CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (10)

By: Joshua Glenn
August 10, 2020

One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite punk songs, c. 1974–1983.

“THIS IS BOSTON, NOT L.A.” | THE FREEZE | 1982

Attending high school in Boston from 1982–1986, the hardcore punk scene — Gang Green, Jerry’s Kids, The F.U.’s, SSD — was my scene. But I was conflicted! I didn’t enjoy hardcore’s bald-headed devotion to an “authenticity” that precluded, e.g., humor, technique, elaborate hairdos, and you know, individuality. These sorts of things are essential to my definition of authenticity. Without being able to articulate my yearning as such, I desired a subcultural scene the lineaments of which were supremely flexible. I didn’t want my punk policed. Such an anti-scene scene would soon emerge — thank you, Replacements, Pixies, Minutemen. While I was still in school, though, my anthem was The Freeze’s “This Is Boston, Not L.A.”

The Freeze were not only masters of their craft — Rick Andrews is one of the great unsung punk bassists — but funny and soulful, too. Their debut single, “I Hate Tourists,” should be the official song of Cape Cod. And their contributions to This Is Boston, Not L.A. — “Trouble If You Hide” is a tuneful horror movie, “Time Bomb” a danceable suicide note, “Broken Bones” a punk vs. jock revenge fantasy whose lyrics I sing under my breath all the time — are the best things about that wildly overrated Boston hardcore compilation album.

Clocking in at a brisk twenty-five seconds, the album’s final and titular track demands that Boston punks evolve their own scene rather than aping Los Angeles — or for that matter, one should infer, San Francisco, D.C., New York, etc. Though dumb, tribalist Bostonians would interpret the tune as an our-city-is-better-than-yours rallying cry, it wasn’t intended to be any such thing. Written by frontman Clif “Hanger” Croce, the song’s have-the-courage-to-be-yourself message couldn’t be clearer: “If you dance the same and dress the same / It won’t be long ’til you are the same / You look the same and act the same / There’s nothing new and you’re to blame.”

The “you,” here, isn’t L.A. punks. It’s Boston punks. Let other cities have totalizing, subtly coercive hardcore punk scenes, Croce urges. But not here.

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CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2020): Series introduction by Josh Glenn | Mimi Lipson on Flipper’s “Sex Bomb” | James Parker on The Jam’s “Going Underground” | Dan Fox on The Cramps’ “Human Fly” | Adrienne Crew on Bad Brains’ “I and I Survive” | Devin McKinney on Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never” | Deb Chachra on The Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love” | Mark Kingwell on The Demics’ “New York City” | Jessamyn West on Dead Kennedys’ “Kill the Poor” | Douglas Wolk on The Homosexuals’ “Soft South Africans” | Josh Glenn on The Freeze’s “This is Boston, Not L.A.” | Stephanie Burt on Sorry’s “Imaginary Friend” | Luc Sante on Public Image Ltd.’s “Public Image” | Miranda Mellis on X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” | Adam McGovern on The Clash’s “Washington Bullets” | Mandy Keifetz on Germs’ “Forming” | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sex Pistols’ “Problems” | Anthony Miller on The Soft Boys’ “I Wanna Destroy You” | Deborah Wassertzug on The Mekons’ “Where Were You?” | Tor Aarestad on Gang of Four’s “Return the Gift” | Marc Weidenbaum on The Pop Rivets’ “Dream of ’63” | David Smay on The Rezillos’ “(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures” | Vanessa Berry on The Cure’s “So What” | Chelsey Johnson on The Slits’ “Typical Girls” | Lynn Peril on Crass’s “Smother Love” | Mike Watt on The Dils’ “You’re Not Blank”.

MORE ENTHUSIASM at HILOBROW

CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (10)

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