After spending a day in my punk-rock class on thunderous Pittsburgh punk coven Bunny Five Coat, here's what their page in my AC/DC-lightning-bolt-inscribed notebook looks like:
Bunny Five Coat dislikes: womanizers, fakes, the imposition of fashion-model culture and standards onto everyday life, the government, the whole hegemony in general.
Bunny Five Coat likes: punk rock, Joan Jett, serial killer Aileen Wuornos, loud guitars, drinkin', Bunny Five Coat.
Bunny Five Coat does not rock, they roll. (This, I assume, means "roll" in the colloquial sense, as in "beat up drunks for spare change.")
AC/DC + Bad Religion + Bikini Kill = Bunny Five Coat.
And really, that's about it. Like most punk-rock bands, BFC thrives on its own musical simplicity -- four chords and a primitive drumbeat -- combined with lyrics that deceive with anger and humor, but are really pretty smart. Take "WWJJD" -- a.k.a. "What Would Joan Jett Do" -- a paean to the frequently cited riot-grrrl Godmother that compares her to James Dean and invokes her name as a sort of rock call-to-arms. Or "Aileen," which does the same thing with the famous prostitute-turned-serial killer.
It's the first and last tracks on Beauty Myth, however, that really declare BFC's mission. The opening title track proves to be the album's best song: Railing on Sex in the City, glossy mags and models with "vacant stares and fake tits," "Beauty Myth" is a no-holds-barred "fuck you" to the anti-woman fashion industry; no poetic disguise here, the point's loud and clear. Put that together with "Crowd Crusher," a circle-pit anthem about how great Bunny Five Coat is, and you've got a band that's serious as all hell about its politics and its fun.
Bunny Five Coat's music isn't punk-rock simple, it's simple punk rock, with some pretty iffy rhythmic moments and a few honest-to-god skidmarks to ignore through the 17 minutes of Beauty Myth. But it's also a band that knows where its limitations are, and knows when and how to ignore them in the name of a statement or a good time. They do not rock, they roll.
