CYBERBABBLE: Site-Seeing on the Internet

Duff MacDonald

Mirror contributing writer

Punk Rock Changed the World!

   Yep, punk rock changed everything. Not in the way that it had originally intended, but that's pretty much what always happens when the corporate world commodifies culture. Remember the pre-punk early seventies when there existed a one-size-fits-all popular culture? Choice didn't really exist. Hell, even the TV remote control was an oddity; not an extension of our opposing digit as it is today. Advertisers didn't have to worry so much about you changing the channel because that involved real work. You'd have to trudge across that vast living room wasteland from your recliner to the idiot box to manually give the networks a sayonara.
   At early punk show gigs you'd have punk bands on the same bill as reggae bands or ska bands or artsy or mod or roots or rockabilly bands and everyone was into it, really. The early punk days had all kinds of cool music and different 'scenes' not just co-existing but actually being appreciated by all. Now, it's a rarity to see that kind of bill with so-called diametrically opposed bands playing together. Some might say that it was punk rock that helped to move us into Billboard's Balkanization of pop music and that this is one of punk's failures. I'd say they're wrong and try looking through a different set of glasses.
   Witness the current abomination that passes for a popular music scene. Culture? Creativity? Those hardly exist within the old-school definitions of pop culture or the relentless rearranging of the same old dreak into endless versions of 'top 10 lists.' The crucial thing that punk rock contributed to culture was that top 10 didn't matter, all things were equally possible and cool. Where punk really succeeded was in mainstreaming its DIY (do-it-yourself) indie mentality and with the rise of the Internet that's an idea that's been co-opted by all in cyberspace.
   Chuck your radio out the window and explore the strange new world of Net radio by just listening or by becoming a DJ yourself at Live365.com (http://www.live365.com) and it's completely free. The first thing you've got to do to be part of their 'Radio Revolution' is to get an audio player. The free Real Player 7 Basic is their preferred and default audio player and you can get it at (http://www.real.com/player/index.html). There are both Mac and Windows versions available, but make sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements. The Mac requirements are Mac OS 7.6.1 (or higher), a Power Macintosh with a 603 processor and Netscape Navigator 4.5.1 (or higher) or IE 4.5 (or higher). The Windows requirements are Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 (or higher), a Pentium class processor and Netscape Navigator 4.05 (or higher) or IE 4.01 (or higher). You can also use a handful of other audio players, if you'd prefer. For Mac's try, Audion (http://www.panic.com/ppack/download.html), MACAST (http://www.macast.com/download.shtml), or SoundJam MP (http://www.soundjam.com). And for Windows you can try: MusicMatch's Jukebox (http://www.musicmatch.com/download), Sonique's Player (http://www.sonique.com/dload.html), or Nullsoft's Winamp (http://www.winamp.com/getwinamp).
   Click on the Listen button to have access to Live365.com's radio stations. Select your connection speed, so they can tailor the experience to your bandwidth limitations, you've got a choice of modem speeds from 14K all the way up to DSL, Cable and T1. When writing this column there were over 6,500 radio stations available online to choose from. These radio stations set up by all kinds of people cover an astounding selection of music genres. You can choose from every decade from the 50's through the 90's, alternative, classical, jazz, swing, folk, hip hop, international, techno, country, blues, funk, R&B, reggae, metal, comedy, ambient, religious, talk and of course punk rock. And this is only a partial listing; there's more to be had.
   If you've got the DIY bug and want to be a DJ and broadcast yourself out on the Web, you've got to sign up and become a member of Live365.com. Don't worry it's free and all they want out of you is your email address, zip code and country. The music that you'll play on your radio station needs to be in the MP3 format. You can go to their links page to find MP3 files out on the Net that you can download at (http://www.live365.com/help/broadcast/easycast/
mp3s-web.html). Or you can make your own MP3's. Live365.com recommends using MusicMatch Jukebox for Windows users and SoundJam MP if you are a Mac user for creating or 'ripping' MP3's (see the URL's above). Go to (http://www.live365.com/help/broadcast/easycast/
index.html) for easy, explicit instructions on how set yourself up as a Net DJ.
   Punk rock tried to change the world, as did the hippies and beats before them and had both successes and failures, albeit in areas that were completely unforeseen at the time. As much as the goal was to blow bloated corporate dinosaur rock off the face of the planet and send it reeling into the nothingness of outer spaceÑpunk succeeded. But it was only by proxy and only for the briefest of moments. It was punk's progeny that really was acknowledged as a bleep on the radar by the industrial military (oops, I meant to say music) complex.