šCultural Commentary: Pop Punk? Really? - Part III
The final episode on what's happening in mainstream music's transition.
In Parts I and II, we traced a line from Kid Cudi to Machine Gun Kelly (MGK)āvia SNLāto the revival of pop punk in the US musical mainstream. We ended with the co-conspiracy between MGK and Yungblud to ābring back rockānāroll.ā
Today we tie up their collaboration and make a link with Miley Cyrus, via the mysterious indications provided by SNLās selection of musical guests, to round off this cultural commentary on whatās brewing in pop music today.
Co-Conspirators: The āRock Revivalā Pow-Wow
As noted in the last dispatch, MGKās effort to ābring rock backā via the release of his pop punk album Tickets to My Downfallāand its incredible receptionāhas not been concocted alone. Tickets wouldnāt be what it is without having drummer and producer Travis Barker (of Blink-182) on board. In a way, Barker legitimises MGKās inroading into the pop punk genre. He helps the music be taken seriously as a contribution to the opus, legacy, and future of pop punk in the 21st century.
MGKās work in rap also has an important role here, since gone are the days where fans swear allegiance to a sole genre and its musical sub-culture. Mods vs. Rockers isnāt a thing anymore. One can listen to mixed playlist of hiphop, punk, and electronicaāmixing Top 40 tracks with obscure releases from tiny labels, and itās no big deal. In fact, it has become the norm. So fans of his rap Åuvre can be coaxed into the ārock revivalā mission without much friction. Theyāre probably already wearing cheap Black Sabbath tees whilst loving anything Danny Glover does anyway.
Hip hop has been sampling from rock for decades. Since its beginning. Soul, blues, guitar licks and the integration of analogue instruments was always there. In many ways, guitar sounds never really went away. They were simply utilised in different ways. And visa versa. Tame Impalaās psychedelic beginnings with 2011ās Innerspeaker eventuated in 2020ās The Slow Rushāan album Kevin Parker said was the electronic sound he wanted to make all along, he just didnāt have the skills for until now.
But back to pop punkās comeback. Like everything (fashion, visual artā¦) music is cyclical. Things fade out of popularity and come back around, albeit in renewed and reconfigured shapes and forms. And sounds.
Although Tickets is nothing revolutionary in terms of the sonic, the emergence of a significant and well-received pop punk album does feel like itās coming from left field in 2021. Nobody was awaiting the return of pop punk, nor was anybody asking for it. Except MGK, Barker, and their buddy from across the pond, Yungblud.
Yungblud and MGK have been working together after connecting via a love for the āculture and aesthetic of rockānārollā, now rallying together on a mission to ābring rock back for a new generation.ā
Last year they released their first big song together Acting Like That, including Barker on drums, a perfect pop punk anthem centring around three glam punks on an anarchy-symbol-sprayed party bus set in a weird night of LA zombie apocalypse.
MGK likens himself and Yungblud to a modern day Elton John and Jimi Hendrix:
āIt feels like a dope, across-the-pond thing, like: āYou hold it down over there and Iāll hold it down over here.ā Together we can make some sort of union of rock stars. Weāre like Elton John and Jimi Hendrix back in the day.ā
Yungblud is a British musician (who spends a lot of time in LA, presumably living there for most of the year) who parallels MGK in their rapper-come-punk-inspired mishmash of music and lifestyle projectionācircling the same themes as MGK in both the sound, lyrics, dress, and communication with fans.
Crossover themes and topics in their work include: mental health, ADHD diagnoses, experiences of insomnia and suicidal tendencies, questioning gender norms and (pan)sexuality/the fluidity of both, drugs and addiction difficulties due to not feeling great in oneself/with oneās place in the world, rebellion against ideas of āconformityāā¦the list goes on.
As seen in his artist name, āYungbludā pays reference to hip hop culture whilst drawing on his British roots in style nods to punk history, including wearing Sex Pistols and The Clash tees, creepers, tartan, padlocks and chains, leather jackets with pin badges, make up and painted nails, etc.
It was the duoās first collaborative song āI Think Iām OKAYā on MGKās 2019 Hotel Diablo album that MGK attributes as starting the ālandslide into Tickets to My Downfallā (the song also features Barker, with lyrics including: No sleep, up all week wasting time with people I don't like/I think something's fucking wrong with me.) The two have spoken publicly about their āpow wowā for ābringing rock back.ā
Commenting on his happiness for the success of MGKās Tickets, Yungblud told Billboard:
āItās fucking brilliant! To see my mate, we feel like weāre part of a scene again. Rock 'n' roll is coming back very quickly, because itās a scene.
