Punk Movement Essay

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.

There were many more punks in Britain and it was acceptable to be a punk. During the time of the cold war, punk rock was used to inform people of political conflicts happening throughout the world and did it through music (1). Punk rock bands also sang about the economic problems during the cold war. Before the cold war though swing, jazz, blues, and the big band were very popular (6). Like punk rock during

By the end of the 50’s and beginning of the 60’s rock had somewhat died down and become tamer. many thought it was dead until the mid 60’s. Rock & Roll had a resurgence, known as “The British Invasion”. While things had settled down in the US, England had been inspired. Groups from Britain like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles brought a fresh style, infusing British Rhythm and Blues and Jazz into what they played. This revival propelled the genre down two different paths. Many groups came onto the scene and continued to make more of the same teen-appropriate pop-style music. others pushed boundaries in an industry heavily influenced by drugs, spawning the phrase, “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll”. The Beatles were at the center of it all, experimenting with different sounds and instruments. Their experimentations became part of a larger movement, known as psychedelic rock, which included the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd was one of the first bands to use laser lights in their concerts. What’s more psychedelic than that? Hendrix even took it a step further, creating what many call Acid Rock. Additionally, the Beatles were not just trendsetters with their music, but also with fashion, sporting hair that was abnormally long for men at the

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.

“He [Pearson’s father] would freak out when he read the song titles to the cassettes that my friends and I would shoplift from the mall…He was certain that I’d become a Junkie if I listened to that kind of music. But with an alcoholic wife-beater father who didn’t give a shit about his son I was bound to avoid the cliched, nihilist aspects of punk culture” (Pearson 12).

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.

Though many will jokingly argue that “punk is dead” Punk is still very much alive in today’s society. From Mohawks to mosh pits punk has had an impact on today’s culture. Ironically enough punk once known as being a counterculture to the mainstream has now become a large part of it. It can be seen in fashion and dance and especially music. Overtime punk has changed and evolved. It has branched out into numerous sub genres such as pop punk, glam punk, skate punk, and many more. Bands like Fall Out Boy, Greenday, Paramore, The Wonder Years, and All Time Low are modern examples of punk. These bands continue to draw in the younger audiences, because they still exemplify the free and rebellious nature of punk. Punk will continue to live as long

Nevertheless, punk shouldn’t be held to such high standards of influence. It’s influential; it’s something that made misfits feel as though they had a place, but not something to be held to the unattainably high standards. All things considered, it did do something positive, it provided a home and inclusive environment for those who were frustrated and just plain angry.

Mike Ness is the lead singer and has seen how the “punk rock style” changed from being looked down upon and then slowly became culturally accepted. The “punk rock style” in 2014 is very criticized and looked down upon within our society. In my experiement culture shcok was probably the most prevalent sociological

“The History and Evolution of Rock and Roll” says “The founding fathers of punk were The Ramones who combined anarchism and teenage rage with rock and roll. Other bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash helped popularize and redefine punk rock. This powerful and intense new genre of music influenced many bands in the future”. An unfamiliar sound deviated from the typical Rock and Roll and it made Punk which the teenage population identified with. Heavy metal was also a uprising in the early 1970’s.

     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.

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. Punk bands typically use short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through informal channels.

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.

In order to understand the topic that is to be discussed in this essay, one must first understand two seemingly unrelated topics. Those topics are feminism and punk rock. These two social movements spawned the love child that has come to be known as the riot grrrl movement. The history of the riot grrrl movement is deep and intensely intertwined with themes of monumental social change, musical evolution, and the previously unseen all-encompassing nature that is unique to third wave feminism.