I'm one of the aging old arthritic punks who grew up on bands like the Adverts, Lords Of The New Church, the Clash, Disciples Of Soul, and The Godfathers, who all had vital and socially conscious messages about injustice in their rebel songs, so I was never that gung ho about all the corny and cliche, '90s skinny tie, booger rock exploitation the big corporations pushed upon the gullible public, that kinda just seemed to be squeaky clean, upper class rich people going through the motions of dyeing their hair green and rippin' off the Ramones some more.
I kinda checked out of mainstream muzak and hot garbage war culture in about '95 or so, except for certain exceptional songwriting groups like Manic Street Preachers, Hello Disaster, Beat Angels, Glass Heroes, the Hutchinsons, and Slow Motorcade who all had Cheap Trick-worthy pop hooks along with their more courageous and thoughtfully illustrative, picturesque song lyrics with actual depth and content.
L.A. songwriter/rising guitar hero, John Dissed, is a refreshingly daring throwback to when rockers actually had nerve enough to say what they thought, without chickenshit fears of jeopardizing their careerist brand, who challenged the official narratives of the corporate mainstream, and shined light on taboo topics the millionaire media whore brand names of today would never go near. He's written concept albums about the JFK coup, and sings and plays guitar as well as any Green Day-level marquee name.
I thought some of my fellow diehard, combat booted old battleaxes in the GBH and Exploited T-shirts might appreciate his latest anthem about mind control and secret police brainwashing. I think he rocks like fuck. --J.D. MONROE
