np. :)

i think your comment about struggle is important to this topic. i think that during the punk era, people had enough struggle and despair in their lives that when somebody stood up and loudly complained about it, that was good enough. nobody expected punk musicians to try hard, or be professional. people were rebelling because trying hard didn't seem to get them anywhere, and smashing stuff seemed like a lot less trouble with a lot bigger reward.

these days i think people are more optimistic about being able to rise up and succeed if they try hard enough, and also more realistic about what happens when you give up. it's weird that there is so much optimism at a time when so many terrible things are happening in the world. nonetheless, people today seem to have more of a belief that anything is possible if they put their mind to it, and we respect those who succeed in the face of adversity more than those who just rail against it .

i don't know. i think we could be setting ourselves up for a big let down, when we figure out that we can't all be rock stars, but time will tell.