The News Stories in Punk Rock that Caught our Attention this Year

In February, Chicago record label, Touch and Go Records (which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006), revealed that it was being hit by the downturn as well, announcing that it was cutting staff and manufacturing and distribution services. This was heavy hit to the independent record labels affected. Touch and Go’s manufacturing and distribution service is essentially what got records from other independent labels to your local record store. Without this service, the selection at your local store is smaller, and local record stores and the labels associated with T&G’s manufacturing and distribution feel the pinch.

Unfortunately, it's probably not the last independent distro that will disappear before this is all over.

Whether or not it's the result of infighting (although many close to band have alleged that it is), Michigan post-hardcore band Chiodos have done an excellent job of mirroring Michigan's economy by engaging in some downsizing of their own this year. First, the band fired drummer Derrick Frost in May, and then they came through with another round of layoffs in September. This time, it was frontman Craig Owens who found himself eliminated.

Only time will tell whether the band will emerge from their economic downturn as a streamlined, more efficient version of Chiodos, and it remains to be seen who will assume the screaming originally done by Owens.

For the seventh time, the Stooges were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And for the second time, they were snubbed. Keeping in mind that this was the year that Ron Asheton had passed away, and that last year, the Stooges were invited to play by Madonna for her induction, where they upstaged her with raw covers of her songs., AND that the year prior, Patti Smith performed her classic cover of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" with REM's Michael Stipe, and I was pretty ceratin the stars were becoming aligned. It was not to be.

Fortunately, the band's nomination for the class of 2010 proved to be succesful. Looks like eight is the Stooges lucky number.

In June, Exene Cervenka, the vocalist for X, the influential L.A. punk band, released a statement that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In a show of strength and pure moxie, Cervenka, announced that while her health would obviously be her prominent focus, she was not going to let the disease derail her musical career, stating that "it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall on Bloodshot Records."

When Green Day released 21st Century Breakdown in May, it was to widespread commercial success. Essentially, a lot of people bought it - but not one of them bought it from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart has a policy of refusing to carry albums with a parental advisory, instead forcing bands that want to be on their shelves to record a “cleaned up” record. Green Day refused to follow a ridiculous policy that's deceptive to the public and derides the meaning of the advisory label, and kept their records off Wal-Mart's shelves.

In a resounding victory for free expression, the record sold 215,000 copies in its first week, and sat at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart for three weeks. All without the support of the major retailer.

We first heard this story in 2008, when it was announced that Twilight star/bad actress Kristen Stewart would play Joan Jett in the upcoming Runaways biopic. The story hit us again when it was announced that Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie would be played by Dakota Fanning, seemingly because she plays opposite Stewart in the Twilight sequel. Then of course there was the news that the St. Louis band Living Things had been cast to play the Ramones, simply because their singer is married to is the film’s director.

Casting like this shows a studio that cares more about selling tickets to teenage girls than making a decent film. The cast may help break box-office records, but face it, The Runaways is doomed.

This year, the punk world was hit especially hard by the deaths of several vibrant voices of the scene:

Ron Asheton - Guitarist for the Stooges, died in January from a heart attack

Lux Interior - Frontman for the Cramps, passed away in February from a heart attack

Jim Carroll - Punk rock poet, writer and singer for the Jim Carrol band, passed away in September from a heart attack

Brendan Mullen - Author and founder of the legendary Hollywood punk club Masque, passed away in October from a stroke

Jerry Fuchs - Drummer for multiple bands, died in November from a fall

Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan - Drummer for Avenged Sevenfold, died in December from natural causes

We would once again like to extend our condolences to their friends and families

In August, Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg announced that he was leaving after 19 years, saying simply that his "time in Pennywise has come to an end." It was an announcement that seemed to catch his bandmates off guard, and hours latere the remaining members issued their own statement, announcing that the band begin searching for a new singer immediately.

While a permanent replacement has not yet been named, the band did recruit Ignite frontman Zoli Teglas to sing with them at October's Smokeout festival. They say he's just a temporary replacement for Lindberg, but with a new Pennywise album and tour already scheduled, Teglas might need to be fitted for a trucker's cap to assume the role permanently.

About a year after he got into the dairy industry by doing commercials plugging butter, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon dug in a even deeper by setting his sights on an independent ice cream maker. The Sex Pistols started legal action against Icecreamists, a British ice cream company over it's use of the tagline "God Save the Cream," and imagery that bears a resemblance to the band's cover art.

While it's probably true that fair use and parody will win out and the case will be thrown out of court, one can't help but wonder if Lydon's dairy overlords are sending him after the young, milky white upstarts.

In July, FBI agents arrested musician and filmmaker Elgin James on a federal extortion charge. According to the Dept. of Justice Press Release, James allegedly extorted $5,000 from an unnamed victim, later revealed to be a member of the pop punk band Mest, in return for protection from attacks on his band.

James is the founder of FSU (which stands for “Friends Stand United” or “F**k S**t Up,” depending on who you ask), a Boston-based straight edge street gang that was originally established to control Boston’s hardcore scene and to keep Nazi skinheads out of the clubs and venues that hosted hardcore shows.

This is a case that will most likely not be over anytime soon, and we'll be keeping our eye on it.