Haymaker and the rebel tradition

An examination of Rock'n'Roll's 1950s's origin points up the style's innate foreigness from divisive hate agendas. 

Rock'n'roll was born from a multiplicity of racial and cultural idioms, including R&B, Hillbilly Country, Blues, Bluegrass, and Gospel. Proudly embracing that taboo diversity, it thrust its middle finger into the aghast mug of stilted, button-down propriety. (I speak here of the raw, original item, and not subsequent, commercially-cultivated simulacra.)

Remember that among rhetorical brickbats hurled at the burgeoning form by Officialdom were non-veiled racial ones like "jungle music." The White Citizens Council in Birmingham decried the "race-mixing" potential of the upstart sound's "raw, savage tone."

Among many other things, that attitude was stupidly intolerant. It's more than passing ironic, then, that some within the 2026 Rock'n'Roll community, having fallen for lazy mainstream journalists' kneejerk stereotyping of skinhead Oi! rockers, register equally high on the intolerance meter.

Meet the current bigot. Same as the old bigot.

For the uninitiated: One account holds that the skinhead movement was birthed in the 1960s, when ska-nodding Jamaican Rude Boys immigrated to England and blended with Rock'n'Roll-loving white working-class youth. 

That multi-racial, populist upswell was later infiltrated by racists, sadly, and has since been falsely depicted by corporate media as  institutionally hateful, malicious, and imbecilic. But neo-nazi dimwits were a miserable subset -- far away from the entirety and the punchclock sect's true essence.

But for fake-news wretches to actually do research and report complexities? Too much work, and unproductive to their preferred cultural narrative. Easier to unthinkingly crank out pre-formulated prejudices.

Haymaker are apolitical descendents of original skinheads. But, angry products of this crisper time, they bludgeon with two-fisted Punk. 

The group rallies like-minded, workaday masses to boots-and-braces unity, and appeal to upholding unique cultural identity. ("You're a working man and you are proud of it / You get blamed for whatever, but you don't give a shit!," declares Tim Steinfort in a robust reading of Bohse Onkelz's 1986 "Stolz"/"Pride.") 

Haymaker's shoutalong firebombs doubtlessly engender boulevard-marching, scalped choruses with fists thrust aloft. One hears a stomp battalion nearing. 

Race-hate is entirely irrelevant; it doesn't even enter into the calloused-hands equation.

"Why do I have to put 'I hate racism' on my jacket," Steinfort once asked. "Every normal human being is against racism. I think also everybody knows that I'm not a racist...I say to left-wing extremists: 'Fuck you!' Because, of course I hate Nazis, but I hate left-wing extremists as well. And maybe more. And do you know why?

"Because, constantly, you're accusing me of being a racist. Well, you know I'm not. Instead of standing up, saying 'I know Tim, you can say what you want, but he's definitely not a racist.' Instead of that, you stay away from me, because of what other people think. Well, fuck you...

"Of course, when people wear Swastikas or 'White Power,' okay - get 'em the fuck outta here!"

Individuals like Tim thinking for themselves and rebelling against conventional judgements is entirely in the spirit that fired our music to begin with.

Which is a wordy manner of saying: Pretty fuckin' Rock'n'Roll.

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Tim Steinfort on being unpolitical (9:46)

Videos: "Hooligan"   "Haircut"   "Proud"   "Skinhead"