DOCSLIB.ORG

Queer Youth and the Importance of Punk Rock

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Queer Youth and the Importance of Punk Rock QUEERING PUNK: QUEER YOUTH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PUNK ROCK DENISE SCOTT A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-90087-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-90087-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada iv Abstract This thesis explores the reasons that punk is important to those people who are a part of the subculture. It draws on punk books, zines and other independent publications, and song lyrics, as well as my own experiences as a queer punk to argue that, by creating a sense of community and a belief system, punk provides some youth with an alternative to mainstream society. Additionally, it posits that punk provides queer youth with an alternative to both the heteronormative mainstream culture and the dominant, and oftentimes homogenous, gay culture. This thesis looks at the importance of queer punk bands and spaces, including the queercore movement, to queer youth, and in doing so, it also counters the invisibility of queer punks in punk literature, and in the punk scene more broadly. V Acknowledgements Completing this thesis has been a long process, and I could not have done it without the support of some truly wonderful people. First and foremost, I would like to thank my mom for her patience and encouragement, and for putting up with my many "freak outs" along the way. To my supervisory committee (Steve Bailey, Fuyuki Kurasawa, and Bobby Noble), thank you for all your guidance, support, and constructive criticism over the past few years. I would also like to thank my amazing friends for standing by me and providing me with some much-needed distractions, and Morgan and Trevor Holmes for their invaluable advice that helped me get to where I am today. Finally, I am forever indebted to the punk bands cited throughout my thesis, and all the others, that inspired this project, motivated me to keep going, and continue to serve as a soundtrack to my life. The nights spent skanking and slamming in mosh pits more than made up for the days spent staring blankly at a computer screen. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements Table off Contents Introduction Chapter One: Theorizing Punk 2 Resistance 2 Style 3 Authenticity 3 Class 3 Chapter Two: Queer Youth 4 (Mis)Representations of Queer Youth 4 Queer Youth Cultures Chapter Three: The Importance of Punk Rock ( Defining Punk ( The Importance of Punk Rock J Chapter Four: Queering Punk 1< Sexuality in Punk 1( Homophobia in Punk 1 Queercore V The Importance of Queer Punk V. Queer Punk Spaces V. Conclusion V References 1£ Discography 1€ 1 Introduction Like many teenagers, high school, for me, was confusing and stressful. I was that misfit kid who wore weird clothes, who cared too much about doing well in school, and who was just generally uncool. I didn't know how to act around the other kids at school so I didn't make any close friends. But then again, how could I expect my peers to know me and accept me when even I hadn't figured out who I was yet? Teenaged angst and alienation may be so common that it verges on cliche, but that didn't make it any less lonely at the time. Then I discovered punk, and suddenly it felt like at least one thing in my life made sense. Lawrence Grossberg says that "fandom is, at least potentially, the site of the optimism, invigoration, and passion which are necessary conditions for any struggle to change the conditions of one's life" (1992: 65). If that is true, then I guess I am a "fan," because at a time when I just wanted to stop and lie down, punk kept pushing me forward. It blocked out the noise in my head and gave voice to my anger and confusion. Punk, for me, was about more than just the politics or the clothes; it was, and still is, important to me in ways that, to this day, I am not sure I can effectively articulate. And the more I listen to the music, read the books, and go to the shows, the more I realize that it is like that for other people too. About two-thirds of the way through my undergraduate Sociology degree, I discovered that I could incorporate my interest in punk into my schoolwork. This was around the same time that I started to embrace my queer identity, and I began to notice that there was very little acknowledgement of queer punks, both in the academic literature and in the punk scene. This observation was the initial inspiration for this project. It is intended to begin to fill in some of the gaps in the 2 literature by exploring the experiences of queer punks, myself included, and why punk rock is