Is Punk Rock the New Dad Rock? Ten Signs That Going Soft Is the New Hardcore

When punk rock sneeringly ejaculated onto the music scene in the 1970s, it was all about volume, attitude and, most importantly, the rebellious nihilism of young disillusionment. But in 2012, self-proclaimed punk rockers look like massage therapists at a Winnie the Pooh spa.

Just take a look at The Other F Word, a Sundance-approved documentary about professional punkers who are also parents, screening this week at O Cinema.

The proliferation of heteronormative breeding (that is, makin' babies) is only one sign that punk rock is getting cuddlier by the minute.



10. Hardcore Kids Are Turning Into Prancing Electro Goths
What does Cold Cave playing some dingleberry convention have to do with punk getting soft? How about a little thing called everything. While Wes Eisold -- vocalist for Boston hardcore band American Nightmare -- and Dominick Fernow -- one-man harsh noise artist Prurient -- have gone incognito as electro-pop fancy boys (leather jackets at a summer festival are 2012's equivalent of synth-pop's sunglasses at night), both are textbook former bruisers who have forsaken the pit for shouting over Kreayshawn and begging for a plus one.

​
9. All Black Flag Everything
OK, shaving the Black Flag bars into your lawn is actually pretty cool. But no logo could be more over-fucking-parodied. While we love imagining how much it annoys frantic copyright hound and Flag founder/lone-constant Greg Ginn, we're sick of every douchebag with Photoshop getting fresh with those sacredly iconic bars.