The death of Johnny Ramone the other month brought out the usual collection of over-the-top accolades for punk rock.  "Saved us from ten minute guitar solos."  "Put an end to all that elitist art-rock blather."  "Breathed new life into a genre that was bloated by pretentious excess."  "Raw, in-your-face, visceral, emotional, attitude...two minutes, three chords, no solos, no waiting."

The problem with punk is that despite all that angry energy, despite all that snarling attitude, well...

it's kinda boring. 

Really, after about three songs by any given punk band, it gets pretty old, doesn't it?  A lot of the songs are great on their own, but I can't stand to listen to a whole album's worth of them.  One or two songs in a row are fine, but any more than that and you need to swap in something else to break up the monotony...and isn't that what punk was supposed to be freeing us from?

And of course there are the arguments about purity.  Nirvana and Green Day?  We all know they're not real punk because obviously they sold out and made CDs with catchy melodies that all the kids can sing along with and decent production so that you can distinguish between the kick drum and the bass.  "Smells Like Teen Spirit" can't be real punk because it has four chords (and then some, if you count the little break at the end of the chorus) and (shudder) a guitar solo.  The level of snobbery that punk aficionados achieve is right up there with bloggers who argue over whether Darth Maul or Darth Vader was the bigger kickass - and equally as lame.

Don't get me wrong; I love the notion that you can make great music with just three chords and an attitude, and there are lots of bands that have...I just can't imagine standing through a whole concert's worth.  Next to a guy with a tongue stud, a nose ring, and a Scooby Doo tattoo.

One of the everlasting images from the original punk era is that of Sid Vicious in his home-made "I Hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt.  I guess he showed them a thing or two...say what you will about PF in the post-Roger-Waters era, but the last time I checked Dave Gilmour was still collecting antiques and driving his Porsches, and Sid V. was still dead.  But then, I guess it's better to burn out than to fade away...