Just a thought, punk rock and rat rods.

We have a movement in our hobby that berates the rat rod, but I was thinking about what's happening, as it relates to punk rock.
In the late '70's, despite flashes of brilliance(Roxy Music, Bowie, Iggy), we had what might be described as banal, overly self indulgent music overpowering the airwaves, think ELP and Yes.
Let's leave disco out of the equation, because I love disco.
It was pure, it was bootylicious, it was the soundtrack to the drugged out orgy.
Anyway, back to my point, somebody, somewhere, decided that home grown music played at loud volumes, with less than masterful ability needed to be heard.
Of course there were politics, there was the Queen's coronation, there was the USSR, but in the midst of it all was the rebellion.
I guess what I'm saying is that punk rock was as neccessary as the rat rod in shaking up the system, be it music or cars.
If you wanna look back at the state of affairs in the late '80s, early '90s, we had reached a point of perfection that was ripe to spawn the rat rod.
And so it happened.
It's like some of us were sprayed with Boyd Be Gone.
I don't want anybody to die in their rat rod, but as far as a reaction, it was the panacea the hot rod world needed.
Go back and look at at the little books, there were unsafe deathtraps on virtually every page, this is nothing new.
Somewhere along the line the idea of hot rodding was de-balled.
I want to think that the true birth of punk rock happened long before it really happened. Gene Vincent is as punk rock now as he was in '56.
This is how I feel about the rat rod. Sure it's a no/no in '04, but some of you cocksuckers actually embraced the term 5 years ago.
When I moved to the USA in '81, folks shouted B52's and Devo to my face, and I ababdoned my love for their prescient music out of cowardice.
I realize now that the B52's and Devo were remarakable, but I was a pussy, so I caved.

I guess what I'm really saying is is that there are pieces of shit on the road, but in reality they might be as important as The TV Personalities were to Genesis, as The Purple People Eater is to The Deucari.

But the true revolution won't be confined to cars, hopefully it will branch out to the point that we (the little people) aren't pawns of the almighty.

I'm not holding my breath.

Put me in my chamber now, I want to be at one with Walt Disney.

 

I get what you are saying, but to me we need something like the punk movement in rock and something new in cars...something that gets back to purity because I think right now both are stuck in a style over substance thing now in 04.

I have not disliked new music this much in my whole life...I teach and I can not see how a Sr. in high school can rock out to boy bands, divas, and the cog of a machine that rap has turned into. Rap is the corporate rock of today man.

Cars and the scene have become all attitude now...and alot is lacking substance. When the Pistols hit it was attitude, it was new, it was antiestablishment...but it was hallow. The Clash for example learned to play and kept building...the Pistols fell apart. Alot of the trendy guys into "rat rods/trad" right now are the Pistols and won't be around long...pure and simple.

It is hard to even talk about this stuff without sounding like a POMPASS ASS (as Gracie likes to call me )...so I hope you catch my drift.

Guys are starting to take the blinders off and expanding and trying new stuff, they are the Clash messing with roots like Bob Marley and Gene Vincent and making something new of their own also. That is the cool part of what is going on...others are ending up like Sid doing crap and will fade and die off.

As usual I probably make no sense at all and sound like a chump

 

brilliant, nads... well said. though i do hope the 'PROGRESSIVE MUSIC' thing makes a come back.
nic

 

Never really made the connection between taste in cars & taste in music before.....

I listen to Johnny Cash, The B52's, Iron Maiden, Soft Cell, Junior Brown, George Strait- a whole hodge podge of differnt tastes. Almost anything but rap. I realize now that my taste in cars is just as diverse.

I like rat rods/traditional rods/old school rods- whatever term you prefer- , A/FX, Mullet mobiles, pro streeters, true tuner imports, almost anything but low riders.

There are guys out there building cookie cutter rat rods just like they used to build billet-laden goldchainer rods a few years back. Its just another gimmick right now for most people, but there are those of us who truly like the old-school rods built in the early style.

Here we get people that are just in it for the "kulture", but for the most part we all love the trad rods, & we did so long before they were "in". There are guys like Sam who are trying in their own way to get people new to the scene to realize that just becuz its primered w/ red wheels & WWW tires don't automatically make you a true traditional rodder. You need to appreciate the traditional rod scene to truly understand where we came from & where we're goin'. I'm with ya all the way, Sam.

