Suicide Girls killing punk

Have you ever seen something that you love be used and abused by a bunch of swindlers and smut peddlers?

I'm seeing that now as the term "punk" is being used by people associated with Suicide Girls.

For those who don't know, Suicide Girls is a website that's become fairly popular in the past couple of years. They use models with the "alternative" look just in case any of the guys that use the Internet do not fancy your typical airbrushed Playboy models.

I just ignored Suicide Girls as long as I could, but now I have to vent about how ridiculous the whole concept is to me.

I can ignore trendy people going on about how they love to check out the site all day long. If I was a fan of most mainstream radio drivel that the music industry tries to pass off as "punk", I'd have to spend my extra time doing something, right?

But it is much harder for me to ignore a talented musician, and one was recently interviewed by a member of the Suicide Girls staff.

I'm referring to Marco Pirroni, former guitarist for Adam Ant and Sinead O'Connor.

The Wolfmen, Pirroni's newest musical project, was not only promoted by the website but they also returned the favor, having the Suicide Girls logo on their Myspace page and referring to them as "punk rock pornographers".

I respect The Wolfmen's apparent opinion that any publicity is good publicity, but I have trouble with their definition of Suicide Girls.

Whenever I go to a show, which is almost a weekly ritual for me, I see a lot of attractive women.

However, they look and act like real people. I can't say that about Suicide Girls.

In fact, I don't know how a bunch of painted up, tattooed models wearing vinyl clothing are any less detrimental to the self-image of young girls than the airbrushed, professional stick women you see in mainstream magazines.

The Suicide Girls had some kind of cabaret tour come through Atlanta not too long ago. They didn't play at a punk venue, interestingly enough, and I don't know a single stretch jeans wearing guy who went to see this great exhibition of talent.

Maybe they didn't have the money, right? Based on their profiles, most Suicide Girls wouldn't have had that problem.

In fact, I would say that most of them go to the nicest clothing shops and use their mama's gold card to make purchases. There's no working at an awful job, buying thrift store clothing or having a normal boyfriend who does the same for these girls.

Before anyone decides that I am against free expression, I must add that I thought Suicide Girls was a good idea when I first heard about it, and there are similar sites that are less ridiculous.

If being a Suicide Girl is your idea of liberation and self expression, then more power to you. I, on the other hand, think it's a trendy website that is the worst misuse of the term "punk" since the last time The Police were "rocking out" in stadiums.