They might also think of the militaristic drug-, sex-, and meat-and-dairy-free straight edge movement. Many are apt to think of Rock ‘N’ Roll High School, the Roger Corman-produced teen film (originally pitched as Disco High ), where students rebel against an authoritarian principle and burn down their school with the help of The Ramones. Punk’s relationship with power is long and complicated. If one were to ask whether the country was ready for this, the answer might be unequivocally no. Beto is poised to become America’s first punk president. He “is quintessentially Generation X, weaned on Star Wars and punk rock and priding himself on authenticity over showmanship and a healthy skepticism of the mainstream.” He is a culminating figure he is the hope and promise of a generation that is supposed to have disclaimed both hope and promise. His recent Vanity Fair cover feature lays out his admiration for Ian MacKaye, his zine-making, his skateboarding, his rebelling against his dad, his high ideals, and his pursuit of “authenticity.” Beto is thus more than a decent haircut. Yet the specter of his punk cred is one his fans have been trying to conjure up in the hope of giving him greater dimension. Its working title was “Rock n’ Roll for President.”īeto was the bassist of a not very good band, and he seems to do nothing but talk. Its opening song, the jangly but relentless seven-minute “Teen Age Riot,” depicts an alternate America governed by Dinosaur Jr.’s famously taciturn guitarist J Mascis, whom Gordon’s bandmate and ex-husband Thurston Moore described as “our de facto alternative dream president.” The song is justly revered as one of the great rock anthems of its own or any generation. Thirty years earlier, Sonic Youth released its landmark album Daydream Nation. But in hindsight, and especially in light of the latest media push in Beto’s favor, the gesture not only makes sense but was prophetic. In the weeks leading up to Election Day 2018, former Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon posted a photo of herself on Instagram wearing a T-shirt that read “BETO FOR TEXAS” and letting her 200,000 followers know that “early voting is open!” She did so again on Halloween.Īt the time, I found it peculiar that the bicoastal Gordon was lending her cultural weight to a Texas Senate hopeful whom most of the nation had never heard of. But one corner of Beto’s support gave me pause because I had to take it seriously. Humanity is not wanting in glamorous ciphers. In an ideal world, it would be left at that. The source of their admiration is abstract at best and very, very concrete at worst. Yet responding to the people who actually like Beto seems like part of the deal, his most ardent constituency being the “blue checks” of Twitter, that ridiculous chimera of Tracy Flick, Biff Tannen, and every suspicious boyfriend from the Scream franchise. The negative ones have been especially potent: consensus-starved liberals were bewildered and frustrated, ideological purists got sardonic, the opposition checked his privilege. But then Beto might be one of those moments when the responses are more interesting than what is being responded to. Beto O’Rourke’s announcement that he’ll seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president elicited a greater variety of reactions than someone like Beto O’Rourke probably deserved.
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