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“Punk Rock Girl” - The Dead Milkmen
(Words/music: The Dead Milkmen, available on Beezelbubba, Enigma 1988)

“Punk Rock Girl” accomplishes something spectacular – it captures everything wrong and right with the stereotypical suburban punk rock experience.  On one level, “Punk Rock Girl” describes those kids you knew in high school – the ones more interested in the image of punk rock than music itself.  Perhaps it’s a byproduct of my own personal investment in music, but people who see music as a fashion accessory is a major pet peeve.  I knew kids like this in high school – the “punks” who used it as an excuse to act like jerks – so hearing about kids chanting “anarchy” in a pizza shop when they can’t get their way doesn’t do much for me.  The Dead Milkmen seem in on the joke as well, and not just because of their history of tongue-in-cheek songs.  The narrator sounds like a high school student’s creative writing assignment, complete with forced imagery and awkward rhyme.  They even (intentionally, I think) credit “California Dreaming” (which they immediately allude to) to the Beach Boys, a wink to the know-it-all teen punk.  All of this comes from a band using an accordion prominently in a song about teens pissed about a lack of Mojo Nixon albums; it’s hard not to chuckle a little bit.

A funny thing happens near the end of the song – our faux-punk narrator encounters the quintessential teenage punk experience – exclusion.  He meets the rambunctious love of his life only to have her father deem him too weird (and thus unsuitable) for his daughter. Even then, after setting her father up as “The Man,” he still proclaims that’s “you’re the one for me, Punk Rock Girl.”  Maybe I’m jaded, but the narrator seems like he’s either fantasizing about a girl he barely knows (hence calling her “Punk Rock Girl”) and imagines all of the escapades they might encounter together, or he likes that her dad hates him.  Regardless, even if the narrator brings back uncomfortable high school memories, “Punk Rock Girl” speaks to a different part of the punk rock audience – one that might appreciate the orthodoxy of hardcore but maintain a healthy distance from it.  Even if it’s a little nerdy – a weak voice, wiry guitar, and sing-songy nature - “Punk Rock Girl” capture what it feels like to start working against the grain.  Regardless of it’s tone – whether it salutes the safety-pin clad or pokes fun at them – it’s part of the suburban punk’s experience for many of us.

More on The Dead Milkmen: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm