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Posted on 12/29/2004 7:58:29 PM PST by CHARLITE
In 1997, Michale Graves, then lead singer for the horror punk rock group the Misfits, found himself on tour in Germany at the site where the Berlin Wall once stood. He took home with him a piece of that wall and with a few years' time, a bold commitment to fighting the mindset that built it.
Punk rock is all about resisting the establishment. But punk rock itself has an establishment that is driven by Left wing, anti-war, anti-life, anti-faith politics. To scream, as Green Day does in its new CD "American Idiot," "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda" - is hardly a backlash against the cultural establishment; it is a blaring affirmation of pop cultural values. As a punk rocker himself, now as lead singer for Gotham Road, 29-year old Michale Graves may seem an unusual critic of his peers like Green Day in the genre, but he is determined to be a voice for change. Graves is a true warrior against the establishment.
"It's important that there be a new tone set throughout the music industry as well as the Hollywood community," Graves told me. "Pop culture today teaches young people that money is the end all be all, power, greed and the degradation of women is what is cool. The true spirit and soul of America was felt and seen in the days after September 11, 2001."
In those days following the attacks on America, the punk rock community pronounced great vitriol on the nation and on President Bush. And then, as Punkvoter.com announced the day after the 2004 election, "There's no f***ing way I am going to come together with these homophobic, flag-waving, god-fearing, gun-toting, uneducated, isolationist, ethnocentric REDNECKS. We live in a country that's in a shroud of ignorance. We do not compromise or come together with them. We fight them and everything they stand for."
Repulsed by the prevailing hate-America attitude within the punk rock community that was especially stirred by Punkvoter.com, Graves was involved in the founding of conservativepunk.com last January. "Conservative punk is definitely growing in popularity," said Graves. "The motivation behind con-punk came from the mobilization of bands and record companies across the board with the radical left and the Democratic party. What about all of us who thought differently than they did? Why couldn't we have our own opinions on things? Why should we be outcasts just because we don't agree? Who was going to challenge them? Who were they to define something that they had no right to claim?"
Conservative Punk answered to a market demand that Graves believes is growing amongst young, patriotic Americans who find themselves alienated from Left-wing establishment punk. "More young people are identifying themselves as conservative" because "the left in this country now ride on the America is all bad message. By blaming this country for all the ills and horrors of not only domestic problems but of the entire planet they have backed themselves into an intellectual corner that just doesn't resonate in the hearts of many people." While Graves believes that young people naturally tend to be more liberal, he recognizes a rapidly growing conservatism in young America. So even punk rock (who would have thought?) is joining the conservative movement.
While Anti-Flag belched, "die for your country? that's sh**!" and "F*** the flag and f*** you," Michale Graves wanted to send a different message. "I especially wanted to combat the negative views that were being put forth concerning our country and the men and women who were protecting it," he said.
And in August, Graves made his most patriotic act of all, by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. "There are some who believe that my choice to serve arose overnight from some sort of publicity stunt or a desire to prove something in light of my outspokenness concerning conservative ideals and the election." But Graves says that there are higher ideals that inspired him to serve. "It is the pursuit of excellence, tradition, and strength that drives me to want to be a Marine."
Graves heads to U.S. Marine Corps basic training in January. He is proof that America is alive and well, that even behind the fake blood and the skulls of his old act, Michale Graves was not beyond the grace of God and the call of his country.
Graves is using his musical talents and fan base to reach young Americans with the message that America is worth fighting for. "The key to this country's future is education and inspiration," he says. "I believe it to be so important that young people learn our country's history. We must hold on to the moral and spiritual foundation that this country was founded and built upon."
"We also have to inspire young people by having role models of substance and strong ethical character," he says. And in a conservative punk Marine named Michale Graves is a truly substantial role model for young Americans.
