Imagine asking for punk to plz just stop existing in, say, 1990. Like, I’m betting most people over 21 wanted it to, the same reaction trap often gets these days. The sound had long passed the point where it was innovating in any obvious way, and its simplistic nature had created a bunch of self contained subcultures whose only influence on the mainstream seemed negative—spurring, say, talented songwriters like Michael Stipe to dumb themselves down (compare Stand to Pilgrimage) in order to fit with a punk vibe, much like how today’s talented rappers and R&B singers have to awkwardly try and fit into trap, by imposing severe limits on their vocal range, musical expressiveness, lyrical subject matter etc. Most “alternative” artists weren’t quite by-the-book punks (if they were even punks at all) but the marketing category of “alternative” required bands to pander to punk aesthetics and, increasingly, to use a hardcore aesthetic (every bit as musically restrictive as Eternal Atake style trap) to fit in, and if they were an indie band they had no other option really, because the alternative to “alternative” was mainstream, then dominated by hair metal and synth pop. In 1990, with band members turning 30, R.E.M. made the fateful choice to simply ignore punk. Out of Time had nothing to do with it—it rejected many key tenets of punk. Only half the songs even used electric guitar, and they were all soft, folky, and lushly produced in a pop way. Luckily the band were adept at actually-mainstream sounds—the record has a heavy country influence—so it sold great. But most bands, especially those without major labels behind them, couldn’t get away with that. Punk’s audience was indie rock acts’ bread and butter, just like trap’s is for rap and R&B and pop acts today. Straight-up trap and punk might suck musically (with a few exceptions) but they are the youth vanguards of the entire culture. Older (over 21, but especially over 30) acts ignore it at their peril. For Black pop artists in particular, there is no longer an alternative to trap—they need trap’s grass roots behind them, in order to break into the white controlled charts.

And there can eventually be a musical breakthrough as well. Post-punk (both the early ‘80s one in London, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and NYC, and the ‘90s one in the rest of America, UK and the globe) was an amazing creative explosion. Just look what happened in ‘91. If punk had died, it could never have “broke,” and the indie culture we know would not have existed. In order for post-trap, the gen z creative explosion that’s coming very soon, trap itself must continue. Trap can only be overthrown or evolved (productively) by the gen zers raised on it. Any attempt by outsiders to dismiss trap only continues to solidify its symbolic role at the head of the pop hierarchy. Every time trap gets attacked by an old person, a white person, or someone whose favorite genre was never even hip hop to begin with, trap just gets stronger. Why are all the centuries of insane Black musical theory and innovation—jazz, gospel, soul, “golden age” rap—being discarded to make monotone sing-song pop? Maybe exactly because old white people jacked that entire history of Black innovation and increasingly try to present it as their own. It no longer feels Black and youthful, when it’s sold back to us by Justin Timberlake. What can gen z’ers do but reject it all—like the punks rejected the entire legacy of ‘60s rock (or tried). If we let them work it out on their own, they’ll get bored. As they gain access to more resources, they’ll incorporate more complex influences, and call-backs to the (non trap) music they were raised on. They’ll make more and more masterpieces.

The Sex Pistols are one of the worst bands of all time. Without the Pistols, we wouldn’t have Daydream Nation or OK Computer or many of the best albums of all time.

Trap is important. Let it flourish, and realize it’s not for us, but it is improving all our lives in the long run.