I just watch the show. In a couple years there'll prolly be a big market for billet rods again becuz so many will be sick of rat rods. It all comes & goes, & I don't get so wrapped up in any one style or fad that I build something just to be part of a scene. The HAMB is the scene in my opinion, & if'n you really want to build something to be proud of, there is plenty of info here to set ya on the right track.

 

It is the Pendulum Effect.
When anything gets too far to one side,natural forces react to bring it back.
Eventually,the revolutionaries become embraced by the general public,and become the next institution.
Just a natural part of evolution.

Corporate driven music,Boyd Coddington,not much difference really.



Now if we can just get these Assholes off the Fucking television.

 

Well said. I might add that it is all too often that success and money ruin what starts out brilliant and fresh. But from those beginnings other things are formed much like rock was formed by melding blues, jazz and country into it's own life form. Morrison was brilliant until he turned into an all too successful rebel against everything, including his own existance. Youth will aways identify with what they came to the threshold of identity listening to and being influenced by. I will allways think a 57 chev with a straight axle, big block and no front bumper as cool, but will never own one. I will always like listening to The Doors, Hendrix, Hank Sr., Patsy Cline, Grateful Dead, The Stones (remember Brian Jones?). That was my identity or what I had of the beginnings of an identity. Counter culture always breeds into mainstream culture through our youth. We had the hippy, antiwar movement. Then a decade or so ago the main influence on youth came from the militant inner city blacks and even the white supremists (remember the first skinheads) Punk came along in between those two eras mostly un noticed by me as I was still trying to figure out how to exist staying stoned day and night from growing up in the turn on and tune out generation.
I guess as we get older and see our own kids grow up we can look back and see that not much really changes even though new fads and styles are constantly evolving. If you want perspective just pick up magazines from 10 or 20 years ago and see where we have come from. Pick up an old Car Craft from the early 70s and you can see some of the most tastless styles that ever existed as we reached as far as we could from morphing what was cool ten years earlier.
Some of us have to get alot older before we realize that we were following trends just to be with the in group and not really following our hearts. That is called growing up. In order to declare our individuality to the adults we have to act like 10 million other kids.
Rap and hip hop don't do it for me but some of the things we didn't listen to when I was a kid because it was "corny" or "retarded" I now find I enjoy. I can listen to a classical station or swing and find some enjoyment in it. But after all we really were raised on big band music. If you watch any of the old cartoons it was the background music in most of them.
And there will always be that element of danger in any youth culture. We just need that in our lives and since very few of us grow up riding motocross or bulls or actually having dangerous things to do, we have to find danger in our music and cultural identity.

 

My whole life revolves around this very thing.
Although, I don't have a rat rod, and my band isn't really punk.
The MORALS are the same.

Raw, Romantic, Wild.

 

Punk is dead, the death certificate was signed sometime in the early nineties.

The second wave of the hippy generation commandeered the sound and made it their own. No longer is Punk about self worth, self gratifying, stand alone anti-establishment anarchy and self reliance. Now we hear dreadful songs about strife, loathing and political intrigue to the tune of activist socialism.

I remember going to see bands like DRI, Fear, Agent Orange and such at the VFW halls. Getting kicked out for fighting because some dumbass thought folding chairs would be a great thing at a punk concert. Playing chicken in the pit with our girlfriends on our shoulders. Knocking the hell out of some poor bastard only pick him up and dust him off and then go at it again. We had fun and we did it our way.

The people that put it on thought they could drive us lowlifes away by playing the classic country we seem to love so much now. I think most of us over the age of 30 remember hearing these songs growing up and something clicked. Punk went mainstream and for the most part we are not followers. We chose another path, some have picked up on the swing or rockabilly tangents musically, some went deathmetal/blackmetal and so on. Buck the system, its what we were taught right along with rooting for the underdog in the fight.

Rat Rods, Traditional Rods and customs are our way of doing the same thing. Tiered of seeing the same treatment done a thousand times over and once rare parts becoming mainstream lead us to do what we are doing now. And it will spawn a whole new generation of sameness and yet another revolt! Already the moans over black primer, red wheels and white walls can be heard. Rat Rods are now mainstream, expect manufacturers to focus on them in the near future. No more billet headlights but E & J headlights will be everywhere. No more tweed but bomber seats and serape's. Fading fast are the billet wheels in favor of mass produced "steelies and caps". It is happening.

