If you asked me how I feel about punk rock, you'd receive a positive response, although my taste for punk generally veers towards it's earlier generations. I love The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, the MC5 and The Sonics, all of which could easily be labeled pre-punk or stepping stones for punk as we know it. I also love the Ramones, The Clash, Public Image Ltd., Talking Heads, X, Misfits, New York Dolls and lots of other bands from the late seventies and early eighties which were labeled punk, which really shows the breadth of the label. There is a lot of punk from the eighties and beyond that I also adore like Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys, but as the definition of punk became far thinner I found it a lot less interesting.
I remember my brother turning me on to NOFX with their I Heard They Suck Live CD, and at first I thought they were wonderful until I found out how much of an uninformed loudmouth Fat Mike is, and that element of loud, fast and stupid has permeated the scene so greatly that it's destroyed a lot of what was wonderful about punk. Punk as a concept, to me at least, is a bit like anarchism, with standard rules falling to the side so people can wave their freak flags in search of fellow souls. With that said, you don't have to like or agree with what the people in question are saying or doing, but when everyone starts sounding the same or carrying the same beliefs, then it's no longer punk.
It's funny now, as punk is looked at like a growing process for a lot of people. It's easy to learn a lot of the music and so many people can relate to the messages contained therein, but there doesn't seem to be much growth, if any, in the punk community these days. It's considered very normal to have tattoos or piercings, removing a lot of the danger and stigma of being punk. Nowadays, in the US at least, I see kids turning goth more often than punk, which is becoming just as middle-of-the-road, but there is also a strange trend for both styles to crossover with each other, turning people into goth punks. For the kids, I understand needing something to connect with, but it's a shame that something all about individuality has become so bland and generalized, especially when it has been so strong in the past. It's even stranger to see the church going kids looking more punk than the actual punks.
All of this rambling about the current state of punk brings me back to the last new punk record I heard that lived up to the true ideals of the punk label, Refused's The Shape Of Punk To Come. I first became familiar with Refused when my brother brought their video for New Noise to my attention one night while watching Alternative Nation or 120 Minutes in 1998. It was a little difficult to figure out where the band was going, what with keyboards and drum machines in the intro, all left behind moments later when the band roared in with lead vocalist Dennis Lyxzen asking "Can I Scream?", although it sounds a lot more like a declaration than a question. All the while the song left me feeling like I'd been punched in the gut and kicked in the head with a roundhouse while buckling over in pain, what with Dennis' incredible ability to scream without pause while the band were furious with a rage more like metal or hardcore than straight punk. Oh yeah, the video rocked too, with the band dressed like assassins of some sort, carrying automatic weapons, sometimes dressed in animal masks and savaging their instruments, and Dennis dancing like a possessed James Brown, complete with jump kicks and the splits. It was easily the punkest thing I'd heard or seen in years, although it didn't sound much like traditional punk. It left quite the impression, leaving me a little scared even.
For Christmas that year, my brother asked for one thing, a copy of Refused's The Shape Of Punk To Come. I can't remember what I asked for, which should tell you a lot about that Christmas, but I have clear memories of that Refused CD. When my brother went to go see his girlfriend later that day, I ripped the CD to my hard drive and made a copy which became a permanent fixture in my car and home stereo. It was somehow the most intense and inspired music I'd heard in forever and still remains an essential part of my collection.
The first thing my brother and I said to each other after having listened to it all the way through was "We've gotta see these guys live!", but we were too late. Refused's breakthrough was also their swan song, and they'd broken up before the album's release. It actually made a lot of sense, because we weren't sure if anything this inspired could be taken further, but we could hope. I hunted down their earlier releases but was disappointed to find them to be mostly straight hardcore punk without the jazz, screaming vocals, intense rhythmic breaks or heavy layers. My brother looked into Dennis' new group, The (Inernational) Noise Conspiracy, which was quite catchy but more about bringing mod vibes to punk grooves and poppy melodies. Then there was TEXT, the group the other members of Refused formed, which was very hard to define nor did it sound like their intentions were rather defined. Maybe the closest thing to Refused was 93 Million Miles, a very short-lived side-project not to be confused with the shoegazer band of a similar name, but even that didn't satisfy the craving. All in all, the joy of finding Refused was diminished quickly by not finding much more of their sound other than two b-sides and a remix.
After years of people raving about The Shape Of Punk To Come, it's finally getting a deluxe reissue with an unreleased 1998 live performance and a documentary on the band's live performances and dissolution, Refused Are Fucking Dead. It's a nice set and truly worth a purchase, although I wish there were outtakes included or at least the non-album tracks from the era. Oddly enough though, this isn't the first time the album was reissued. In 2004 a DVD-Audio version of the album was produced. It included a high-resolution version of the original stereo album mix as well as a 5.1 surround remix, but that remix was much more than a simple restructuring of the album. Rather, it included lots of compositional alterations to many of the songs including instrumentation not heard in the original mix as well as rearrangements of select portions of the compositions, like the verses of the album's opener, Worms Of The Senses, being reversed although the music was left in it's original shape. One of the biggest changes was to the song Refused Are Fuckin Dead, which now included a significant extension from that song's remix which was included on the New Noise EP.
The DVD-Audio reissue of the album wasn't available for too terribly long, most likely due to the failure of the format. At the time of it's release there was talk of an eventual stereo issue of the remix on CD, but this never happened. Despite being a band approved and curated remix of the album, it was probably looked at disapprovingly by fans, mostly due to the significant number of changes. It's pretty shocking to change something so beloved so significantly, but how many bands or artists have the balls to change a beloved standard?
In the end, because of the DVD-A format's death, the album's 5.1 remix is largely forgotten, probably for the better, although the remix has it's fans and it definitely has it's positive features. Everything in the mix sounds crystal clear and hits like a jackhammer, which is saying something as the CD sounds pretty incredible to begin with. So, since a lot of people have never heard this version and may never otherwise, I present to you a stereo mixdown of the 5.1 remix for your listening pleasure. As to how I created this version, let's just say my technique is probably primitive compared to most, but it's still clean and sounds awesome. Hope you enjoy it and don't hesitate to purchase the deluxe reissue of The Shape Of Punk To Come at your favorite record store or via Amazon or Insound or wherever you prefer. It's really worth it. REALLY REALLY WORTH IT! You can also find additional details about the album at the official Refused website and the album's wikipedia reference.
Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come: DVD Remix
UPDATE: Sorry guys, it is now down for good, at least here.
01 Worms Of The Senses / Faculties Of The Skull
02 Liberation Frequency
03 The Deadly Rhythm
04 Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine
05 Bruitist Pome #5
06 New Noise
07 The Refused Party Program
08 Protest Song '68
09 Refused Are Fuckin Dead
10 The Shape Of Punk To Come
11 Tannhäuser / Derivè
12 The Apollo Programme Was a Hoax
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