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This item is held in Loughborough University’s Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) and was harvested from the British Library’s EThOS service (http://www.ethos.bl.uk/). It is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ The Authentic Punk: An Ethnographyof DiY Music Ethics by Alastair Robert Gordon A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of PhD of Loughborough University 18'hJanuary 2005 By Alastair Robert Gordon 2005 Abstract This thesisexamines how selectparticipants came to be involved in DiY punk culture, what they do in it, and how, if they do, they exit from the culture. Underpinning this will be an ethnographicexamination of how the ethics of punk informs their views of remaining authentic and what they consider to be a sell out and betrayal of these values. I illustrate how such ethics have evolved and how they inform the daily practice of two chosen DiY punk communities in Leeds and Bradford. I show how thesecommunities reciprocally relate to each other. I ask such questionsas what do the participantsget out of what is often experiencedas hard work and toil, particularly it where is fraught with a seriesof dilemmas bound up in politics, ethics, identity and integrity. I offer a grounded theory of how and what ways those involved in DiY punk authenticatethemselves in their actions. This will demonstratehow and, more importantly, why DiY punks distinguish their ethical version of punk over and above what are taken as less favourable forms of punk. What happens if previous passionatelyheld DiY beliefs are surrendered?Severe consequences follow should a participant sell out. I presentan account of theseand suggestthat what they involve is not the clear-cut question that is sometimes assumed,either sincerely or self- righteously. Keywords: Punk, DiY, Ethnography, Subculture, Authenticity, Ethics, Dilemma, Hardcore,Straight Edge, Commodification. The Authentic Punk An Ethnography ofDiYMusic Ethics Acknowledgments p.3 Introduction p.5 ChapterOne: Punks In Press p. 13 ChapterTwo: The EthnographicPunk p.46 ChapterThree: Entrance p.66 ChapterFour: Punk Ethics p.98 ChapterFive: Ethics in Action p. 142 ChapterSix: GenreDistinction p. 162 ChapterSeven: Authenticity in Action p. 177 ChapterEight: Exit p.227 ChapterNine: The Dilemmas of Punk p.258 Bibliography p.272 Appendices p.287 Gordon PhD 2 Acknowledgments First of all I would like to than my research supervisor, Mike Pickering, for his dedicatedsupport. His clear and careful guidance,steadfast belief and patiencefrom the initial inception of the project to its final completion has been invaluable. Words are insufficient to describe the gratitude and appreciation I feel for the dedicated support shown to me. Thank You. I also extend thanks to LoughboroughUniversity Departmentof Social Sciencesfor the three year researchstudentship and my fellow colleagues,David Deacon,John Downey, Dominic Wring, Mike Gane,Dennis Smith, Mick Billig, Jim McGuigan, GrahamMurdock, Peter Golding, SarahPink and all the staff in the Dept. At Nottingham Trent University, Con Lodziak for the original inspiration and support: thanks mate, and also to Chris Rojek for invaluable advice. Finally to my friend, Steven Stanley, who taught me the true art of academic snobbery. Thank you to all of the people who were good friends to me through what has proved to be a difficult period of my life: you know who you all are and there are too many to mention here. Friendly insults must be however be awardedto Olly, Jim R, SeanD, Bloody Kev, Bri, Dale and PC Lee, Snedda,(Da Holmes), Kito, Paula, Ged, Nicky, Dave, Leathers, Steve Charlesworth, Coops, Beautiful Steve, Jimmy and landlady Alison. A generalthanks is also offered to all those involved in the Leeds DiY scene, Out Of Step Recordsand the Bradford 1in12 club, for making this study possible. A big thanks to the Nottingham punk scene(especially Steve, Tim and Pat), Terry for the numeroustattoos and all at Bodycraft for the hospitality when I reachedfrustrating periods of this research.To my Mother, thanks for being you! In true punk tradition, unfriendly insults (of the two-finger variety) must, however, be extendedto those people who have made this period totally difficult for me. You Gordon PhD know who you are. Also, I give the bird to the bloke who ran into my car on the MI last March and to the Cimex lectularius who chosemy flat to visit during the last year of this research,gee, that certainly was a real help. Finally this work is dedicatedto my daughter,Sarah Gordon and also to the memories of the following people who tragically died during the course of this research. Jaz Toomer, John Paul Morrow, Ralph Hamilton, Robert Heaton, Stig (Icons of Filth), Mark (Poundaflesh)John Hepworth, and