There will be a core group of us that will still skate the same line. The trend followers will move on. There are a few good punk bands still out there.

 

Really strange but I was digging through some boxes of old albums i bought years ago and I keep playing an old Andrews Sisters album, WW II stuff! Far cry frommy favorite Zepplin stuff. I think my inner child is rebelling against me!
As far as cars go, I love them all but I am still wanting to build same type stuff as in my avatar, that is me in 1967.
Nads, you are a crazy fucker, Boyd Be Gone!!!I love it, you are a genius!! Keep it coming!

 

Punk's most important contribution to music was the idea of "do it yourself". You don't need a record contract when you can have your own records pressed and sell them at your shows. You don't need a manager or a songwriter. Bands had been putting out thier own records for years but never to the extreme that the punk bands did. "Rat Rods" said the same thing. Learn how wrench then build it yourselves. You don't need a "known" shop to do it. BTW, Coltrain and Miles invented punk.

 

there is a mighty mighty bandwagon beating its way down your street. its flying a gigantic banner emblazoned with the trend du jour, and it beckons to impressionables, wannabes, and every other mindless dolt who never bothered to develop on opinion or personality. why bother? its MUCH easier to tune in and turn off your brain. MTV manufactures cool and sells it at tillys. punk rock has been bastardized and watered down to a milky white so that every teenage boy with a studded belt and spiky hair can run rebel all over the suburbs pumping blink 182 from the leopard spotted interior of his 68 cadillac scraping the fender skirts on his way up the driveway of little gwen stefanis parents house as they wonder whether or not they shoud let thier newly adolescent daughter out with this driving age boy without her birth control. punk rock as i knew it is buried, but it lives in the dirt far from the scrutiny of culture. it is shadowy and rich as sparce and raw as it is. its better off left in the must. it can maintain its purity. the ghetto punk of rap and hip hop of the early 80's has become as image led as the ryan seacrest toolbox automotons, with a little violent crime thrown in for street cred. dead. all good things will eventually eat thier creator. allow your brand of cool into the limelight and it will crack under the weight of the pilers on, thirsting for somethng new to define thier ever vapid lives. punk rock as they know it is wearing an apron and baking cookies for record executives and more suburban white kids are realizing how stupid they look wearing do-rags and xxxxxxl basketball jersies. enter the james dean brando rebel without a credit card. a switchblade and a rusty old car is just what our kids need to restructure the hierarchy of tough and redefine the john travolta brand of cool since the polyester thing never really caught back on the way every thing else does every 20 years. its not about anything. its as disposeable as income and it will hold its value until drifting starts listening to KORN. it is suhsi for the new. some try it. some will force feed it to themselves to fit. some actually like it and explore the depths of its pleasure. the rest will try curry or falafel. image is everthing and were running out of new ones. i want to smack all these little flashdance groupies running to the wet seal for a fresh dose of '80's cool. it was gay then and its even worse when you try to replicate it. what does that have to do with rat rods??? everything! it is a shot in the arm. it is an altogether distorted reproduction from the minds of the flying circus. it reinforces your definition of right and wrong. it clarifies. punk rock meant something. it was ground breaking. it kicked in the teeth of everything. it was pure in its crappiness. then the offshoots came and it was just plain crappy and we knew the difference. then came emo. refined and watery and well produced liquid crap that sells like hot cakes. difference? not really. perhaps. people 'became' punk until evryone was 'punk'. then they bought erasure records. its no fun being hardcore when it can be bought on ebay. maybe some unsuspecting rat rodder will see past the poor engineering and worse welds and rod knocks and see a true traditional. maybe somthing new will come from a pure and unmolested mind. nirvana borrowed and grew and kicked a hole in everything we held dear, but it had roots. then came all the crap 'grunge' with no heart. NO CRAFT. thats the crux of the arguement. does it have a soul?? it does if it lives on, otherwise it was just a shell that held no value and will be scrapped and reincarnated and put to use by the reapers of rod building. ah, fairest opportunity awaits the patient.

