Argumentative Essay On The Sex Pistols

Punk rock music has been used for decades to express dissatisfaction with society, government, or any idea common in mainstream media. Yet punk rock is not simply a tangent of the mainstream, it is a dynamic and fluid genre with many distinct songs. Don Letts, a mainstay in the London punk scene during the 70’s and 80’s, went as far to say that hip-hop was essentially “black” punk. While punk and hip-hop music are stylistically different, the fundamental tone of the two genres is the same. Even throughout the decades, hip-hop has sang the same issues as punk, including the plight of the lower class, police brutality, and gang violence.

An early moral panic involves Mods VS Rockers in 1964. Events that were actually just a few scuffles between youths and vandalism were report in an exaggerated way. The media portrayed this event as a ‘Day of Terror’ and words such as ‘Riots’ and ‘battle’ were used. Cohen suggests over reporting of this far outweighed the importance of the actual event. He argues that the media tapped into a social consensus, that all the public shared concerns about the general decline in morality of the young and the emergence of a strong youth culture. Consequently the two groups were perceived in a stereotypical and distorted way.

The attitude common in the subculture is the resistance to selling out, which means abandoning one’s values and changing in musical style toward pop to embrace anything that’s mainstream capitalist culture in the exchange for money, status, or power. Punk rocks’ common thinking wasn’t only anti-authoritarism, and not selling out but also non-conformity, direct action, and a DIY ethic. The DIY attitude was pointed towards stepping forward and speaking without any restraint. To fight with warrior qualities to achieve what you were striving for. The kind of thinking and motives for punk rock subjects was to not settle for what society made acceptable and standard but to think and work outside of the box that was holding them in.

Music has been a long standing form of expression for hundreds of years. More recently however, it has become a way for artists to make social commentaries on the society they live in. During the 1970s, Punk bands and Ska bands emerged in England and rose to become a major source of social commentary through their upbeat music. Specifically looking at music from The Stranglers, The Specials, and The Clash, it is clear that lyrics clouded with anger and passion can be best communicated through upbeat sounds and melodies. Each of these groups communicates a need for radical change in society; but each one goes about this in a different way. Through the songs, “I feel like a Wog,” by The Stranglers, “A Message to you Rudy,” by The Specials, and “White Riot,” by The Clash, these bands point out that there is a common enemy in Society. They are forcing the mainstream to realize unpleasant truths about the culture that they inhabit. The future of England was unknown, and these songs were written during a time where people were worried about their place in the world. Faith in the system was dying and these bands gave way to a future generation to improve upon society that will present a more positive and equal multicultural Britain. Through the music it is clear that multicultural Britain was complicated; there were tumultuous times that these bands were commenting on, which pitted races against each other but also brought them together in fighting back against suppressive societal

Music, in the past, has often spelled bad news to society at large. It can challenge norms and invoke a sense of hype in places that modern culture may be uncomfortable with, such as sex, sexuality, and drugs. Personally, when I think of punk music, I see a genre that stands to be individualistic, aggressive, and rebellious. Phrases such as ‘anti-establishment’ also come up. This notion comes from many aspects of punk subculture, including dress, music, performance, and my interpretations.

To understand the point that John Roderick is trying to convey in “Punk Rock is Bullshit: How a toxic social movement poisoned our culture,” we don't actually have to read the full paper. This is because he emphasizes his point and opinion about punk rock right in the title. Rather than trying to understand his point, I want to clarify that his opinion on this matter is not the only opinion, as indicated by the paper following it, “A few thoughts on That “Punk Rock Is Bullshit” Essay,” by Ally Schweitzer. I can understand where Roderick is coming from, since all he is doing is putting his perspective forward and we all have the right to do so. But, I would say that I neither agree nor disagree with him, but still that he is being too harsh on the subject at hand. Since I have never shown any interest in punk rock, I’m more of a hip

The peaceful life of the English society of the 1960s was struck by the clashes between the Mods and Rockers. Both Mods and Rockers were called “gangs”, which is a “structure sharing the same ideas, attachments and solidarity” [7]. Every gang usually has its own “interests, activities, membership, and status” [7]. Usually such groups appear spontaneously. Both gangs - Mods and Rockers - “represented opposite tastes with regard to a number of social conventions such as clothing, grooming, music, and so on” [7]. For example, the Mods (modernists) preferred to wear suits and pointed shoes, listen to Jazz and Rhythm & Blues style of music and ride scooters. In their

