Yep. Then add to the the general anti-authoritarian air of the counter-culture and you had a situation ripe for demonization and paranoia.

Something that struck me as a kid was a Bloom County comic strip that called out upstanding, corporate types for vilifying pot while themselves having three martini lunches. In the 80's, this came across as super-subversive when you were being blasted with Nancy Reagan-approved "Just Say No" at school and on TV all…

On the brand new Harbor Freeway!

God, so fucking true. One thing that's become more and more apparent as I get older is just how deep into alcoholism my grandparents generation was.

Yeah, there is a huge disconnect between the straight culture and the freak culture of the era. If you grew up with boomer parents, you tended to get a bit of a freak lean with classic rock, hip movies and maybe, just maybe, a vague awareness that they may have done drugs when they were younger. But when you go back…

Straight culture really didn't know what to make of psychedelics. They had no context. Pot, though seen as a gateway drug, was on their radar for decades. Uppers, downers? Hell they were taking those themselves in big quantities. But psychedelics were an unknown quantity. The irony, of course, being that they orders…

Well put. Those field studies were invaluable.

It says something about the era (more specifically the straights of the time) that Joe Friday calls heroin the fuse and LSD the bomb. Ask anyone now what's the more dangerous, life destroying of the two drugs and the answer you'll get will almost certainly not be LSD.

Oh, don't misunderstand me. Tragic Kingdom is a great album. It's the album that broke 3rd Wave Ska to the wider public and was my gateway to ska. I'd be exaggerating if I said that I listened to that album everyday of my sophomore year in high school, but only by a little.

They'd certainly have less money, but dollars to donuts I'd enjoy their output more. You see, some of us still rather enjoy the style.

As an old-school fan of No Doubt back when they were a ska band, let me tell you: The last decade and a half has been rough and with every new project Gwen takes on, it gets rougher. I've hand bands/artists I drifted from and that have taken directions I don't like. That's normal. But Gwen and No Doubt? That one…

Oh, everything was ruined long before that. "Rock Steady" anyone?

Same here, man. Singing along is what it's all about… especially when you can do it while slamming in the pit.

I want this crossover to happen so bad now.

I actually can see the consequences as something they address later, Such as Greg lamenting that the Dondai got impounded and asking Steven and Pearl if they know anything about it.

Well, she IS a punk rocker…

Ah, Nekromantix, the only show I ever bailed on. Not because they were bad or anything but because I felt so sick to my stomach that I left the venue after the opener (which was Hayride to Hell, as I recall).

Throw my hat in the ring here: I think of myself as having two first concerts. The actual first was The Doobie Brothers with my Dad circa 1993. Good show, but the George Thorogood concert I saw with him a little while afterwards is a stronger memory in my mind.

It'll work. The wisdom of Pearl transcends canonical texts.

You just won the thread for that joke. Have an upvote.