important to us. Unlike many academic analyses of punk, which commonly focus on what punk means, I am more interested in why punk is meaningful to those youth, queer and straight, who are a part of it. I argue that punk provides some youth with certain things that they may not be able to get from mainstream culture, such as a sense of belonging among a community of likeminded individuals, and music and other cultural products that more effectively speak to their experiences and tastes. Therefore, this project is less about how the punk subculture affects the wider society, and more about how the subculture provides youth with an alternative to that society. I argue that the punk subculture, especially queer punk, offers queer youth an alternative to both heterosexual society and the dominant gay community, by which I mean the gay community that is most visible and easily accessible. As a result, queer youth are able to gain access to role models and positive images of queer sexuality and relationships that they may not be able to get from the mainstream media, where they are grossly underrepresented. Additionally, punk allows queer youth to participate in a social network that is different from the dominant gay community, which can, at times, have very specific aesthetic, musical, and cultural styles that do not necessarily resonate with all queer youth. Queer punk bands also increase the visibility of queer individuals within punk scenes, which can be heteronormative, and, on occasion, overtly homophobic. Queer punk therefore offers youth an alternative to the cultures they feel alienated from by providing them with a worldwide network of peers who are more likely to be able to relate to their 3 experiences, as well as their musical and cultural tastes, and by creating spaces where their identities as both queer and punk are recognized and celebrated. Defining Queer The idea of defining "queer" is something of a paradox in the sense that its very definition rests on its inability to be defined. Jagose describes queer as "a category in the process of formation," but not because it has yet to finish developing; rather, it is characterized by its "definitional indeterminacy" and "elasticity" (1996: 1). This conceptualization, however, risks the implication that queer can be used to describe anything and, as a result, describes nothing. Instead, queer calls into question the ways that concepts like sex and gender and categories such as "gay" and "lesbian," or "man" and "woman" are defined. It challenges the very idea that there is such a thing as a coherent, universal definition for these terms. Queer's potential lies not just at a theoretical level in its ability to disrupt identity categories, but also on a practical, everyday level in the way it speaks to the experiences of people whose lives do not necessarily make sense within the narrow confines of normative subjectivities. For example, Halberstam's (2005) concept of queer temporality demonstrates the fact that many queer people's lives do not follow the heteronormative life-course narrative characterized by marriage, reproduction, and economic stability.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • I Wanna Be Me”
    Introduction The Sex Pistols’ “I Wanna Be Me” It gave us an identity. —Tom Petty on Beatlemania Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being. —Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition here fortune tellers sometimes read tea leaves as omens of things to come, there are now professionals who scrutinize songs, films, advertisements, and other artifacts of popular culture for what they reveal about the politics and the feel W of daily life at the time of their production. Instead of being consumed, they are historical artifacts to be studied and “read.” Or at least that is a common approach within cultural studies. But dated pop artifacts have another, living function. Throughout much of 1973 and early 1974, several working- class teens from west London’s Shepherd’s Bush district struggled to become a rock band. Like tens of thousands of such groups over the years, they learned to play together by copying older songs that they all liked. For guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook, that meant the short, sharp rock songs of London bands like the Small Faces, the Kinks, and the Who. Most of the songs had been hits seven to ten 1 2 Introduction years earlier. They also learned some more current material, much of it associated with the band that succeeded the Small Faces, the brash “lad’s” rock of Rod Stewart’s version of the Faces. Ironically, the Rod Stewart songs they struggled to learn weren’t Rod Stewart songs at all.
