Kiss Off Rock and Roll Nerd

So fellow interested people, this one is about music. For those out there for whom music is not the most attractive fondant fancie in the box, I do not apologise, because music is one of my ultimate passions in life.

Anyway, I was listening to some music today (not really a world-ending admission to be honest) and two songs seemed to reach out to me and link in a way I never thought was possible, neigh probable.

These two magnificent songs are Kiss Off by the Violent Femmes and Rock and Roll Nerd by Tim Minchin. Now the eagle eared music people out there may be wondering what connects the cult, retrospective pioneer of post-punk, the Violent Femmes, and the incredibly Australian, bohemian pioneer of abstract comedic song writing. To me the theme is rebellion, or maybe perhaps the total lack of it.

Femmes Violents?

The Violent Femmes and the post-punk movement moved beyond the ear rendering apocalyptic drowning of noise that punk typified. Punk, to me, is more of a mentality than a music genre. Yes, punk was supposed to be anarchic, absent from rules and a blatant balls-out spit in the face of rules and structure. That was the whole premise of the movement, but musically it was about as comforting to the musical god as having ones family jewels dangling in the protective sphere of a porcupines nest.
However, the Violent Femmes moved beyond the unflattering punk scene and created something better, in a musical sense, but still maintaining some of the rebellious streak. The bridge of Kiss Off tells about the singer taking drugs for the rebellious nature of it and the emotional responses these invoke, telling everyone else to Kiss off into the air.

The Australian Minchin 

Now Rock and Roll Nerd  by Mr. Minchin is a song which really appeals to me personally, because it highlights the personal absence and aching for a rebellion, something else than what I am.

I'm not saying I haven't done things which would cause me to be dethroned from the seat of an MP if it were to be discovered, but there has never been that recurring 'Rock 'n' Roll' attitude which encapsulates the inner-most dreams of teenagers alike, thronging to be the next Axl Rose, Mick Jagger or Lemmy.

The world of Rock and Roll is infinitely alluring, mostly due to its absence of rules, its anarchic nature, its "Fuck You! I'll do what I want" rhetoric. But, for the vast majority of us Mr Tim and his Australian comedic ways, hit the nail on the head and the dream of rock and roll super-stardom is just a pipe-dream, which has probably exploded into a pipebomb of relinquishment and emptiness. I'll leave tonight with the words which encapsulate the downtrodden nature of my own desire to be part of that sub-cutaneous world of anarchism and rebellion, which the Violent Femmes saw the beginning of the end and the push towards conformity. Tim sings:

While his mates all go out late
Popping pills and having fun
He goes home and showers
And gets a good eight hours
He gets his thrills from his morning run
And while his mates all go on dates
Taking speed and drinking cans of Jim Bean
He stays home and cooks
Curls up with a book
With the girl he's had since he was seventeen

Cos he's never really been part of the scene
Give him guns 'n' roses, he'll take Queen
He's more into Beatles than The Stones
He's more Stevie Wonder than Ramones