Itās not just one twat with a God complex and a leather jacket eating too much guacamole going āI saved rock music.ā Rock 'n' roll is about freedom and expression and defiance to conform. And you can only do that in a group. Seeing my best bud and my best mate score a No. 1 album in his country was just magic. I couldnāt be more proud to know him and I couldnāt be more proud to kind of be with him on that journey.
[ā¦] Ever since we wrote 'I Think Iām OKAY,' we saw this place to go, and we saw this community. No oneās looking over their shoulder going 'Oh, they beat me!' Thatās what was wrong with rock 'n' rollāeverybody was fucking thinking that they had to be the messiah, whereas now itās just like, celebrate your mates, uplift them and be a part of something thatās gonna help a load of fucking people, and help you at the same time."
Emotions, (More) Kurt Cobain, and Monetisation
Like Kid Cudi, MGK and Yungblud want their lyrics to be emotional and in conversation with their audienceās own mental/emotional experiences, as well as citing Kurt Cobain as a muse. MGK professed his Cobain love, saying:
āSome of us are just fuck-ups who look normal and wear shitty clothes because we canāt afford good ones, and weāre angry and we just wanna take out our angst and shit with a guitar. Iām not inspired by how good you are, itās almost like the opposite. I wanna feel youā¦
Kurt didnāt give a fuck how he sounded, he gave a fuck how he felt. He was like, āDude, my stomach hurts today. I feel like shit. I hate this song that you all love so much. Iām gonna play it terribly. Iām not even gonna sing the right lyrics to this shit. Fuck you!āā
The monetisation of their fame and image is also of concern to these musicians, another sign of the timesāor is it? Musicians have long capitalised on their careers with periphery products and ventures. Think of the fragrances of celebrities from Sophia Loren and Cher in the 80ās, to the explosion of celeb-scents in the early 2000ās (including Christina Aguilera, Britney, David Beckham, BeyoncĆ©, and Justin Bieber, to name a handful), as well as reality TV shows starting with MTVās The Osbournes, right up to the multitude of fashion lines and cosmetic brands, like Rihannaās runaway Fenty Beauty.
Just like the commercial motivations behind Cudiās ādressā exhibit on SNL (which disguised the promotion of a collaborative collection with Off White) MGK also has ulterior promotions going on.
As he shows off painted nails and a favour for dressing in pink, it turns out he is launching his own unisex nail polish brand āUN/DNā, parcelled with Tickets merch that includes three nail polishes in Punk Pink, Paparazzi (a glitter version), and Black Like My Heart.
A press release for MGKās UN/DN line shared that:
āMachine Gun Kelly has always defied norms and standards for self-expression, gaining incredible recognition with his fashion and beauty presentation. He has been recognized as a pioneer in leading the nail art trend within menswear, oftentimes embracing fresh manicures while walking on the red carpet, performing on the stage, for photo shoots and in his daily personal life, showcasing that nail art doesnāt need to be feminine or exclusively for women.ā
MGK also has a coffee brand/shop called 27 Club Coffee (based in Cleveland) that merges millennial pink with punk, including caffeinated slogans like āSleep when youāre deadā and an Instagrammable wall suggesting to āEnjoy where you are right nowā. The coffee shop and brandās name pays obvious homage to the notorious ā27 clubā in rock and roll history (a phenomenon of musicians and artists passing away at the age of 27).
Collaborator Travis Barkerās side hustle is a CBD products brand Barker Wellness Co, which develops and sells āPremium quality and ethically made vegan, THC-FREE, cannabinoid-infused wellness products for your body and mind.ā
Although these ventures and products are not as obviously promoted in the music, as was the case with the Cudi/Off White capsule collection, the fact remains that artists and musicians are no longer focusing themselves on solely providing music to their fans, but offering a lucrative entry into a lifestyle and look.
Where There are Boys, There are Girls
By now, both Barker and MGK are deeply situated within the Hollywood. Barker goes out with a Kardashian and MGK with Megan Fox. āRockstarsā have always had ābabeā girlfriends, though traditionally the babes were part of the same musical sociality or a pretty supermodel on their armārather than the 2021 version of Instagram influencers or A list celebrities. Perhaps these connections and influences might feed into the musiciansā business projects that run alongside their rising celebrity, fame, and ultimately, monetisable influence. Their ladies might be teaching them a thing or two about how to be a fully-fledged ācreatorā in 2021.