 

many many years ago when I was a freshman (1981) little punk rock wannabe kid my english teacher told me punk rock will be the top 40 to my kids...well i have a kid and punk rock basically is top 40 now...I laughed at my teacher when he said that but now I realize he was right.

don't know if this relates or not...just a little story I wanted to share.

 

[ QUOTE ]
It is the Pendulum Effect.
When anything gets too far to one side,natural forces react to bring it back.
Eventually,the revolutionaries become embraced by the general public,and become the next institution.
Just a natural part of evolution.

Corporate driven music,Boyd Coddington,not much difference really.



Now if we can just get these Assholes off the Fucking television.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with Unkl Ian.........
It will swing the other way again, just sit back and watch. Goldchainers wanna build traditional cars now cause it's the "in thing" and trendy.Now they are driving up prices for all the good swap meet parts. The only good thing is that maybe out-of-commision parts are being produced once again.

I try and balance my love for traditionally styled cars without being sucked into the big machine.

 

I dig punk, and i dig rods
i dig metal i dig muscle cars
i like a little bit of every thing
but most of all i like bananna pudding while driving my car rocking out to slayer!

im tired and ate a bunch of vicoten now i sleep and dream of a pudding filled duece coupe from hell

Bryan

 

I've been messin with hot rods since 1960. Got every hot rod type mag I ever bought.

I love traditional, but if you lay all of the magizines out in a row from the "little pages" to the latest, you will see a TREND toward safety and upgrading.

I know it is the cheapest way to enjoy our hobby, but keep safety in mind when building your dream.

One day your tastes will change, and your buddies will wonder what happened.

46 stude, I love your post, it spoke to me.

Just my $.02 worth

Thanks, McCray

 

they're selling rat rods at hot topic?

like punk the rat rod is for shock effect.

it's a momentary jab, an ejaculation.

in it's very nature it is impossible to last.

but true hot rods will live forever.

style and beauty will outlast crude slapped together statements.

speed and roadabilty are what driving is all about

and that is what drives this hobby.

Paul

 

I hate rusty shitty cars that are done poorly. Patina is cool when it is not the endgame. I am 34, I miss Marty Robbins, he was more punk than any 10 bands.

 

Individualism, that is what punk rock is. Doing what YOU want, when YOU want to, and how YOU want to. "Rat rodding," can be comparable but with the same misconceptions as punk rock today. People listen to these top 40 bands not cause they understand what the song is about or what PUNK is about. They wear the spikes and die their hair because it is "cool," cause joey punk rawk is doing it and he is cool. It's the same with hot rods. I'm gonna paint it flat black cause it's cool not cause that is the only paint I have. Your car is stupid cause it's painted and shiney. Fuck that! I'm gonna paint my car how the fuck I want because I like it that way and I don't care what YOU think. There is a lot of wannabes and I'm not trying to say they are bad people, they may be misguided or misdirected, confused maybe. It's a trend or fad to some. The true punks and hot rodders will be in it for life.

I usually don't go off like this here, but I needed to give an opinion for once. I always read and hold it back. Nads is a good man and I like his ideas and I know that I have much to learn from him and a lot of you guys here.

 

ok after finaly reading every ones post thru. i wish i had the talent that you guys have to get your thoughts out like that. it was a real joy to read what every one wrote. my self being 23 i got into punk around 14 or so. no idea how or why any more. but im preety sure it came from the bmx scene and the older guys i rode with. but that was way after punk had past. those were the days of bands such as "ten foot pole" ,"the decendents" "guttermouth" and "nofx" to me at that moment that was punk that was what pissed all the kids at my school off to hear that screeming out of the blown 6x9's of my hand me down 86 chevy nova. to me it was new it was raw and i loved every bit of it. i was one of a hand full from the punk scene at the time here in my small town that birthed kidrock.when kids in my high school were lifting there trucks to go "mudding" i was chopping the springs in half on my 85 fleetwood i saved all summer for. i did not have the joy of being able to grow up during the start of any thing really. just kinda fowwled my own path got influinced here and there by many. now here i end up. up late on the hamb. late for work every day. and spending every dime i earn on my cars. untill yesterday i had not bought a new cd for over a year. yesterdays trip to the record store i did not leave with punk in hand. but what influnced punk like the sex pistols.. chuck berrys greatest hits. and what a damn fine record it is. and as sid vicius mumbeld "i did it my way"

Bryan
and i still like bananna pudding!

