Imagine, if you will, The Blood Brothers yowling over a Lil’ John track. Combine that with the sound of screaming teenage girls and the bleeding eardrums of music critics everywhere and you’ve got a good idea of what scrunk sounds like.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, “scrunk” is the name given to the genre of music that combines screamo vocals with crunk style hip hop beats, sometimes referred to as crunkcore. Although the genre owes a lot to punk offshoot screamo, there is a raging debate among punk fans as to weather or not these bands are punk or hip hop, fun or terrible, a great way to diversify the Warped Tour or a great way to ruin what’s left of the tour’s punk credibility.
Brokencyde
While the Vans Warped Tour began as a celebration of punk music and culture, many non-punk bands have participated in the past: Ice-T, Atmosphere, M.I.A. and Meg & Dia to name a few. There have been debates in the past about non-punk bands at Warped Tour, but nothing has riled up the punk community like scrunk, and no groups has received as much ire as scrunk bands Brokencyde and Millionaires. Justin Tate, founder and CEO of AbsolutePunk, counts himself among the many who found themselves surprised to discover that Brokencyde was a real band and not an SNL sketch. “They’re just that bad,” Tate is quoted as saying in a Boston Phoenix aritcle, “and they epitomize everything that music (and human beings) should not be.” Music review Web site Loud Hawk Press encouraged potential concert-goers to boycott this year’s Warped Tour unless Brokencyde was removed from the lineup. Even other bands are expressing their outrage at Brokencyde popularity. Senses Fail singer Buddy Nielson bashed the band every night his band’s tour with Brokencyde, then released a statement to AbsolutePunk calling Brokencyde “horse s*@#” and accusing them of having “…No substance at all.” Even fellow Warped Tour band Gallows decries Brokencyde’s inclusion in the tour. Brokensyde also has the dubious honor of being the only band on this year’s tour to have their own protest group. “Mothers Against Brokencyde” is an online group claiming the band promotes racisism and misogeny in their lyrics and encourages underage girls to flash them at shows. It has been suggested that Brokencyde’s manager started MABC as a publicity stunt, although the band has denied this.
Millionaires
Fans had their say as well, with multiple threads supporting and denouncing Brokencyde and Millionaires popping up all over the Warped Tour Forums. The heated Internet arguments turned physical at the July 25th Warped Tour stop in Florida, where an audience member launched a bottle at the head of a member of Millionaires. The YouTube video of the incident has already had over 1,500 views. In a scene where spitting on performers is sometimes considered a compliment, it is possible that the assailant’s intentions are misunderstood. The video’s comments, however, are impossible to misread: “Whoever threw that bottle is a hero, and should be recognized as such,” “They don’t deserve to be on warped tour. They’re a disgrace to music, ” “My ears are f*@#ing bleeding. How does this pass off as, music?”
Regardless of the criticism, there is no denying that scrunk is extremely popular. Both Brokencyde and Millionaires have over 200,000 friends on their MySpace pages, with many fans leaving comments that Millionaires and/or Brokencyde was their favorite band of the day at Warped Tour. Watch any YouTube video of either band’s tour sets, and it’s evident that there are just as many—if not more—kids rocking out as there are people staring in abject horror. The bands seem to be brushing off their critics as well. In response to Nielson’s attacks, Brokencyde released a press release thanking him “…For all the kinds words he has been saying about Brokencyde on stage every night and in the press.” The band also chose the tongue- in-cheek I’m Not A Fan, But The Kids Like It as the title for their debut album.
Whether skrunk is just another flash in the pan remains to be seen. For those of you who hope it is, Kevin Lyman has some encouraging words for you from his chat with the Boston Phoenix: “If they don’t get songs, if they don’t really start to have the talent behind it, I’m not judging them, but they won’t be around in a few years.”
Are you on Team Brokencyde or Team Earplugs? Let us know in the comments!
