Joy as an act of resistance

Twice this year, I have listened to an album for the first time, and the message it contained was exactly what I needed to hear in the moment. The first was Graduating Life's nearly-eponymous 'Grad Life', a semi-underground emo-punk album filled with wall to wall bangers. The second was IDLES' 'Joy as an Act of Resistance', the British punk powerhouse's followup to 2017 breakout success 'Brutalism'.

After seeing it crop up a couple of times in some early 'album of the year' lists I finally decided to give it a listen, despite having been fairly dismissive of the recent British punk resurgence in favour of their moodier, more introspective American counterparts. Even though the band rejecting the 'punk' label, I am firmly slapping it on them - the album is a proper punk album, with the righteous anger of the movement's founders in the 70s, but updated for the 2018 British public dealing with Brexit, racism and a society rife with division.

The song 'Never Fight a Man with a Perm' features one of my favourite lyrics possibly ever:

Me, oh me, oh my, Roy
You look like a walking thyroid
You're not a man, you're a gland
You're one big neck with sausage hands

I can't really describe how good it is. It made me feel a way I haven't felt in a long time. Angry - but determined to do something about. Not content to do nothing. Spurred to act, to facilitate the changes that I want to see, rather than merely whine about them on a blog that nobody reads. Go listen to it.