What’s More Punk Than Selling Out? (or can you commodify rebellion?)

Green Day’s partnership with Keurig doesn’t mean punk is dead. Just that the age-old practice of commodifying rebellion is alive and well.

By Zachary Lipez. Zachary Lipez is Editor at Large for CREEM, author of the Abundant Living newsletter and the singer for the band Publicist UK. Excerpts:

"In a perfect punk world, where the Dead Kennedys are bigger than the Beatles, the announcement that Green Day is joining forces with Keurig Dr Pepper would be met with howls. 

The beverage behemoth recently released a “limited-edition brewer and coffee kit” to mark the 20th anniversary of “American Idiot,” Green Day’s “punk rock opera,” which skewered America’s post-9/11 jingoism and corporate greed. The kit, which includes a Keurig coffee machine, branded tumbler and some K-cup pods, retails for $159.99. Released in August, it’s already sold out."

"Keurig Dr Pepper is a confusingly named Vermont-Texas, coffee-soft drink conglomerate with an annual revenue north of $14 billion."

Green Day . . . sign(ed) with a major record label and [went on to] make famous the oft-maligned subgenre of “pop-punk”. 

"there was a time when that wouldn’t have been enough to stem the cries of “sell out!” Now the band’s foray into caffeinated merchandising evokes eye rolls, if it’s noticed at all."

"Contempt for “selling out” was once a defining feature of punk rock."

"a foundational principle was always an aversion to mainstream power and commerce. For acolytes, the notion of punks doing punk things for money was heresy."

"By 1991, the band’s [The Clash's] hit single “Should I Stay or Should I Go” was shilling Levi’s denim."

There was "the Vans Warped Tour, a traveling shoe commercial stocked with pop-punk acts"

"by 2003, when Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” was in an ad for Royal Caribbean"

"Country Life butter ran ads in the U.K. starring former Sex Pistol John Lydon in 2008"

" if cynicism is a kind of wisdom, then perhaps it’s inevitable that those who rail against the system will also hope to be its beneficiaries."

"punk was designed for speed, not long-term planning, and at some point everyone has to pay rent. Idealism, after all, is for hippies."

"The tangible value of punk’s antiestablishment views was actually there at the start. The Sex Pistols might have remained niche had the BBC not banned their provocative song “God Save the Queen” from the airwaves in 1977. The single duly rose to #2 on the U.K. charts. By 2015 Virgin Money launched a line of credit cards featuring iconic Sex Pistols record covers. “It’s time for consumers to put a little bit of rebellion in their pocket,” the bank announced at the time."

Reminds me of Steve Martin’s Non-Conformist Oath. From Mike Whitmore's Blog.

"STEVE MARTIN: Let’s repeat the Non-Conformist Oath. I promise to be different!

AUDIENCE: I promise to be different.

STEVE MARTIN: I promise to be unique.

AUDIENCE: I promise to be unique.

STEVE MARTIN: I promise not to repeat things other people say.

AUDIENCE: I promise … [Dissolves into nervous laughter.]

STEVE MARTIN: Good!"