About 40 or 50 years ago, cross-dressing, tattoos, protesting and occupying the radical left wing were enough to establish your punk credentials.
But something changed in the intervening decades. What once put these punk groups in direct opposition to the mainstream has now become deeply entrenched in the mainstream.
What, then, have these aging punks done to buoy their anti-establishment credentials?
Well, they had two options.
One, they could lean even harder into their left-wing politics, either becoming full-on anarchists, or, like Green Day or Rage Against the Machine, they could continue espousing their left-wing positions as if they still were countercultural.
Or, two, they could take the road less traveled of former Runaways front-woman Cheri Currie and denounce the values of the current establishment altogether.
Best known as the lead vocalist for the teenage punk band (which included a young Joan Jett) in the 70’s, Currie embodied that anti-establishment ethos of the time by prancing around on stage in lingerie and singing sexually charged lyrics before it was cool.
But now, the former punk rocker has taken to social media platform X, denouncing in a lengthy rant the Democrat Party for the left-wing rhetoric she once espoused.
It used to be PUNK, R&R to vote Democrat. I fell for it. But when your party demands you live in fear, squaller, beyond your means by just buying groceries, gasoline, disrespecting our veterans, our police, our elderly, supporting CRIMINALS, chaos, riots, Hamas, FAILING Israel,… pic.twitter.com/JyHRucdbI2
— Cherie Currie (@CherieCurrie3) April 25, 2024
Currie told her followers, “It used to be PUNK, R&R to vote Democrat. I fell for it.”
Indeed she did.
Blabbermouth.net reported that, in 2020, she had publicly advocated that people wear those useless face masks.
And before that, of course, as the U.K.’s Guardian explained in a 2016 profile, she and the Runaways embodied the blurred line between casual sex and statutory rape rampant in the ’70s music culture.
Currie continued, writing, “But when your party demands you live in fear, [squalor], beyond your means by just buying groceries, gasoline, disrespecting our veterans, our police, our elderly, supporting CRIMINALS, chaos, riots, Hamas, FAILING Israel, demeaning us at every turn!”
Quite the radical shift from her previous stances, but Currie had not finished.
Clearly riled up by everything that’s happened since Joe Biden took office (and even before), Currie doubled down, writing that the Democrats have been “HURTING our CHILDREN! Wasting OUR MONEY. Ineptitude with every policy! Lies and more lies.. NO MORE! The Democrat Party can KISS MY A**. They don’t give a damn. That’s true.”
Based on the evidence, it would be hard to argue with Currie’s conclusion.
Anyone who’s been paying attention — and has not been blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome — could recognize how much worse things have gotten for the average American ever since 2020.
From crippling inflation, to government initiatives that advocate mutilating confused children, to coddling people who literally have shouted “Death to America,” life has gotten demonstrably worse under the far-left policies pushed by Sleepy Joe.
Currie’s anger at the current government reflects what the rest of America has been feeling under the reign of the dementia-ridden octogenarian in the White House.
She wrapped up her rant by writing, “Voting Dem used to be cool. But now, it just makes you a FOOL.”
Surprisingly — or perhaps not so surprisingly — the comments on Currie’s post were overwhelmingly in agreement.
One user commented, “Punk to me was always anti-government and ‘the man’ democrats were always about more government. That hypocritical dichotomy always bothered me.” Another echoed a similar sentiment, saying “Voting D used to mean that you are a free spirit. Now Democrats are the party of control.”
WARNING: The following social media posts contain language that some may find offensive.
Punk to me was always anti-government and “the man” democrats were always about more government. That hypocritical dichotomy always bothered me.
— Chris Loesch 𝕏 (@ChrisLoesch) April 25, 2024
Voting D used to mean that you are a free spirit. Now Democrats are the party of control.
— Katya Sedgwick (@KatyaSedgwick) April 25, 2024
These comments, as well as Currie’s initial post, were absolutely spot-on.
Endorsing leftist politics and ideology used to be “cool” and “edgy” and marked you as anti-establishment and contrarian.
But now, with all the major corporations and mainstream institutions fully behind most of the issues the left cared about (LGBT, critical race theory, pro-Palestine, anti-Trump), endorsing those positions would only make you disgustingly mainstream.
Currie recognized the truth that most formerly anti-establishment bands and musicians have not been able to bring themselves to accept.
If you find yourself walking in lockstep with the government, establishment media outlets and major corporations, then you can no longer call yourself anti-establishment.
How the tables have turned.