In Jonathan Epstein’s novel, he suggests that the band’s following viewed the group as a hierarchy, separated socially and personally. Similarly, Charles Manson’s group, known as The Family, were willing to live and die for him, all for his ideologies. Unlike Manson, the band people never explicitly asked for people to follow them, but it is not secret that people in the entertainment industry always look for an audience. Not only artists, but the people who are in charge of our government as well, seek out for those who agree and are willing to support their message. It is unlikely that one would not have strong opinions on the mechanisms of our society, and it appears that now more than ever people are becoming more aware and an advocate

The authorities might feel threatened their hegemony, therefore they make an objection to confrontational topics and promote their own interests through media that has usually right-wing political nature. The subculture’s creativity involves polemics that try to oppose to traditional moral values; and these creative artists are often comes from young generation who wants to sell their work through provocative themes otherwise a project would not be able to sell itself. Music, for example, Emo- hard-core punk provides example of the criminalisation of culture. It is a youth movement based around clothing, music, and characterize a dark a view of the world. Members of this group adhere to a conventional cult in lifestyle with melancholy and emotions. Emo emerged in mid 1980s as post-hard-core style. Schoolgirl performed suicide because she wanted to impress other people from the emo movement (Alleyne, 2008). In the Daily Telegraph, Alleyne suggests that the authorities blame emo culture for ‘a self-harming youth cult which glamorises death’. The printed media try to associate Emo subculture with something controversial that has an image of a violent result and can lead to anarchy. In this case, the authorities try to make a link between the girl and a music band with its lyrics that might inspire her to commit a

     The time was in the mid-seventies, there was a void in the music industry that needed to be filled. This need for a new sound was aptly filled by punk rock, a new type of sound that had evolved from mostly rock and a little pop music. The focus of this paper is on punk rock and it’s ample beginnings, early pioneers of the new sound, punk rock listener’s cultural background and their ideas as a whole, bands influenced by the punk rock movement, and the state of punk rock today.

Most of the original rebellion was directed towards the British class structure. They wanted to express their disapproval of the structure that governed their country. In The Jam’s “Eton Rifles”, the band sarcastically attacks the upper class, calling them arrogant and preaching to them that rugby is the only thing making them strong (Punk 68). The Sex Pistols’ album “God Save The Queen” portrays the Queen of England with a safety pin through her nose on their cover. The reaction to this outburst of shocking rebellion from the mainstream society was a strong, displeased one. American writer Greil Marcus defined punk as, “…refusing the future society has planned for you.” Thousands of social misfits attempted just that. Through the many causes for this rebellious political expression: communism, anarchy, feminism, etc., the punks of England had a focus and a reason. It was this that made the “punk” a valid, yet undesired member of society, and the British public got to see this sociological change first hand (Chamberlain par.8). Although this movement was short lived, its impact was a phenomenon, and its effects were long- lasting, which distinguished this group from previous generations.

The previous year, when the punk rock revolution began in Great Britain, was to be both a musical and a cultural "Year Zero". Even as nostalgia was discarded, many in the scene adopted a nihilistic attitude summed up by the Sex Pistols slogan "No Future"; while "self-imposed alienation" was common among "drunk punks" and "gutter punks", there was always a tension between their nihilistic outlook and the "radical leftist utopianism" of bands such as Crass, who found positive, liberating meaning in the movement. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummer's outlook, "Punk rock is meant to be our freedom. We're meant to be able to do what we want to do."

More properly it was a transitional era seeing revolutionary changes in the home, the workplace and the nation. These changes were motivated by Rock and folk musicians who unlocked the Pandora’s Box of youth counterculture, “a mood of rebellious releasing its quintessential fears of unbridled sexuality, unabashed vulgarity, the release of primitive, and the breaking of all cultural taboos” (Auslander,

Our world is full of propaganda and unique activities of every sort. There are countless methods of entertainment pushed towards us in an effort to capture our undivided attention. These forms of entertainment are available through the freedoms Americans have - the freedoms derived from our Constitution. Americans enjoy “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” more than arguably every other country; moreover, they will be the first to say so. Americans have little restrictions on expressions and, therefore, many groups feel the need to do just that – express themselves. However, these expressions by such a plethora of actors also is the very reason none of them succeed in holding one’s attention for great lengths. When analyzing “punk” rock as an expression or propaganda, it actually is one of the few which has been able to capture the attention and live through the people for a long period of time – over 30 years.

While the rest of England sat back and ignored the monarchy continuously feeding off the working class and giving nothing in return, The Sex Pistols decided enough was enough. With the release of ‘Anarchy in the U.K.,’ came an uproar from high class citizens. The Sex Pistols’ message was loud and clear: they were tired of the oppression faced by the working class. Religious people were appalled by the use of the word “antichrist” in their lyrics, saying that the band was going against “God’s prophecy,” (Gildart 141). Even with the negative publicity, ‘Anarchy in the U.K.,’ still topped the charts.