Wayne Southworth (Doom, The Devils). Rip. Also in remembranceof the following pioneers: Johnny Cash, Dee Dee, Joey and Johnny Ramone,Joe Strummerand John Peel. All of you will be sorely missed. For thepunks, Gordon PhD 4 Introduction THIS IS A CHORD, HERE'S ANOTHER, NOW FORM A BAND! ' A Short Note Before I Begin Sitting in the front of my father's car approachingthe ageof II on a cloudy afternoon in March 1979,1 witnesseda strangesight. Four punks were standingon the comer of the street with dyed leopard-skin haircuts, Mohawks, studded leather jackets emblazonedwith strange band names, bondage trousers and ten-hole Dr. Marten Boots. On the back of one of the punk's jackets was a detailed black-and-white painting of someoneholding a flag over their shoulder marching across a ploughed field. I had seenpunk rockers before and used to passa Johnny Rotten clone on my way home from school, feeling mildly intimidated at the sight of him. I'd witnessed the furore of the media coverageof the Sex Pistols on the Today Show and the Day- Glo displays of Never Mind the Bollocks album in the local Virgin record store. But this experiencewas different. I was mesmerised,and the painting was a complete enigma to me. What was it about? My concentrationwas broken with my father's voice, booming "look at that bunch of loutsH If you ever turn out like that I'll hang you from the nearestlamppost! " Too late, I was hooked! By late 1980 1 had found out what the symbol on the jacket meant through seriesof questionsto older punk peers and researchin the aisles of a local record store: the band was Crass. My friends and I ditched the Sex Pistols in favour of this strange black and white aestheticband and adoptedtheir anarchist politics. The hostility I subsequently received from my father at this only served to make me more determined to make more headway into the now forbidden world of punk. The austere anarchist politics on those records left me scared but the comments and the 1 Savage,(1991: 281). Gordon PhD angerchimed with the senseof alienation I felt at my school and in my family. I had no faith in the latter and Crasshelped to supportthese feelings making me realisethat it was acceptableto challenge the so-called unquestionablerules of the institutions that controlled our lives. Two years later I had my own band, and a much wider knowledgeof anarchistpunk music. Crassweren't acceptableto all the punks in my home town. I naively thought that all punks stood together against society. I was quickly proved wrong. On my way home from school, after I had walked past the stencilled Crass graffiti ---Tight War, Not Wars', 'Destroy Power Not People' -I was faced with the following accusation: 'Crass are a bunch of middle classhippies'. This had been sprayedby the local glue- sniffing, self-named Chaos Punks, who felt that Crass were a sell-out of what they consideredto be the original punk ethics of anarchy, chaos and destruction, not a vegetariancoterie intent on challenging oppression. That was far too much like the hippies for them. Such complicated and ambiguouspolitics were clearly not to the tasteof the ChaosPunks and a running seriesof rivalries continuedbetween us during the early eighties. Nearly twenty five years later, I'm still mesmerised,not so much now by anyone's sartorial display, but rather by the dynamicsof punk practice, the quandariesraised by various aspectsof punk values, and the accompanyingdebates about what, and what does not, constitute an authentic punk. A whole life-world of DiY punk has developedsince punk's inception. This is not unitary; there are factions and splits. There are countless bands, venues, political actions, record labels, distributors, fanzines, to name a small number of activities that are inspired by the ethic of DiY punk and, yes, the divisions have aged with us. Most of all there is an ever-present pressure,sometimes blatantly asserted,sometimes very subtly applied, to remain true 6 to what is consideredan authentic punk ethic. There is of course no one, fixed or absoluteconception of what that is. The compasswavers but continually points us forward. I first encounteredhostility to the anarchist ethic of DiY in 1981. Back then, to crossover from being a chaospunk to the terrain of what was soon to becomeknown as peace or anarcho punk, or indeed to move in the other direction, could easily become dangerousto your health and social standing. Accusations of selling out would arise from whatever side of punk you had previously been affiliated to, while hostility could head your way from such youth groups as skinheads, rude boys, trendies and the mods of the mod revival of 1980, all of whom might decide to use you as a punch bag. One of the most long-standingdilemmas of punk has been about selling out your band to a major label.