PISTOL WHIPPED

Last Sunday’s letter from Tammy Smith about the possible tour of the Sex Pistols has me worried. She talks about how the younger Generation X punkers don’t understand punk rock--but by her definition I wonder how many of us older punks got it. Yes, we rebelled, but so what? Did that stop many of us from becoming corporate yuppie scum?

I can imagine younger people listening to her go on and on about rebellion and saying, “So what have you done lately?” Just like we used to do with the hippies droning on about all their accomplishments in the ‘60s.

The trouble with the anarchy we all loved so much in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s is that it turned too easily to nihilism and self-destruction because so few of us were willing to take responsibility for our actions, which made it just as shallow as the hedonistic attitudes of the disco bunnies we used to dismiss. And, in reality, the punk rebellion of the Sex Pistols was marketed like a product by Malcolm McLaren and others. The Sex Pistols were a product--just like the Village People or the Jefferson Starship.

DANIEL McVEY

Los Angeles