The Punk Singer Critical Analysis

While these white punks were able to return to their middle-class, financially stable lives, many minorities had no choice but to live in the cheap apartments they were offered at the time. Although the intention of the white punks may have been to unify all races under the label of ‘punk’, they actually reinforced clear differences between the two groups. The lifestyle became a desired object to white privileged punks into which they launched themselves head-on. The white punks desired to internalize the struggle rather than be contradictory by singing about it and not actually living it. White punks believed that by doing this, they were not only eliminating race within the punk subculture, but they were also furthering their own participation within the subculture by creating a “self-imposed minority”2 and an “appropriation of Otherness”2.

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.

Thesis Paragraph: The Cold War was a period of time where there was political and military tension between the United States and the USSR. Punk rock bands had a lot to say about everything that was happening during this period of time. Including revolutionary changes or almost having a nuclear war and they expressed their thoughts through loud and fast songs. Punk rock was very popular in Britain and the United States but mostly Britain.

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 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

Postmodernism is a term that lacks a definitive definition. According to Fabe, postmodernism has become meaningless, which is ironically appropriate because one of the core concerns of postmodernism is meaningless (173). Mast and Kawin note that “postmodernism analyzes a world without a definitive center,” and builds on references to popular culture (630). In class, we discussed that postmodernism comments on contemporary culture, often through quotation, appropriation, borrowing, homage, reusing, and recycling. After watching the two postmodern films, Annie Hall and How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman, I think postmodernism fits into all of these definitions. I also think postmodern films offer a sort of truth that is often unrecognizable

Punk music is usually defined by power chords, raw vocals and high energy performance. Punk rock is the best music ever created. It is, in short, a thinking man’s rock music. And to some, it’s like God himself ordained punk rock as His preferred music of choice. Why? Because it’s just that good. Hundreds of faithful teens and twenty-something adults pack themselves into basements shows like sardines in a tin, just to have their holy gospel delivered to them by guys with names like “Johnny Rotten,” “Justin Sane” or “Davey Havok.” Punk rock is the best musical style for numerous reasons. The reasons might seem simple, but the difference between punk and mainstream music is that punk is just better. It’s clever, thoughtful and passionate. On

The Punk Singer, is a documentary film directed by filmmaker Sini Anderson in 2013. This film takes a look at the life of activist, musician, and cultural icon Kathleen Hanna. She formed the punk band Bikini Kill and dance-punk group Le Tigre. She garnered national attention when she created the "riot grrrl" movement of the 1990s. Kathleen Hanna was a fearless feminist leader that started a revolution that impacts American culture today. The Punk Singer takes viewers on a thought-provoking tour of revolutionary music and offers an outlook on the life of Kathleen Hanna.

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

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.

Once upon a time, there was a little kid named Ed “the Punk” Wood, aged fourteen, who enjoyed punk music more than anyone he ever knew. His friends Luke, Alex, and Joe always tagged along with him whenever there was a good punk show in town that they had to go see! So one day Ed spread the word about one of his favorite bands, The World Inferno/Friendship Society are coming to play at one of his favorite venues on earth, Asbury Lanes. Asbury Lanes was a bowling alley that was also a concert venue. Basically they shut down five or six of their bowling lanes and constructed the building into “not your mom and dad’s regular” bowling alley where you can watch great bands, eat some delicious tater tots, have a nice ice

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.

As a teenager growing up in 1970s Washington D.C. one might rise out of bed in the morning, squeeze into their bell bottoms and skin-tight t-shirts, not expecting that that would be the day they ran into a group of kids dawned in black with clothes pins in their shirts, who called themselves punks and were looking to make a change in DC music history. In a time where the country was divided by political beliefs, a raging war, and racial tensions, smack dab in the center of Washington D.C. came the punk scene. It was said that the hippie scene majorly influenced the punk scene, some would say that the hippies were “the real punks”(Punk: Attitude, 3:12). The punk scene consisted of kids who opposed hippies, so in retrospect the hippies are what

With the economic decline and availability of jobs with upward movement, a culture of youths formed in Britain that challenged the ideals and cultural norms of the generations that came before them. A consistent movement from traditional society through youth subcultures brings light through the eyes of the musicians that describe their generation’s feelings of homelessness in an era filled with unemployment, low wages, and violence. The insurgence of the counterculture movement, poor economic conditions, and the commercialization of previous Rock and Roll music in Britain directly led to the punk subculture because it allowed youths to speak up about their conditions and frustrations through an easily understood and accessible medium while maintaining a different stance than their predecessors.