Yungblud too has recently been said to be dating Jesse Jo Stark, a former āit girlāāwhen Nylon mag used to do covers on such things, with the likes of the Geldof girls, Alice Dellal, etc. What these āitā women share in common is having famous parents. Jesse Joās parents are the founders of rock fashion label Chrome Hearts. Founded in LA in 1988, Chrome Hearts counts Steven Tyler, Elton John, Kanye West, Cher, Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, and Drake (musician) amongst its clientele, and has gone on to collaborate with high fashion design houses such as Yves Saint Laurent and Comme des GarƧons. Itās the kind of brand that would say rock and roll never went away.
The Return of Rock and Roll
What we have traced until now is the decline of guitar music during the 2010ās, with Ticket to My Downfallās chart-topping arrival in 2020 marking a potential āreturn of rock and rollāāif anybody dares to put pop punk in that category.
These boys are wildly aware of the stigma of corny associated with their chosen genre, just as they know the industry workings and how to bring a record into mainstream recognition. Their pursuit to put guitar music on the radar again, and to inspire kids into picking up instruments again themselves, parcelled up as a vehicle for personal expression of emotions and dissatisfactions, makes for a heady concoction (of success) within the context of popular culture in 2021.
When MGK arrived on LAās Sunset Strip many years ago, disappointed that it was nothing like what he had read in Anthony Keidisā Scar Tissue biography, he had a vision to revive the Strip into the raucous and lively rock and roll Mecca that it was in the past (the same era he enacted as Tommy Lee in 2019 biopic The Dirt, which placed prominence on the Stripās scene for Mƶtley CrĆ¼e).
So far, several public and private events MGK has initiated on Sunset have been effective in calling back the ghosts of subcultures and paradigms passed, and consistent references to the area in his songs (āDrop me off at The Rox on Sunsetā) act as clear calls to the youth to repopulate the Strip and bring it back to life.
Tracing back to where we began, MGKās performance on SNL of tracks off of Tickets also went down a smashāanother musical guest proposed by and connected to Pete Davidson (like Kid Cudi). In his pop pink outfits, MGK showed the world this new side to his artist persona, painted nails and all, and solidified SNL as being a thermometer of whatās going on, or brewing, in mainstream music at the moment.
Whoās Next?
Through photos of backstage post-it notes, the show reveals who is scheduled to be up next. In the showās next episode on May 8th, the musical guest will be Miley Cyrus. And the host, Elon Musk (??).
Cyrus too appears to be on the ārock revivalā train, releasing the song Bad Karma featuring the legendary Joan Jett of the Runaways (off of Cyrusā ārock and roll manifestoā album Plastic Hearts) and continually channelling looks (hair/dress/attitude) of female rock legends past in recent appearances.
Cyrus and Jettās performance together earlier this year at the Superbowl saw Miley bring out the best of her husky (undeniably) rockānāroll ready voice. A Tiny Desk (Home) Concert from the beginning of this year captures Cyrus dressed in full old-school rockstar glam (fur, flares, hat, sunglasses indoors and all) opening with a cover of Mazzy Star's hazy psychedelic anthem Fade Into You. For the Final Four Concert NCAA in April, Cyrus performed another ā70s rockstar throw back, beginning with Queenās We Will Rock You, followed by Donāt Stop Me Now, later heading into Blondieās Heart of Glass, and closing with the Guess Whoās American Woman.
It can be confirmed that Miley Cyrus is part of this ābring back rock and rollā vanguard, alongside MKG and Yungblud (whom, prior to Jesse Jo Stark, he was rumoured to be romantically connected to. They are certainly friends.) Cyrusā recent foray into covering rock classics and aligning herself with icons of the genre feels like a soft launch and self-education of an immanent, full-on rocker-Miley explosion.
If MGK and Yungblud might struggle to put rock and roll back on popular musicās radar, for more than a minute, having a pop heavyweight like Cyrus pushing rockās revival could be what it takes to change the game and attain a popular love for all things rockānārollāsounds, looks, attitude, and allāonce more.
As the next musical guest on SNL, and if SNLās recent record of signifying what is happening in popular music via their musical guest selection is something to go by, we might just see Cyrus claim another stake towards mainstream musicās eventual, long-awaited, return back to guitar sounds.
š„Thank you for following along on this adventure through pop musicās latests ebbs and flows. If you like the work happening over here at No Fun consider joining us as a paying subscriber (itās inexpensive and helps massively to keep us going) for full access to all the goods.
šIf there is somebody you think might find this post interesting, you can share the links to Parts I, II and III.
https://nofunmag.substack.com/p/cultural-commentary-april-part-1
https://nofunmag.substack.com/p/cultural-commentary-april-part-2
https://nofunmag.substack.com/p/cultural-commentary-april-part-3