Are You Punk? Or Are You Polka?
You can't be both! Wait, does this make sense yet? Let me back up a minute.
One of the great things about good college radio is the seamless transition from one show to a completely different one. Today I was listening to my station of choice online while doing some after-hours overtime work for another office department — this, incidentally, pays ludicrously well at time-and-a-half, for the kind of work you can just plow through while listening to music.
Anyway, at 6 pm the punk show that's on turns over to a polka show, and two things strike me immediately. One is that punk and polka music are just complete polar opposites of each other. The other is that I like polka music, really, just a whole lot better than punk.
The stark opposition of punk and polka is, I think, fairly clear. Punk is all about being angry and antisocial, while polka is about being happy and completely social. Punk also maintains a vicious ironic distance from everyone and everything, while polka is carelessly loopy and unselfconscious. Punk wants to break a bottle over your head. Polka just wants everyone to be entertained.
The punk scene probably features a lot of hardcore drug use, but the polka scene has pretzels, and the big chewy kind.
Why do I like polka better than punk? Possibly because I have a soft spot for people trying to make me happy, and I like woodwind instruments. Also, a punk band is much less likely to an up-tempo cover of "Blueberry Hill", or "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.
Now that I know what side of the fence I'm on, I want to throw my gloves down and call everyone out too. Are you gonna be punk, or are you gonna be polka? You can't be both!
Better pick the right side, too. Push comes to shove and you ain't gonna get any big chewy pretzels, punk.
One of the great things about good college radio is the seamless transition from one show to a completely different one. Today I was listening to my station of choice online while doing some after-hours overtime work for another office department — this, incidentally, pays ludicrously well at time-and-a-half, for the kind of work you can just plow through while listening to music.
Anyway, at 6 pm the punk show that's on turns over to a polka show, and two things strike me immediately. One is that punk and polka music are just complete polar opposites of each other. The other is that I like polka music, really, just a whole lot better than punk.
The stark opposition of punk and polka is, I think, fairly clear. Punk is all about being angry and antisocial, while polka is about being happy and completely social. Punk also maintains a vicious ironic distance from everyone and everything, while polka is carelessly loopy and unselfconscious. Punk wants to break a bottle over your head. Polka just wants everyone to be entertained.
The punk scene probably features a lot of hardcore drug use, but the polka scene has pretzels, and the big chewy kind.
Why do I like polka better than punk? Possibly because I have a soft spot for people trying to make me happy, and I like woodwind instruments. Also, a punk band is much less likely to an up-tempo cover of "Blueberry Hill", or "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.
Now that I know what side of the fence I'm on, I want to throw my gloves down and call everyone out too. Are you gonna be punk, or are you gonna be polka? You can't be both!
Better pick the right side, too. Push comes to shove and you ain't gonna get any big chewy pretzels, punk.
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