, hurtin’ her, hurtin’ her.” These “needles” are a metaphor for the painful feelings he hopes she will feel when she realizes she made the wrong choice of in love, which is not your usual musical message in a punk song. The song tempo floats around a comfortable 120 beats per minute, which is a medium tempo, and not as fast or aggressive. The song name needles and pins has potential to sound like a punk song but the actual song proves differently. The production values are also decidedly not punk as it’s very clean.

I don’t consider this song punk. I believe it to be a pop tune. It was originally recorded as such and I don’t think The Ramones did much to change that aspect of it.

Jim Carroll: People Who Died

The song People Who Died was released in august of 1989 well after the full swing of the punk movement. The song is a long five minutes with many verses describing the deaths of close friends of his. This is a punk song based on the fast aggressive nature of the song. The lyrics were of course very detailed and gruesome depicting the deaths of many of his friends. These deaths include drug overdoses (bobby od’d on Drano on the night he was wed), Murder (Herbie pushed tony from the boys club roof), and suicide (Judy jumped in front of a subway train). The tempo of this song is very upbeat and the drums are fast and driving instead of laying down a groove. Song name is People Who Died, which could be considered offensive. The Production quality was clean but it did have a spontaneous vibe to it. Who is to say they didn’t just play it really well once and that was the track? I call this song punk because of the aggressive nature of the tune and the offensiveness of the lyrics.

Essential Logic: Fanfare in the garden

This song is clearly not punk. While the song length isn’t that long like most punk songs, that is where the similarities end. The song is not particularly fast or violent, and it lacks a driving rhythm from the guitar part or drum part. The production value is very clean; there are no mistakes to be heard and its extremely produced. I call this new wave and not punk because it lacks the fundamental parts of a punks song in the driving rhythm, high production value, and lack of offensive lyrics.