The Ex
Saturday, 19 January 2008
When punk was the thing in Holland, I was 18. I was old enough to understand what it meant, but I was way too naïve. I liked the music, the magazines and the dress codes, but the ideologies that some punk bands expressed went way over my empty head.
I did a lot of artwork for idealistic organisations in those days: posters, illustrations, logo’s, etcetera. But I was not very idealistic myself. I am far more idealistic now than I was back then.
I had a large collection of Dutch punk music, especially cassette tapes and 45’s. I have given it all away long before it became collectible, and I am happy with that situation. The idea that these records and tapes are now worth a lot of money is ridiculous! On almost every record was the text ”Don’t pay more for this record than whateverthepricewas!”.
I have changed very much in the thirty years that passed since those early punk years. At least, that is what I may hope. But the world has changed much much more!
Tonight I listened to a record that The Ex made in the early eighties. It is not even an early punk record. But just listen to it, and hear how things have changed… Not that the situation in the world has gotten any better since the late seventies. It just changed. I don’t think that there are still people making records like this: