Great thread. I especially liked the Italian commenting on how the simplicity of hardcore/punk lyrics have backfired and led to Salvini/Five Star. For me, I went the other way - spent my youth seeking out brainy post-rock and minimalist composition-influenced art rock, then came to punk/hardcore slowly. So I've always been able to appreciate it perhaps with a bit of distance, or knowing that it's not the end-all-be-all. Now, though I hope I'm a thoughtful leftie pragmatist cultural Marxist or whatever, I look at the simplistic lyrics that trouble our Italian friend with joy and satisfaction, because I guess I see them just as a starting point, or an escape. Injecting too much nuance into this, perhaps....
This is kinda like the inverse of the 'guilty pleasures' idea, which is something else I've never quite been able to put my finger on. For me it's impossible to separate nostalgia from the time one first heard the music from a critical assessment. For example, J Church: when younger, I was into their early records, maybe the first two and especially the Nostalgic for Nothing compilation (confusing, I guess, since I'm talking about nostalgia itself). I still listen to that frequently and marvel at how powerful and complex some of the lyrics resonate for me now, approaching 40. The thing is, J Church released about ten more records that I never heard back then, and with the power of the Internet I've tried to investigate their later material, and I've been unable to enjoy any of it. Though I'm sure it's every bit as 'good' (if not better) than the stuff I grew up with. It's just, you know, harder now.
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