Three Chords and the Truth: The Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Clash
Ask most punk fans today to name their top ten punk songs and bands and it's likely that the Ramones, Sex Pistols and the Clash will still be there.
Iain Ellis
Born in Manchester and raised east of London, Iain Ellis spent his formative years playing, performing, and consuming a heavy (if not healthy) diet of punk rock music and football. Little has changed since. In 1986, the young man went west to find his dreams in Bowling Green, Ohio. Instead, he picked up a PhD in American Culture Studies, writing his dissertation on 1980s American Punk Culture. In 2000, he traveled further west, settling in Lawrence, Kansas, where he currently teaches English and Youth Culture Studies at the University of Kansas. An avowed arrested adolescent, Iain continues to follow music and sports with a passion, performing and recording periodically with his Ohio-based Britpop band, piss artists, and playing weekly with his Lawrence football team, The Sweepers. When he grows up, Dr. Ellis hopes to head further west. You may also enjoy his book, Rebels Wit Attitude: Subversive Rock Humorists.
New Atheism’s Gender Problems
Can critical humorists help combat the sexism inherent to both religious and secular organizations?
The Rebel Rockin’ Roots of Punk Rock Humor
Humorists have served as the conscience of cultures ever since (and before) court jesters ridiculed omnipotent royalty for its hypocrisy, pomposity, and corruption. Punk continues to fulfill that essential social role in relation to the powers-that-be of the modern world.
A Cappella Punk: What’s Happening to Alternative Comedy in the US?
The DIY strategies and indie allegiances of recent alternative comedians reveal the spirit of punk to be alive and kicking beyond the music world.
What Happened to British Culture When Alternative Comedy Went from Posh to Punk?
If Alexei Sayle and Rik Mayall represented the Pistols/Clash in-your-face assault and battery side of British punk comedy, Ben Elton was its Elvis Costello, complete with geeky wide-rimmed glasses.
Haven’t You Learned How to Take a Joke? The Comedy-on-Campus Debates
The college comedy deficit means that we are neither taught how to take a joke nor how to interpret one.
Hardcore Punks and Their Shenanigans in the Outhouse
No security, no sanitation, no backstage services (no backstage), this small, cramped, decrepit shack at the end of a dirt road in Lawrence, Kansas was an essential stopover for the offbeat underground music scene.
Why, After All These Years, Are We Still Speaking in Sein Language?
Just like with hip-hop, Seinfeld has broadened our collective slang and everyday rhetorical wit.
Whatever Happened to Indie Rock?
As the recent Lawrence Field Day Festival illustrates, indie rock may be artistically benefiting from an increasingly marginalized status in the music world.
Can Satire Provoke Real Change in a Nation Divided by Humor?
We may be one nation in America, but today we appear to be living on different planets, as we are divided by humor, among other things.
Can We Say the F Word Yet? On Fascism and Humor
In light of the decrees and executive orders signed thus far by Donald Trump, we might reasonably ask: is fascism relevant to America's current political state?
Believe Me! Trumpism and the Messianic Impulse
Mario Cuomo once said that candidates campaign in poetry then govern in prose; Trump’s utterances, however, might better be characterized as speaking in tongues.