    [Show full text]
  • Razorcake Issue #09
    PO Box 42129, Los Angeles, CA 90042 www.razorcake.com #9 know I’m supposed to be jaded. I’ve been hanging around girl found out that the show we’d booked in her town was in a punk rock for so long. I’ve seen so many shows. I’ve bar and she and her friends couldn’t get in, she set up a IIwatched so many bands and fads and zines and people second, all-ages show for us in her town. In fact, everywhere come and go. I’m now at that point in my life where a lot of I went, people were taking matters into their own hands. They kids at all-ages shows really are half my age. By all rights, were setting up independent bookstores and info shops and art it’s time for me to start acting like a grumpy old man, declare galleries and zine libraries and makeshift venues. Every town punk rock dead, and start whining about how bands today are I went to inspired me a little more. just second-rate knock-offs of the bands that I grew up loving. hen, I thought about all these books about punk rock Hell, I should be writing stories about “back in the day” for that have been coming out lately, and about all the jaded Spin by now. But, somehow, the requisite feelings of being TTold guys talking about how things were more vital back jaded are eluding me. In fact, I’m downright optimistic. in the day. But I remember a lot of those days and that “How can this be?” you ask.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concert Hall As a Medium of Musical Culture: the Technical Mediation of Listening in the 19Th Century
    The Concert Hall as a Medium of Musical Culture: The Technical Mediation of Listening in the 19th Century by Darryl Mark Cressman M.A. (Communication), University of Windsor, 2004 B.A (Hons.), University of Windsor, 2002 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Darryl Mark Cressman 2012 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2012 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for “Fair Dealing.” Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Darryl Mark Cressman Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Communication) Title of Thesis: The Concert Hall as a Medium of Musical Culture: The Technical Mediation of Listening in the 19th Century Examining Committee: Chair: Martin Laba, Associate Professor Andrew Feenberg Senior Supervisor Professor Gary McCarron Supervisor Associate Professor Shane Gunster Supervisor Associate Professor Barry Truax Internal Examiner Professor School of Communication, Simon Fraser Universty Hans-Joachim Braun External Examiner Professor of Modern Social, Economic and Technical History Helmut-Schmidt University, Hamburg Date Defended: September 19, 2012 ii Partial Copyright License iii Abstract Taking the relationship
    [Show full text]
  • Razorcake Issue #82 As A
    RIP THIS PAGE OUT WHO WE ARE... Razorcake exists because of you. Whether you contributed If you wish to donate through the mail, any content that was printed in this issue, placed an ad, or are a reader: without your involvement, this magazine would not exist. We are a please rip this page out and send it to: community that defi es geographical boundaries or easy answers. Much Razorcake/Gorsky Press, Inc. of what you will fi nd here is open to interpretation, and that’s how we PO Box 42129 like it. Los Angeles, CA 90042 In mainstream culture the bottom line is profi t. In DIY punk the NAME: bottom line is a personal decision. We operate in an economy of favors amongst ethical, life-long enthusiasts. And we’re fucking serious about it. Profi tless and proud. ADDRESS: Th ere’s nothing more laughable than the general public’s perception of punk. Endlessly misrepresented and misunderstood. Exploited and patronized. Let the squares worry about “fi tting in.” We know who we are. Within these pages you’ll fi nd unwavering beliefs rooted in a EMAIL: culture that values growth and exploration over tired predictability. Th ere is a rumbling dissonance reverberating within the inner DONATION walls of our collective skull. Th ank you for contributing to it. AMOUNT: Razorcake/Gorsky Press, Inc., a California not-for-profit corporation, is registered as a charitable organization with the State of California’s COMPUTER STUFF: Secretary of State, and has been granted official tax exempt status (section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code) from the United razorcake.org/donate States IRS.
