Negative Approach @ 910 Live

I don't think there's anyone who disagrees that posers suck, but being a part of the landscape of contemporary underground music can make one feel as though he half-heartedly has to jump on trends to maintain relevance. It's easy to be a poser. It happens every time someone says something...

By Mike Bogumill

January 31, 2013

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I don't think there's anyone who disagrees that posers suck, but being a part of the landscape of contemporary underground music can make one feel as though he half-heartedly has to jump on trends to maintain relevance. It's easy to be a poser. It happens every time someone says something like, "Man, that Pallbearer album was so good" or "I can't wait to see Grizzly Bear!" Eventually, others' posing gets to you. It leads you to an identity crisis, forcing you to ask yourself: Why be something that you're not? Negative Approach asked this question on its first EP almost 31 years ago. As a record that combined elements of New York punk, London hooligan music, and Motor City rock, it serves as a seminal and timeless work of angry, no-frills hardcore punk. Bands still cover Negative Approach songs like "Ready to Fight" and "Lost Cause" all the time. However, with the band reuniting in recent years, the opportunity arises to see the songs performed by the musicians who wrote them. Certainly, they are old enough to be parents now, but the anger still remains. So are you gonna come out, stage-dive, and yell stuff like, "We won't take any shit and we're not about to leave," or are you going to keep on posing?

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