Listening to Linda Lindas

She said, “Dead Kennedys.”

“How do you know?”

“The Sex Pistols are way better.”

And the look on the clerk’s face. I couldn’t have been more proud.

I may not be the best dad in the world, but I do believe it’s important to expose children to a wide variety of music, movies and literature. It’s how she knows about early punk. It’s one of the reasons why she loves Dixieland jazz and “Rear Window.” It’s not like we are sitting around with berets and notepads all the time snapping our fingers, I mean she still loves weird baking shows and Billie Eilish, along with popular movies like “Encanto.” But variety, and exposure, is good.

I had heard about the Linda Lindas a couple years ago when there was a small item about them doing a show or a song at the Los Angeles Public Library. The general sense was that it was a band of girls who wrote and sang a song about a racist, sexist boy, it was called, aptly, “Racist, sexist boy.”

I was reminded of the Linda Lindas when The New York Times did a feature on them a couple weeks back. They have a new album, and the article was about them and how they are handling their new fame. They range in age between 11 and 17, and play clubs while also attending school. And they’ve done this all during COVID.

They are getting used to the global attention while also keeping it real at the same time, at least according to the article. All good, but the music right? Is it good? Is it really punk?

The feature talked about how “Racist, sexist boy” almost didn’t exist because of discomfort with a lyric that called out the offender as an “idiotic boy.” The group saw the lyric as ableist since it was calling out the behavior, not the person’s mental acuity. They changed it. It made for a better punk song, and reflected the younger generation’s mindfulness that words matter and how our choices affect others. While punk was always subversive, it usually called attention to the system’s failures. This seemed to be a more hopeful iteration of that and reflects our youngest generation’s strengths, their sensitivity, inclusivity and thoughtfulness. For me, as a dad, it was one of those “ah ha” moments. This is right up her alley. So on a Sunday night, I called my daughter over and we pulled up the Linda Lindas. She knows the drill by now.

We listened to a song, I think it was “Growing up” and after it was over, I asked, “What do you think?”

“Dad, I loved it.”

It’s power pop punk, and it calls to mind early Go-Go’s, or Fuzzbox, and they harmonize like the B-52’s in their early Athens, Georgia, days. Maybe a little of The Donnas or L7. I mean there is always a lot of heavy borrowing in today’s music. So we listened to a few songs from those groups, did a little compare and contrast, but what she really wanted to do was listen to the Linda Lindas some more. And why wouldn’t she? One of their songs, “Nino” is about a cat.

She likes to drum, so I asked if this made her think she might want to start a band. She’s also more based in reality than me, and said that wasn’t likely. But a dad can dream right?

For now, she just really likes the music. I even got her a T-shirt, the one with four cartoon cats. After all, writing a punk song about a very good cat is just about the most empowering thing you can do right? They may have another song about a different cat, but you’d have to ask my daughter. She’s the expert now.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.