    [Show full text]
  • Anal Cunt • Deceased • Executioner Fistula • Panzerbastard • Psycho Rampant Decay/Kruds • Rawhide Revilers • Slimy Cunt & the Fistfucks Strong Intention
    PRESENTS RELEASES FROM: ANAL CUNT • DECEASED • EXECUTIONER FISTULA • PANZERBASTARD • PSYCHO RAMPANT DECAY/KRUDS • RAWHIDE REVILERS • SLIMY CUNT & THE FISTFUCKS STRONG INTENTION Now Exclusively Distributed by ANAL CUNT Street Date: Fuckin’ A, CD AVAILABLE NOW! INFORMATION: Artist Hometown: Boston, MA Key Markets: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Portland OR For Fans of: GG ALLIN, NAPALM DEATH, VENOM, AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED Fans of strippers, hard drugs, punk rock production and cock rock douchebaggery, rejoice: The one and only ANAL CUNT have returned with a new album, and this time around, they’re shooting to thrill –instead of just horrifically maim. They’re here to f*** your girlfriend, steal your drugs, piss in your whiskey, and above all, ROCK! (The late) Seth Putnam channels Sunset Strip scumbags like MOTLEY ARTIST: ANAL CUNT CRUE and TWISTED SISTER to bring you a rock’n’roll nightmare fueled TITLE: Fuckin’ A by their preferred cocktail of sex, violence, and unbridled disgust. From LABEL: PATAC ripping off theCRUE’s cover art to the massive hard rock riffs of “Hot Girls CAT#: PATAC-011 on the Road,” “Crankin’ My Band’s Demo on a Box at the Beach,” and “F*** FORMAT: CD YEAH!” and tender ballad “I Wish My Dealer Was Open,” Fuckin’ A is an GENRE: Metal instant scuzz rock classic. BOX LOT: 30 SRLP: $10.98 UPC: 628586220218 EXPORT: NO SALES TO THE UK Marketing Points: • 1ST PRESS LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. Currently on its third pressing! • Final album before the passing of ANAL CUNT frontman Seth Putnam Tracklist: • Print ads in Maximumrocknroll, Decibel, Short Fast & Loud and Chips & Beer 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Razorcake Issue
    PO Box 42129, Los Angeles, CA 90042 #19 www.razorcake.com ight around the time we were wrapping up this issue, Todd hours on the subject and brought in visual aids: rare and and I went to West Hollywood to see the Swedish band impossible-to-find records that only I and four other people have RRRandy play. We stood around outside the club, waiting for or ancient punk zines that have moved with me through a dozen the show to start. While we were doing this, two young women apartments. Instead, I just mumbled, “It’s pretty important. I do a came up to us and asked if they could interview us for a project. punk magazine with him.” And I pointed my thumb at Todd. They looked to be about high-school age, and I guess it was for a About an hour and a half later, Randy took the stage. They class project, so we said, “Sure, we’ll do it.” launched into “Dirty Tricks,” ripped right through it, and started I don’t think they had any idea what Razorcake is, or that “Addicts of Communication” without a pause for breath. It was Todd and I are two of the founders of it. unreal. They were so tight, so perfectly in time with each other that They interviewed me first and asked me some basic their songs sounded as immaculate as the recordings. On top of questions: who’s your favorite band? How many shows do you go that, thought, they were going nuts. Jumping around, dancing like to a month? That kind of thing.
    [Show full text]
  • Bad Rhetoric: Towards a Punk Rock Pedagogy Michael Utley Clemson University, [email protected]
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 8-2012 Bad Rhetoric: Towards A Punk Rock Pedagogy Michael Utley Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Utley, Michael, "Bad Rhetoric: Towards A Punk Rock Pedagogy" (2012). All Theses. 1465. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/1465 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BAD RHETORIC: TOWARDS A PUNK ROCK PEDAGOGY A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Professional Communication by Michael M. Utley August 2012 Accepted by: Dr. Jan Rune Holmevik, Committee Chair Dr. Cynthia Haynes Dr. Scot Barnett TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction ..........................................................................................................................4 Theory ................................................................................................................................32 The Bad Brains: Rhetoric, Rage & Rastafarianism in Early 1980s Hardcore Punk ..........67 Rise Above: Black Flag and the Foundation of Punk Rock’s DIY Ethos .........................93 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................109
    [Show full text]
  • The Educative Experience of Punk Learners
    University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 6-1-2014 "Punk Has Always Been My School": The Educative Experience of Punk Learners Rebekah A. Cordova University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Cordova, Rebekah A., ""Punk Has Always Been My School": The Educative Experience of Punk Learners" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 142. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/142 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. “Punk Has Always Been My School”: The Educative Experience of Punk Learners __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Morgridge College of Education University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Rebekah A. Cordova June 2014 Advisor: Dr. Bruce Uhrmacher i ©Copyright by Rebekah A. Cordova 2014 All Rights Reserved ii Author: Rebekah A. Cordova Title: “Punk has always been my school”: The educative experience of punk learners Advisor: Dr. Bruce Uhrmacher Degree Date: June 2014 ABSTRACT Punk music, ideology, and community have been a piece of United States culture since the early-1970s. Although varied scholarship on Punk exists in a variety of disciplines, the educative aspect of Punk engagement, specifically the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos, has yet to be fully explored by the Education discipline.
