Celtic Punk

How much do you know about this genre? Celtic punk seems (to me) to be the kind of music that can annoy a lot of people. Some see it as gimmicky, and some feel offended (as I do, slightly) by a load of Americans claiming to be Scottish/Irish because their great great great grandparents came from Scotland or Ireland. The members of most celtic punk bands are about as celtic as apple pie, but I can get past that annoyance. Because I enjoy the music. As for it being a gimmick, well, it can be, but it’s damn fun, so who the hell cares, right?

The Pogues are often dubbed celtic punk. I disagree. They’re celtic folk. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything by them that is remotely “punk”. The Pogues are pretty mainstream though, so I guess a lot of people who put them into the genre just don’t know diddly-squat about it.

Examples of actual celtic punk bands are Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, The Real McKenzies and The Tossers. All four of these bands do actually have pretty unique sounds, and Dropkick Murphys don’t even pretend to not be American at least (they have some very American lyrics, relating to Boston and to baseball etc).

If you want to experience the sound of the genre, check out these two vidoes. Judge for yourself whether it’s fun, irritating or a stupid gimmick.