> The punk group have all got normal jobs, which they will continue to pursue, but are pulling out all the stops for one final tour for their army of fans.
Seems in direct contradiction with this anarchist click bait title.
It's a reference to their music, although a very poorly thought out one. But I don't think the result is entirely fair, as Fat Mike is a record label owner. That's not what one may think when you say "a job", these people are all middle-aged and aren't working the cash register at a Walmart or something like that. A job is a job, but NOFX are far past some idealistic idea of "live off the music, skip college" and whatever else people thought of them.
> "Controversies aside — most of which involved drugs, onstage banter taken too far and the unpredictability of both the band and its fans — the members of NOFX managed to do something most people can only dream of: They avoided having a day job for 40 years."
We're going to need some deep investigative journalism to sort this mystery out...
Also, I remember reading when I was young that NOFX quickly abandonned the "drugs/alcohol/sex" ethos and become quite healthy people despite having the opposite branding.
They've toured for 40 years, sold 8 million records and have over a million monthly listeners on Spotify. The singer's label has put out many of the big punk bands for the last 30 years. I agree with your point, but this lot are fine.
It's not entirely different from all the successful artists who are living lavish lifestyles (for example many musicians are complete car nuts and own insane cars collection [1]) but sing songs criticizing "money" (even though they have plenty) or criticizing "wall street" (even though most of their savings, in addition to cars and real estate, are at their broker).
I have nothing against money or wealth.
But the irony of a musician or a band criticizing money while flying private is not lost on me.
[1] as an example of such musicians (but not that they necessarily did criticize money), Miles Davis used to run vs Herbie Hancock in the streets in a "Ferrari vs AC Cobra" style. And I love that.
To be fair, I don't think anarchism (at least as espoused by the CNT-FAI et al) suggests that anyone can just sit on the couch without doing anything.
If you want that, may I recommend capitalism?
If your expenses are in USD, 30Y TIPS are above 2% last I saw, so putting 50x your burn rate in those should allow you to sit right back, clip those risk-free coupons, and watch the world go by.
I love this song and I feel so lucky I was able to see it live at their final Japan show last spring! They come out for an encore like "we're just gonna do one more song" then play for another 20 minutes.
> Like a show in London in 2000 when Fat Mike, Melvin and El Hefe decided to take ecstasy before going onstage. “Melvin is trying to play the accordion and he can’t,” Fat Mike said, laughing. “It was our biggest show and we took the punk way out. We were all dying laughing.”
> “Who cares?” he added. “Why NOFX are so good is because we’re having a better time than our fans.”
I saw them in Amsterdam. They came on stage and asked the audience "anyone got any pills?". Several baggies rained down on the stage. They went backstage for a bit, and started playing. It was fantastic. But not very musically sound, especially towards the end.
I think being able to sound "the same as their albums" while playing live is a great gesture about how good they are, and how the albums they put out are processed.
Pink Martini can pull off the same trick. They can reproduce their albums live, and without any playback. It shows how unedited their albums are, and how good they are with their instruments and voice.
He seems to be an absolutely terrible human being [0] and absolutely desperate to appear edgy and extreme, which I could maybe tolerate if his music was any good, which it isn't.
How fortunate for you that his moral character is reflected in the quality of his art.
Sarcasm aside, this is a peculiarly modern fallacy. While fanatics have often attacked or destroyed 'secular' art, the coincidental observation that the cancelled or scapegoated artist 'actually was a bad artist all along' seems to be novel. No article or comment vilifying say Woody Allen or Roman Polanski is complete without a satisfied nod towards their supposed lack of skill. Despite or perhaps because of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It's no longer enough to point out that an artist is a bad person, we must also assume that their work was inferior.
That was a double prank. He made it look like he peed on a bottle and then served its contents to some people, but there's a video where you can see how he switches it by a regular bottle last minute.
Most people who achieve great things or stand out far from their peers are not nice people. It is almost a prerequisite. Musk, Gates, Jobs and pretty much every really successful artist are all monumental assholes.
If you can't seperate the person from the art or achievement you can't really enjoy a lot of things.
never thought i'd see "NOFX" here hah. I was skating with the littler brother of one of my friend's girlfriend when he casually said "have you ever heard of NOFX?" and that was that.
