Icons of Punk News/Updates

It's November and time for another IOP PROFILE! Robg. here and I'm taking this opportunity to profess my love for 90's Sub Pop band SIX FINGER SATELLITE! Below you'll find my introduction to the profile piece. Click the image to read the rest and check out numerous pictures, MP3's and video samples of SIX FINGER SATELLITE!


"It's really difficult for me to put into words exactly why I love SIX FINGER SATELLITE as much as I do. How can I explain to you readers how dramatically unique and inspiring their music was? Ok, let me put it this way… You know the Cantina scene in the first STAR WARS movie? SIX FINGER SATELLITE is the band you would see playing at the Cantina Bar from STAR WARS on "punk rock" night. The few times I was lucky enough to see them play live, I was convinced they were just not of this world. To truly understand this, let’s go back to the very beginning..." (Click HERE to read more!)

Posted by robg at 03:51 PM | Permalink

Title: "False Advertising"

Artist: Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, with Ben Kweller
Date: November 8, 2008
Venue: Terminal 5, NYC

Click the image below to read the full show review:

Posted by robg at 03:48 PM | Permalink

Robg.'s VIDEO OF THE MONTH for November 2008 is the video for the song "Honey Bucket" by THE MELVINS from their HOUDINI album. You can check out more VIDEO at THIS link! Watch the clip below!

Posted by robg at 03:45 PM | Permalink

We're proud to launch our new monthly showcase column, the IOP PROFILE. Here you'll find an analysis of a classic band that's contributed unique music with a "punk" aesthetic to it. All of these pieces will feature album analysis, photos and MP3 & video clip samples. It's the perfect introduction to each of the showcased bands.

Raz kicks off his IOP PROFILE with Iggy Pop & THE STOOGES. Click the image below to read it. Here's the introduction:


"Do you live in a small town? If the answer is yes, what are you doing reading this?? Go start a freakin’ band! The best thing to happen to music EVER is boredom; and not just any boredom – inescapable boredom. Boredom is the great instigator of creativity, and in small towns, where there’s nothing to do but drink underage behind the 7-11, get jumped by the football team, and not be able to find a job, Rock & Roll has long been the best out. The Stooges, Detroit street urchins who took their drop-out frustrations out on unsuspecting audiences for 5 years or so, were the perfect example of turning to Rock & Roll for escape, and against all odds, that shit fucking worked. They started as a noisy art-mess, playing vacuum cleaners and oil drums on stage, and what little musicianship there was in the beginning devolved into a wall of feedback. But again, it doesn’t matter if you can’t play guitar or drums, cuz you have to try first. By the end of their run though, The Stooges were perhaps the most vicious band on the planet, tight as a cat’s asshole, with lead stooge Iggy Pop among the most infamous frontmen in Rock history, an icon of great and unpredictable live presence. Oh, and they had basically claimed the right to be referred to forever as the first Punk band....." (Click HERE to read more!)

Posted by robg at 03:39 PM | Permalink

We're proud to launch our new monthly showcase column, the IOP PROFILE. Here you'll find an analysis of a classic band that's contributed unique music with a "punk" aesthetic to it. All of these pieces will feature album analysis, photos and MP3 & video clip samples. It's the perfect introduction to each of the showcased bands.

Dan Alleva kicks off his IOP PROFILE with FUGAZI. Click the image below to read it. Here's the introduction:


"What puts Fugazi in the same category as other iconic bands, like Metallica or U2, is the way that they left an everlasting impact across the entire panorama of music. Their influence can be heard in artists as distinct The Futureheads, where the ambiguity of lyricism, and the sharp edge of an electric guitar rule supreme. Or someone like John Frusciante, whose dedication to avant-garde melodies and rhythms has not only elevated his own playing, but the approach to songwriting in general within the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But at their root, what lurked below the Mason-Dixon Line in the late Eighties - born out of the ashes of the Golden Age of American Hardcore - was a pride of lions that transcended all that was, and all that will ever be, with the deft quickness of a ninja...." (Click HERE to read more!)

Posted by robg at 03:35 PM | Permalink

We're proud to launch our new monthly showcase column, the IOP PROFILE. Here you'll find an analysis of a classic band that's contributed unique music with a "punk" aesthetic to it. All of these pieces will feature album analysis, photos and MP3 & video clip samples. It's the perfect introduction to each of the showcased bands.

Robg. kicks off his IOP PROFILE with SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE. Click the image below to read it. Here's the introduction:


"Back in the early 90’s, in the pre-internet days, one of my frequent rituals was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the latest SUB POP catalog in the mail and intently scanning the issue for the latest 7 inch releases. At the time, all of my favorite bands had put out most of their early pre-major label records via SUB POP. (NIRVANA, SOUNDGARDEN, MUDHONEY, SCREAMING TREES) – And since often times I couldn’t always afford to invest in a full length record, I’d order a 7 inch of a random band I’d never heard of. I figured if I liked 2 songs from a band then I’d want to extend my intimate relationship with them..." (Click HERE to read more!)

Posted by robg at 03:30 PM | Permalink

With the new relaunch of the ICONS OF PUNK website, our new staffer Raz wrote up a wonderful introduction article on what you can expect to read on our site in the future. Click HERE to read "What Is Punk?" (Or click the image below!)

Posted by robg at 03:22 PM | Permalink

Robg.'s VIDEO OF THE MONTH for October 2008 is a live clip of the recently reunited FAR closing out their now-legendary show with "The System". You can check out more VIDEO at THIS link! Watch the clip below!

Posted by robg at 03:18 PM | Permalink

IOP staffer Dan Alleva spoke with Michael Pace from the Sub Pop band OXFORD COLLAPSE for his new article "Now That's A Throwback". Check out the full piece by clicking the image below! Here's the introduction:


About twenty minutes into my interview with Michael Pace of Oxford Collapse - the Brooklyn trio that just released Bits, their second record on the legendary Sup Pop label - I find out that Pace and I grew up not far from one another on Long Island, and that we had mutual friends that played in bands way back when; hardcore enthusiasts that enjoyed local notoriety. Talking to Pace, much like listening to Oxford Collapse’s records, reminds me that the era in which we were raised stands in stark contrast to this place in time. “Everyone in the band kind of came of age in the early to mid nineties,” says Pace. “We were listening to a lot of punk music and hardcore; you start with a touchstone band like Nirvana, and from there, you read about all these other bands that those guys loved, and you start getting into them, as well.” (Click HERE to read the rest...)

Posted by robg at 03:13 PM | Permalink

IOP staffer Dan Alleva submitted a new article on TV ON THE RADIO. He chatted with Singer Tunde Adebimpe for the piece titled "The Best Shot at Utopia". Click the image below to read it! Here's an intro...


"Brooklyn's TV on the Radio are back again with Dear Science, another exceptionally remarkable album that is the follow up to their previous record, Return to Cookie Mountain. Recorded between February and April at Staygold Studios in Brooklyn, Dear Science picks up where Return to Cookie Mountain left off – ducking and weaving to its right with a crisp and persistent exertion of body and mind." Click HERE to read the rest:

Posted by robg at 03:04 PM | Permalink