Hans Zeiger, a political commentator and youth activist, is known as one of the most opinionated teenagers in America. The 18 year-old from Puyallup, Washington is the founder and national spokesman for the Scout Honor Coalition, a network of supporters of values held by the Boy Scouts of America. As an Eagle Scout, Hans has taken the lead of the effort to defend the Boy Scouts from attacks by Left-wing pressure groups. Hans’ regular column appears in the Seattle Times, Sierra Times, Renew America online, DebateUSA.com, American Daily, America’s Voices, Republican Daily News, TheRealityCheck.org, The Right Report, and yconservatives.com. He has written for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and e-zines including the San Francisco Chronicle, Hawaii Reporter, The New American, Orthodoxy Today, Philadelphia Daily News, Education Reporter, Tacoma News Tribune, WorldNetDaily, Townhall.com, and GOPUSA.com. Hans served as chairman of Washington Young Americans for Freedom from 2001 through 2003. He worked as the nation’s youngest Policy Research Assistant at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF), a public policy think-tank organization in Olympia, Washington dedicated to accountability in government. He has been a guest on numerous radio and television programs, including National Public Radio, the Lars Larson Show, Republican Radio, Crosstalk, and the Laura Ingraham show. Hans has been noted in newspapers and magazines, including Today’s Global News, Education Week, Boys’ Life, and Christianity Today. He has spoken to business conferences, colleges, rallies, civic groups, and churches. Dubbed in a 2000 Eastside Journal article as a political “veteran,” Hans was a Pierce County coordinator for the Senate campaign of Linda Smith in 1998, leading phone banks for three legislative districts at the age of 13. In 1999, Hans served as the northwestern director of the Youth for Dan Quayle coalition, then as state chair of Students for Alan Keyes. He was chair of Take Back Washington 2000 in the gubernatorial campaign for Harold Hochstatter, then director of Students for John Carlson for Governor. In 2002, Hans was political director for Sarah Casada for Congress. Currently, Hans is the managing consultant for the Defense of Family Initiative in Tacoma, Washington. Hans teaches Sunday School to 9-12 year olds, led a school Bible study, served as Class President at Puyallup High School, ran track and cross country, and founded the school’s Sportsmanship Campaign. He plays the violin and piano, practices Lincoln-Douglas and Controversy debate, and is the 2003 American Legion Orator for Washington State.
Comments:zeiger@therant.us
Green Day's singer sounds like a fag.
Very encouraging!
Green Day is a bunch of untalented men in their mid 30's playing dressup and pretending to be punk rocking teenagers that are half their aged. That's not "punk" by any definition. That's "loser."
Have you ever seen a nasally-voiced 30-something year old eyeshadow-wearing adult male who wasn't one?
punk rock ping!
Rock and Roll PING! email Weegee to get on/off this list (or grab it yourself to PING the rest)
What often appears on the surface, is not what is actually there on closer examination. We all should be less inclined to accuse, and more inclined to look and listen. Their are many objectors who are not only silenced by their peers, but are also silenced by those who they are actually helping.
Very good article.
Illbedamn.
I imagine he'll have the billets rockin', pretty directly.
Great article. I found myself in Mr. Graves shoes a number of years ago when I was publishing a music magazine in Florida.
Punk Rock is quite an enigma. In terms of content it leans very left. In terms of a business model there is a very American, Entrepenurial Spirit behind putting out your own records and touring the country in a beat up van.
I never understood why so many of my peers where sympathetic to countries and political systems that would have squashed their creative tendencies with an iron fist. It's good to know that a few musicians get it.
Will he Jump the fence??
No, just a spoiled teenaged brat who refuses to get out of the parents' basement.
Not all punk is Leftist. One of the Ramones (Joey?) was very much a right winger. And The Dead Kennedys were far from Leftist. "Holiday in Cambodia" is a great anti-Communist song.
Don't you have a good ping list for this?
I'm sure you'll have some comments.
I'm actually a little surprised that Green Day turns out to be a bunch of leftist wankers. Oh, well... I've been wrong before...
Real men listen to Death metal and country anyway. I can't stand punk.
"Have you ever seen a nasally-voiced 30-something year old eyeshadow-wearing adult male who wasn't one (a fag)?"
Yes, actually: Alice Cooper.
This is a great article.
I USED to like Green Day, until they decided to be a bunch of unoriginal, anti-American, left-wing nutjobs.
Folks, Conservatives have best selling books. We have talk radio. We are starting to take back cable news.
Let's fight to take back Hollywood and the rest of these left-wing whimps.
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