The Exploited

Punk’s Not Dead (Dojo)
by Joshua Brown

Although many would argue that it’s in its final death throes, the sentiment belched out by this reissue CD’s title, which scoffed at naysayers who said “punk is dead” a decade and a half ago, has proven true with time. The live show documented here gives clues as to why punk rock has yet to expire. One evening, when we were waxing nostalgic in Lollipop h.q., we were struck by the chorus of “Cop Cars” (“I hate cop cars/Me ma, me ma (lead singer Wattie’s onompatopaeic interpretation of the noise a British police siren makes)). Our observation was that if a group of miscreants can play sloppy, chant the obvious in such a simplistic manner, and achieve a measure of brilliance in doing so, why are there so many musicians banging their heads against a wall? The best track on Punk’s Not Dead is “Sex and Violence,” in small part because all the gloriously catchy lyrics are contained in the song’s title. This release has six bonus tracks added to the original live album, five of which were recorded in the studio.