Rancid

The third wave of punk rock music here in the states, is currently fueling the success of Rancid, a band that is an interesting study in successful marketing of pop merchandise.

Never really the MTV darlings that their more successful peers,Green Day have turned out to be, Rancid’s eclectic blend of punk, ska and Clash-like anthems, have crossed over from their predominately working-class fan base into the upper-middle class neighborhoods of the USA. Thus,a once humble cottage industry surrounding the band has blossomed into a into an extremely lucrative venture. Yet, according to Rancid bassist Matt Freeman, for himself and his fellow Rancid members,Tim Armstrong(vocals,guitar),Brett Reed(drums) and guitarist Lars Frederiksen,Rancid has not really changed all that much. The world around them has.

“We haven’t changed,”he said with a shout during a recent telephone interview,

“… everyone wants their own little thing that they’ve discovered and when it gets popular,they don’t like it anymore. Rancid does what we do and it’s a take it or leave it thing. We try to put out the best records we possibly can,we’re getting a lot of(radio) airplay,we’re on MTV. If you like us,great. If not,what are we going to do?” ‘

What Freeman and his cohorts are going to do is ride the money wagon until the wheels fall off. And why not? They’ve lived through umpteen,”Punk Rock Van Tours” and played to empty halls as well as sold out arenas, more times than they care to remember. It’s a viscous cycle whenever one decides to take the road to success via the punk rock route. Anybody who thinks they’re going to actually make a living is,according to Freeman,a little ambitious to say the least. “I give credit to a lot of these smaller bands because it’s hard doing that,”he said. “You can’t be a ****** marketing manger for Merill Lynch and go on a punk tour.

You’ve got to have some **** job and then go quit to go on tour to make no money,and sweat in a van in the middle of Texas in the middle of July. Then,come back,get another minimum wage job,and start all over. It’s a vicious cycle.” Now that the,”vicious cycle”is pretty much over for the time being for Freeman and company,what about the “selling out” question,pop critics constantly badger him with. Green Day sells 10 million or so copies of an album,they just about own MTV and FM radio,for a while every kid on the block was dressing like a Green Day wannebe,and yet some pop critics still view the West Coast group as radical and hip. Rancid stays left of center to Green Day’s poseur antics and pop-punk sound. They have plenty of material which would sound right at home during the mid-’70’s British punk scene,especially on their latest album,”….AND OUT COME THE WOLVES”.

The soccer-chant anthems by which disaffected youth can vent their fears and frustrations are the mainstay of Rancid’s material. However,underneath all the tattoos and weird hairdo’s,lies a simple fact. Punk’s making more money now then ever,so just how long will the marketing managers and radio programming consultants,who are truly running the show,by influencing what the kids buy and wear,continue find favor with the punk rock genre.

Eventually,something else will take it’s place. “The industry’s throwing the label “punk”around so loosely these days,”Freeman said,”it’s almost like a marketing strategy. Mainstream punk rock is going to be infiltrated by a lot of really fake bands. I’m hoping people will see right through it and I’m sure they will. Those bands know who they are,they don’t have to look too far deep inside to see what’s real and what’s not.”