Avril Lavigne

[TheAbominatrix]

Punk has been a very specific style (of both clothing and music) since the late 70's, and it hasnt changed. She's clearly going for a watered down version of that, especially with her comparisons to Sid Vicious. Sid, as the rest of the Sex Pistols, was known for his over-the-top attitude and general disregard for all basic morals, along with being one of the forefathers of punk rock.

Despite not actually playing on any of the records, from what I've heard. Which shows it's all style no substance there, and image based on an attitude rather than any great musical talent. Sound familiar?

Are we talking about punk in general, or The Sex Pistols? I'll assume the latter, if the former, say so and I'll respond to that properly.

The Sex Pistols are not at all a good example of actual punk rock, (for examples, see The Adicts, The Lower Class Brats, Subhumans, The Buzzcocks, The Circle Jerks, and so on) though they are most certainly punk, I'd just chose a better example when trying to make a statement, if it were up to me. From what I remember offhand, Sid was added to the band simply because of his over-the-top, wild behavior and not for talent. This was in a time where actual, honest-to-God punk was getting a lot of media attention. Sid was there for style, and subtance is up to the listener. The Sex Pistols (I'm not even a huge fan of them myself) at least have a leg up on Ms. Lavinge in the sense that they wrote their own songs and played their own instruments (Avril doesnt play her guitar in an live preformance, which leads me to believe she cant play it at all, and it's for show), but their popularity certainly had to do with the style, rather than the substance, especially in Sid's case.

That doesnt make Avril the Sid Vicious of her generation. That name was chosen for her statement, no doubt, because of the easy recognizable name. Your average person has a good idea of who Sid Vicious is, but if she'd said "I'm the Billy Bones of this generation" (in reference to the lead singer of The Skulls), no one would know who she meant. Even Glenn Danzig (formerly of The Misfits) isnt as recognizable as a name. Avril certainly fits in to the all style, no substance schlock, but there have been plenty of those people over the years. Countless really. She made the statement to be 'punk rock', and in that sense she isnt like Sid Vicious at all. She has none of his over-the-top attitude, none of his disregard for authority, and certainly not his drug habit, that poser (xD kidding).