Punks all become something else one day. They transition into rockabillies, off-the grid wild people, skin heads, math rock science professors, or even, god, the worst, roller derby girls.
I was never a very serious or hard core punk. I wasn't born into a prime time period of the movement nor belonged to a cool part of the scene. Unfortunately, I came of age in the '90s , chasing Eddie Vedder through my formative years, but in awe of the street urchins who occasionally came to school with Rancid patches safety pinned to their leather vests. “Ruby Soho” was on MTV and I was eating it up, unaware that I had missed the boat. Obviously, any waves of a real punk scene had already swelled, crested, and fallen into a placid lake of suburbanization, but I can only see that in retrospect. I was a few years ahead of Hot Topic’s mall domination at least, and I set about copying things I saw in Sid and Nancy like sewing my own bondage pants. My mom even wrote me a letter telling me she was embarrassed to be seen with me, which seemed like success.
Luckily, I outgrew this stage before Blink 182 claimed to be punk, too. I say luckily because, have you ever seen an aging punk who is still clinging to a bygone era? Like the white-haired hippies we always detested driving art cars around with largely ignored conspiracy theory signs in the windows, it’s just sad. We become other things because it's not hot to be a sad weathered crusty. I saw an old punk guy in a plaid sports jacket with spiked bi hawks walking six dogs in the cemetery the other day. Part of me wanted to high five him for sticking to his guns, but the other part was depressed by the male pattern baldness in between his mohawks.
The cemetery part brings me to this: yes, I do walk in the cemetery. In fact, it’s the only way I get exercise. But I’m too old to become a goth now, and there’s the reality that it’s embarrassing to be an old goth. Just ask Marilyn Manson. Has anyone seen him around lately? He’s getting fat. Fat does not look right on a 40 year old monster goth.