Tim gets opinionated.

There are moves afoot in this country to limit youth culture, to stop the kids having a good time. Yet there is a darker, more sinister, more covert force in action than The Leveller's beloved CJA. Because the trendy middle-class, up-to-the-minute weekend colour supplement journalists are taking our bands and TELLING OUR PARENTS ALL ABOUT THEM!

You see, rule one of rock music is make sure it offends your parents. The electric guitar, the drum machine, the sampler all have as much ability to offend as the swearword or the subversive political lyric. And ever since the first accusation of "devil's music" was levelled at Rock'n'roll, we have delighted in finding music that those responsible for us could not understand or appreciate.

But, starting with the death of Kurt Cobain and Courtney's subsequent shenanigans, the weekend 'lifestyle' or 'review' sections have been full of little reassurances to our nearests and dearests, explaining that they may shout and play noisy guitars and take drugs, but so did John Lennon and we like him don't we? Blur's latest video may have some rather questionable footage of Page Three girls, but it doesn't matter because they got Damien Hirst to direct it, so that's obviously postmodern. And your kids will soon start growing their sideburns because the next big thing is Supergrass.

But the most dangerous thing these people are doing is telling mother and father not to worry because in the end, they'll grow out of it and we'll all start listening to Mike and the Mechanics. So just remember. Don't let them act like punk never happened.

Tim.