I don't really care about the politics but one of my favorite lyrics of all time is from Dig
My new "feel soo old sentence" is that when I recently asked someone if they'd ever listened to "Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Love Their Country", they replied oh yeah, totally, they used to listen to it all the time ... in elementary school.
I’ve probably listened to this band more than any other. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and grew up on it along with similar bands. I actually ran into Fat Mike totally randomly out in public this past year. I introduced myself, he’s a nice guy and exactly what you’d expect.
Maybe he's changed, but he was real entitled in Seoul back in 2007\08. Guy from the band RUX -- who owned a punk club in hongdae and a tiny DIY record company -- tried bringing him over and he was an elitist princess. I can distinctly remember the slackers were the opposite and they stayed in a hostel popular with the locals. Mike wanted big money and a four star hotel experience. Which I think they eventually got just for him (out of their own pockets). I wouldn't get a job either if I got to jet around the world and stay in baller hotels on somebody's dime.
Readit News
First Google Result for "nofx retire":
> The punk group have all got normal jobs, which they will continue to pursue, but are pulling out all the stops for one final tour for their army of fans.
Seems in direct contradiction with this anarchist click bait title.
NOFX's version of a job is better described by "Thank God It's Monday": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22rDfUc9HgA
" I live a 5 day weekend, I gotta a year long holiday, Thank God it's Monday... "
I love this band!!
Dead Comment
> "Controversies aside — most of which involved drugs, onstage banter taken too far and the unpredictability of both the band and its fans — the members of NOFX managed to do something most people can only dream of: They avoided having a day job for 40 years."
We're going to need some deep investigative journalism to sort this mystery out...
I have no idea if is true or not.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland
For him it wasn't about money, though.
Phillip Glass (composer) was also a plumber, which surprised the London music critic who unwittingly employed him to install a dishwasher
Anthony Trollop was a postal surveyor
Kurt Vonnegut was car dealer
See https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52293/11-celebrated-arti...
It's not entirely different from all the successful artists who are living lavish lifestyles (for example many musicians are complete car nuts and own insane cars collection [1]) but sing songs criticizing "money" (even though they have plenty) or criticizing "wall street" (even though most of their savings, in addition to cars and real estate, are at their broker).
I have nothing against money or wealth.
But the irony of a musician or a band criticizing money while flying private is not lost on me.
[1] as an example of such musicians (but not that they necessarily did criticize money), Miles Davis used to run vs Herbie Hancock in the streets in a "Ferrari vs AC Cobra" style. And I love that.
If you want that, may I recommend capitalism?
If your expenses are in USD, 30Y TIPS are above 2% last I saw, so putting 50x your burn rate in those should allow you to sit right back, clip those risk-free coupons, and watch the world go by.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_(EP)
Many of the lyrics became more relevant after 2016.
Dead Comment
That's all you get on the free tier. No hours to spare, gotta dev 10x
> “Who cares?” he added. “Why NOFX are so good is because we’re having a better time than our fans.”
Especially compared to the robotic Offspring, who were playing exactly as they did on their albums.
Pink Martini can pull off the same trick. They can reproduce their albums live, and without any playback. It shows how unedited their albums are, and how good they are with their instruments and voice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_They_Suck_Live!!
Dead Comment
Fat Mike once owned this swanky house in San Francisco [1]. Not too bad for “not having a job!”
Also, the dude founded and ran Fat Wreck Chords in 1990! He continues to run it with his partner to this day [2].
[1] https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/sf-home-punk-rock-...
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Wreck_Chords
0: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/29/fat-mike-nofx-...
Sarcasm aside, this is a peculiarly modern fallacy. While fanatics have often attacked or destroyed 'secular' art, the coincidental observation that the cancelled or scapegoated artist 'actually was a bad artist all along' seems to be novel. No article or comment vilifying say Woody Allen or Roman Polanski is complete without a satisfied nod towards their supposed lack of skill. Despite or perhaps because of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It's no longer enough to point out that an artist is a bad person, we must also assume that their work was inferior.
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/nofxs_fat_mike_comes_clean_...
https://www.punknews.org/article/38407/fat-mike-comes-clean-...
In a quick search can't find the video right now, but I remember watching it years ago.
If you can't seperate the person from the art or achievement you can't really enjoy a lot of things.
Deleted Comment
I don't really care about the politics but one of my favorite lyrics of all time is from Dig
Camped outside laissez-faire
People understand me there
Don't talk to me, we'll get along just fine
Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7g3RuoreRc