Re-branded rock duo Soft Play find witty resurgence in new single ‘Punk’s Dead’

“Punk’s dead, pushing up daisies, Come and get a load of these PC babies!”

Written by Evelyn Wallace
Edited by Eve Moat

Rock Duo, ‘Soft Play’ hailing from Kent, includes frontman Isaac Holman and drummer
Laurie Vincent, who recently cleared up the negative baggage deriving from their
previous band name ‘Slaves’. Negative discourse began in 2015 when a critique was
published in The Fader with an article titled, “Why Would a Band of White Dudes Name
Themselves Slaves?”.

Soft Play announced their name change on Instagram in December 2022. They
explained the name ‘Slaves’ “was intended solely as a reference to the grind of day to
day life” but “as younger men, [we] responded to criticism of the name from a place of
fear and defensiveness” and that the “intent doesn’t change the fact that the name
Slaves is an issue”.

In late August, the duo released their latest single ‘Punk’s Dead’, a brilliant way to
confront the surge of criticism by sarcastically vocalising the ridiculous reaction to their
name change. Isaac explains, during their Reading and Leeds interview with Rock
Sound, how ‘Punk’s Dead’ was literally “written off Instagram comments” from people
who were “annoyed at us”. Laurie added that this comeback had resulted in the “most
radio play we’ve ever got”, confirming confidence in their decision to turn exaggerated
criticism into a tongue-in-cheek, riff-heavy Punk song.

For many fans ‘Punk’s Dead’ has reaffirmed their faith in the band.
Soft Play told Rolling Stone that ‘Punk’s Dead’ addresses “the haters head on”,
demonstrated in their airy lyrical attitude. The verses are filled with whiny demands,
allowing the listener to mock these childish claims such as, “I don’t like change” and
“Why can’t you just stay the same”, followed up by the chorus, “Punk’s Dead, pushing
up daisies, come and get a load of these PC babies”, pointing to the discomfort and
dislike of political correctness in the Punk sphere. The particular lyric, “Are there any
real men left in Britain, I’m starting to think that there isn’t”, addresses the toxic belief
made that to be ‘Punk’ you have to be masculine and hard, whilst left notions are
considered weak and soft.

The music industry, particularly in the area of Punk Rock music, has seen an increase
in bands referring to left-leaning discourse being confused with weakness. The
‘snowflake’ rhetoric; featured in ‘Punk’s Dead’, is also referred to by rock band IDLES,
highlighted in their lyric, “this snowflakes an avalanche”, noting to not underestimate the
power of the collective, and so-called ‘snowflakes’, whilst they label their music as being
“hard music for soft people”, provoking the idea that modern Punk is inevitably being
reshaped by the unavoidable progression of society. This idea of being ‘soft’ is
comically put to life in the newly released music video for Punk’s Dead, with Isaac and
Laurie getting pushed around by little kids on a bouncy castle, finishing with Robbie
Williams pictured in the sky singing the bridge which messes with idioms, “snowflake,
snowflake, cherries on the woke cake”. This jabs at the ridiculous response Soft Play
received after responding to political correctness.

The song’s lyric, “thought you were rowdy thought you were Punks”, links to the
expected idea of Punk rockers having to be ‘anti-establishment’, ‘hard’ and breaking the
status quo. The comeback of Punk’s Dead is unapologetic and Punk in its very nature
by biting back at convention. Many fans commented on how conforming to societal pressure and political correctness is pathetic and ‘unpunk’, but Punk Rock by its very nature, simply rejects bigotry, thus this is on brand for the band and is a fantastic demonstration of how to be sensitive but also unapologetic. Perhaps it could be conceived that the outrage seen is now not very Punk, and instead being altruistic is the new ‘Punk’.

Soft Play’s name change and new single has highlighted the noticeable discomfort
surrounding political correctness within the music industry, specifically within sub-genres, and perhaps comments on how the cultural left is redefining Punk music and putting progression into the spotlight. Laurie noted on Instagram, “In this day and age we believe it is very important that people change and
make improvements no matter how far down the line they are”. Punk’s Dead is a beautiful, nonchalant piece which creates mockery out of what is expected of Punk artists and abandons old rules to progress in line with modern society.

Soft Play has truly proven you can break down stereotypes and create contrast between harsh and so-called soft music.