The problem with Tramp Stamps isn’t that they are industry plants, it’s that their music isn’t good.
A new band called Tramp Stamps started gaining views on a TikTok they posted of themselves lip syncing to their new song I’d Rather Die, a move that is pretty common for new bands. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t gaining views because people liked their song, in fact it was the opposite.
TikTok users had declared them an industry plant and started devoting videos gaining hundreds of thousands of views explaining why they aren’t actually punk and how they are terrible people with terrible songs.
Let’s start at the beginning. Tramp Stamps is a self proclaimed skate punk girl group based out of Nashville made up of lead singer Marisa Maino, guitarist Caroline Baker, and drummer Paige Blue. Their website says that they write songs about “the kind of stuff women talk about all the time with their friends, but no one’s ever put it into this kind of music before,” despite female centric genres like Riot Grrrl music being prominent for decades.
Dressed in Dolls Kill and bright colored hair and writing lyrics about how bad straight white men are at sex, it seemed like they would fit right in on the Y2K obsessed, man hating queer Gen Z side of TikTok. Maybe a little too well.
Dressed in Dolls Kill and bright colored hair and writing lyrics about how bad straight white men are at sex, it seemed like they would fit right in on the Y2K obsessed, man hating queer Gen Z side of TikTok. Maybe a little too well.
Ever since people started noticing that they didn’t dress punk a few months ago, they have ties to producer Dr. Luke, and started out a little too polished, they had been given one of the worst accusations a new artist can be branded with: industry plant.
An industry plant can be described as an artist or band that has major label backing to ensure success. Some of the most popular artists today can be described as industry plants, like Lorde who was signed to Universal Music Group before her first EP came out. The difference here is that Lorde never tried to hide how she got her start while people feel that Tramp Stamps are putting on an inauthentic front of being self made.
Putting all the controversy aside, is their music actually good? Short answer: no. It sounds like what Disney Channel thinks punk sounds like with as many expletives and as much autotune as they can fit. Looking at the lyrics, it seems like it’s trying too hard to be empowering to women to the point of being problematic again.
Their new song they were promoting on TikTok I’d Rather Die, features questionable lyrics like “I don’t know how you think we’re gonna fuck / When you can’t get it up / I’m sick of hearing it’s the alcohol” and “I’m just saying / It’s not fair to / Leave me hanging like this.” It almost seems fittingly hypocritical that the band has songs about questionable consent given their ties to producer Dr. Luke, who singer Kesha is currently in a years long legal battle with accusing him of sexual assault and emotional abuse. Even the lyrics that aren’t problematic are a bit, and I can’t think of a better adjective, cringey. In their song 1-800-miss-ur-guts, the lyrics “just a Tumblr girl and a skater boy” make it all too clear what audience they are trying to reach.
The band put out a seven page instagram notes app “apology” on Monday, starting with “hi fuckers,” and basically saying that everything they are being accused of is an offensive lie.All the allegations of being inauthentic shouldn’t be shocking to them, though. If a band is going to present itself as punk, it should be prepared for swarms of people looking for any reason to call them posers. As a famously DIY and countercultural genre, it’s hard to convince people you are the real deal. I guess the moral of the story here is that if you want to start a punk band, don’t post a video of yourself not knowing My Chemical Romance if you don’t want people calling you an industry plant.