 

i agree with the fact that the best lasting thing punk ever taught us was the DIY theory of being. i've been involved in the music and car scene long before the two ever really crossed and more than half of my 32 years here on this rock. so many people fail to look back and see the influences of the past on all aspects of life. Nads you are so right when you say Gene was a founder of the punk frame of mind. the old guy i got my sunn amp from grew up playing shows with Gene and had some crazy stories to tell about him and so many of the lesser knowns of the era. i used to go and just hang out and listen to him tell stories of all those guys in their day. he toured with family following for 19 years. dedication. but you have to look back even further than that to the true jazz era. jazz to me is the early roots of the punk frame of thinking. i don't know that there has yet to be as much free form thinking in the realm of music as there was among coletrain, parker, monk, coleman and the list goes on. those people lived their lives outside of the norm because they lived as they felt and follow the hearts. alot of those people were also involved in other forms of free thinking such as art, literature, and so on. originality is a trait that most of society is missing. this is true in music, cars, art, fashion, hell every aspect of life as we know it. there have always been a few brave souls who led the way. most do not get acknowledged until their time has passed esp on a large scale. i learned to open myself up to as much as i could early in life i was going to punk shows at 12 when it was surely not cool by todays standards. but at the same time i have had my love of jazz, honky tonk, blues and most everything other than rap and hell theres even some of that that you can find good in. i usually hate that shit but something i would say stands out there would be Guru from the group Gangstar put out a few solo albums intitled jazzmatazz vol 1,2,3 poetic lyrics set to traditonal jazz beats good shit and most of the people into rap hip hop don't even get that thats the roots of their music. now i don't really buy into the whole rat rod thing. i think if a car is well built and cool then it's cool no matter what. now trying to paint a '63 fairlane flat black with red wheels doesn't work no matter who you are. people than are just in it for the fad will be gone before long and there will be a whole shitload of half built cars for us to buy up. the one that are true to their passion will be in it for the long haul. hell what about the people like James White still doing their thing even though it never really got them that much in the beginning. one word no matter if your talking about music, cars, art or cooking. PASSION...KEN....

 

I like the deep side of Nads. Although I wouldn't call the Boydian cars "perfect", but rather elitist and disturbingly sterile.

Also, notice how cars like the Doane Spencer roadster never really go out of style? Same thing for blue jeans and Fender Telecasters. IMHO that's the thing to strive for--something that rises above the signal-to-noise ratio of ephemeral fads.

 

Fad is a word, hiding from the letter 'E'.

 

imho rat rods are somewhat just a bad copy of old 30-50 styled lakesters/hotrods/etc

they took something good and made it suck

a term like hot rod beater could be usefull to describe some cars better

 

As usual, very well put, Nads.

 

yea, but what about KING CRIMSON, early GENESIS, yadda, yadda, yadda?...
nic

 

Through the course of it all has remained a scartlet thread of the true traditional hot rod. It ain't got shit to do with punk or any other music really. If you want proof, read any of Baskervilles writing on how to build a rod and look at the duece he drove for like 30 years or something. Stick with traditional and a bit conservative, stay away from fads, and your ride will always be in style no matter what is coming out of the radio speakers.

 

so what! you can buy a toy at some lame ass mall punk store? big deal it's just a toy. if they were selling cars there, i'd be worried. it's just a toy lets all calm down. do you really think some dumb kid that knows nothing about cars is going to go into hot topic, buy a toy car and then destroy the hot rod scene?

 

besides if you were punk or a hot rodder the last place you would go is hot topic. yeah let me get the west coast choppers t shirt, some pink hair color, oh and give me one of those cool rat rods... yeah that will inspire some lame greasers to paint there hyndi flat black.

 

Screw all that shit!
25 years ago, as a young wanna-be, I dug Kustoms, wide whites, and Doo-Wop. Still do.
Disco SUCKS!

 

bigfive,

I didn't mean toys. I meant ideas

curious; why would you name yourself after a sports clothing store?

Paul