When punk and Kelly Clarkson collide...

A couple weeks ago, I happened to catch a blurb on the CNN ticker about Mike Watt playing on the next Kelly Clarkson album. Ask most people about Clarkson, and I'm sure they'll mention "American Idol." Ask them about Mike Watt, and they'll probably say "who?" I give Clarkson's producer some credit for going outside the mainstream to find musicians, and given that Clarkson has received some praise from such musicians as Dave Grohl, this adds some street cred to the album. Which brings me back to the question, who is Mike Watt?
Mike is currently working with Iggy Pop and the Stooges on their new album. But more importantly, Watt was the bass player for one of the best American punk bands of the 80s, the Minutemen. The Minutemen consisted of three guys from San Pedro (Watt, D. Boon, George Hurley) who played hardcore with touches of folk and jazz. Politics were often the theme as the songs generally clocked in under two minutes. However, the band holds a place in my heart because it was the first punk show I ever attended. I was a junior at EIU and was just starting to get into the world of punk. I was familiar with the Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys and Ramones, but was now discovering such bands as Black Flag, Husker Du and the Minutemen. Several of my friends were into politics and naturally, they gravitated toward this form of musical expression.
Since I was the only one with a car, I got to drive the 45 miles to Champaign for the show. Now I had been to many concerts in the past, but they were held in stadiums and amphitheaters, where the band was seemingly miles away. But this show was different. The stage was inches away, bodies were slamming to the beat and there was an air of choas. And while the music provided a rush of adrenaline, my personal highlight was meeting the band after the show. Again, it was different from the stadium experience when the band disappears behind the stage. When the Minutemen set came to an end, the band hopped off stage and milled with the crowd. My friends and I stopped D. Boon for a few moments to chat politics and the situation in Nicaragua. It was brief, but cool experience.
Unfortunately, the Minutemen saga came to a tragic end. The band seemed to be on the brink of greener pastures. But a few weeks after the release of "3-Way Tie for Last" later that year (1985), D. Boon was thrown from a van in a traffic accident and died. Watt and Hurley retired the Minutemen name, got a new guitarist (Ed Crawford) and continued under the name Firehose (not the lame 90s band, Firehouse). Firehose shared some of the musical qualities of the Minutemen, but seemed to lack some of the edge. Oddly enough, I got to interview Crawford a few years later while I was attending school at SIU.
If you're truly interested in the Minutemen, I recommend starting with "Double Nickels on the Dime". After listening to that, you'll understand my amazement of Watt working with Clarkson. But even old punks need a paycheck and it's better than hearing "This Ain't No Picnic" in a car ad.