Do you feel a little bit cheated?
It's been decades since the Sex Pistols played their penultimate gig at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas. Since that time, it's been more than a little gratifying that punk rock has continued to be conspicuously absent from the oldies stations, almost as if it never happened. I would like to think that it's because there was something too wild and abrasive about the punk sound, something that prevented it from being co-opted or faked. To fake punk or wax nostalgiac about it is to miss its point, right? Was punk ever about nostalgia? Only in the sense that it resurrected tight, stripped down rock & roll at a time when symphonic rock was at it's most bombastic.
But now we have The Sex Pistols Experience, a Pistols tribute band, coming to the Longhorn Ballroom for all the faux punks. Of all the posiest poseur ideas, this one takes the fake.

Pegasus News showcases event organizer Mark Roberts, spinning this thing like there was...no future, "“A new generation of Sex Pistols fans have heard the stories, but were never able to witness the mayhem firsthand. This event will be pure nostalgia for those who attended the first show and a great experience for those who missed it. Echoing the words of Johnny Rotten, this counterfeit gig will leave all in attendance feeling ‘a little bit cheated’ for all of the right reasons.”
Pure nostalgia for punks? Are we doomed to see every interesting cultural phenomenon co-opted, drained of vital juices, imitated and exploited? Yes, we are. The punk rock simulacrum is ready to give us a fake punk buffet, a copy of a copy for fake punks. If that's not cheesy enough, there will be a burlesque intermission by the Lollie-Bombs. At a Mods vs. Rockers event. Welcome to the Museum of Things That Used to Be Cool. Just like the old farts who sit around historical sites dressed as Civil War veterans, the peddlars of the new fake reality are ready to pretend, to shore up the simulacrum, to recycle that vital energy so that it's mall-friendly and stripped of anything but faux anarchy. "Hi, I'm Johnny Rotten-like."
Sadly, there is a future. And it seems like it will be one that recycles everything. I'm happy to listen to the amazing sounds of the punk rock era or any other noteworthy episode of musical history. Spin those records! Dress up!
But spare me the fucking punk tribute bands. Tear down the walls of the simulacrum. If punk taught us anything, it seems to be that we should live in the moment, defy nostalgia, rage against fakery and pretension.
Good Lord.