Earlier this week, Arlo’s pediatrician and I determined that he’s now old enough to learn about punk rock. Since then, I’ve been doing a lot of research, trying to find the best way to introduce the concepts of senseless violence and nihilism to a two year old.
I was hoping that I’d find some consensus in the literature, but it would appear that professionals working in the area of early childhood development are divided. Some think the CHiPs episode “Battle of the Bands” is best, while others advocate on behalf of the Quincy episode “Next Stop Nowhere.” As I really don’t want to screw this up, I’m looking for advice. Any guidance from academics in the audience would be appreciated.
CHiPs: Season 5, Episode 16 “Battle of the Bands” (January 31, 1982)
Quincy, M.E.: Season 8, Episode 8 “Next Stop Nowhere” (December 1, 1982)
Quincey – Next Stop Nowhere from John J Doe on Vimeo.
[Not surprisingly, both episodes end on a fairly similar note, with more traditional American values winning out, at least for the time being, over the terrifying nihilism of punk. As Quincy says to Dr. Hanover at the end, as they slow dance to Glenn Miller, “Why would anyone listen to music that makes you hate, when you can listen to music that makes you love?” For my money, though, CHiPs has the better ending, with Erik Estrada triumphantly singing Kool & The Gang’s hit “Celebration” after having snatched a beautiful, innocent young woman from the clutches of punk, and delivered her back into the hands of the commercial mainstream.]
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You have to go with Quincy. The lyrics are better.
From the Mayhem song “Give Up”:
Get a job working for the man/
blow his brains out if you can/
tell the judge you didn’t like his face/
no garbage like the human race/
Give up!/
You know you’re gonna die!/
Give up! /I
don’t know why you even try!/
Give up! /
I wanna see you choke!/
CHOKE!/
CHOKE!
Nothing new under the sun, as they say. Look at the way they dealt with hippies on Dragnet. The funny thing is, punk was already dead by the time these aired in ’82.
As far as I know, no after school specials have been made about either twerking or the Gathering of Juggalos. There’s huge potential there.
I love the idea of Quincy being called in to solve a murder at the Gathering of Juggalos.
Just imagine how wonderful the United States would be today if we’d heeded Quincy’s warning.
I think the Bush administration passed law that all punk rock history must be explained by Henry Rollins. He’s in charge now.
Martin Scorsese just announced that he’d be making a film abut the Ramones. Maybe I’ll hold off on introducing Arlo to Quincy or CHiPs until I see how he handles the material. Hopefully he does a better job of it.
SEE ALSO: Boy George on “The A-Team” and Andy Warhol on “The Love Boat”
Wow….it was simple as I remember, Reagan was in, Iran was shitting on us, the air brown with smog, etc. We were pissed off and wanted to let the washed up hippies and 1950’s leave it to beaver types that we had had it with the flaccid pop-culture that surrounded us. I mean Electric Light Orchestra isn’t exactly the sound of youthful rebellion, there were no anthems for us on the Xanadu Soundtrack, we cut our hair eschewed all that was flower-power and smashed any Foghat albums we could get our hands on…among other things. I remember, society by and large were truly scared of Punk. Seriously, my Dad really took it to heart and was offended by the Name “Dead Kennedys” big time. You’d think Jello himself had showed up in the morning and personally shit in his grape-nuts.
At any rate….I am lucky to have been a part of it…..and survived. Here I am now,..all old and shit, but still that young hardcore guy inside. Always will be and I am just fine with that. Punk is still alive and well-Just give ‘the Brokedowns’ or ‘The Arrivals’ a go. That stuff will stir a punk rock heart for sure.
Ah, brings back memories of an innocent time before Mark’s blog and American society as a whole was infected by the Q pandemic.
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