    [Show full text]
  • Arbiter, August 23 Students of Boise State University
    Boise State University ScholarWorks Student Newspapers (UP 4.15) University Documents 8-23-2004 Arbiter, August 23 Students of Boise State University Although this file was scanned from the highest-quality microfilm held by Boise State University, it reveals the limitations of the source microfilm. It is possible to perform a text search of much of this material; however, there are sections where the source microfilm was too faint or unreadable to allow for text scanning. For assistance with this collection of student newspapers, please contact Special Collections and Archives at [email protected]. ·::··;!:!!e'~6TiJDEHT VOICE OF BRISE STAn ~)NCE 1933 chao I ofro1ock ) massaqa boards, braaklnq LIlJJams the BIg Easy news, archive search, photo slide shows & weather Online stores saving Bronco bucks on Bronco books BY MRRY GRRCE LUCRS NBws RBportBr The tightening of Bronco purse strings each August is as predictable as having long lines at a printer in any computer lab. Between tuition, textbooks and various classroom supplies, the start of a new academic calendar can mean added fmancial concerns for many BSUstudents. Students are flocking to Web sites selling new and used textbooks, linking students in their quest to save a few bucks. There are many outlets on-line to buy, sell and trade new and used college textbooks. Those who shop carefully can flnd them- selves with a few extra Lincolns in their wallet. Boise State [unior Erin Quinn says a few minutes shopping on-linothis semester saved her about $75. "I look every year. Sometimes they're the same [price], sometimes they're a deal," says Quinn.
    [Show full text]
  • SUBCULTURE: the MEANING of STYLE with Laughter in the Record-Office of the Station, and the Police ‘Smelling of Garlic, Sweat and Oil, But
    DICK HEBDIGE SUBCULTURE THE MEANING OF STYLE LONDON AND NEW YORK INTRODUCTION: SUBCULTURE AND STYLE I managed to get about twenty photographs, and with bits of chewed bread I pasted them on the back of the cardboard sheet of regulations that hangs on the wall. Some are pinned up with bits of brass wire which the foreman brings me and on which I have to string coloured glass beads. Using the same beads with which the prisoners next door make funeral wreaths, I have made star-shaped frames for the most purely criminal. In the evening, as you open your window to the street, I turn the back of the regulation sheet towards me. Smiles and sneers, alike inexorable, enter me by all the holes I offer. They watch over my little routines. (Genet, 1966a) N the opening pages of The Thief’s Journal, Jean Genet describes how a tube of vaseline, found in his Ipossession, is confiscated by the Spanish police during a raid. This ‘dirty, wretched object’, proclaiming his homosexuality to the world, becomes for Genet a kind of guarantee - ‘the sign of a secret grace which was soon to save me from contempt’. The discovery of the vaseline is greeted 2 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE with laughter in the record-office of the station, and the police ‘smelling of garlic, sweat and oil, but . strong in their moral assurance’ subject Genet to a tirade of hostile innuendo. The author joins in the laughter too (‘though painfully’) but later, in his cell, ‘the image of the tube of vaseline never left me’.
    [Show full text]
  • “Whiskey in the Jar”: History and Transformation of a Classic Irish Song Masters Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of
    “Whiskey in the Jar”: History and Transformation of a Classic Irish Song Masters Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Dana DeVlieger, B.A., M.A. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2016 Thesis Committee: Graeme M. Boone, Advisor Johanna Devaney Anna Gawboy Copyright by Dana Lauren DeVlieger 2016 Abstract “Whiskey in the Jar” is a traditional Irish song that is performed by musicians from many different musical genres. However, because there are influential recordings of the song performed in different styles, from folk to punk to metal, one begins to wonder what the role of the song’s Irish heritage is and whether or not it retains a sense of Irish identity in different iterations. The current project examines a corpus of 398 recordings of “Whiskey in the Jar” by artists from all over the world. By analyzing acoustic markers of Irishness, for example an Irish accent, as well as markers of other musical traditions, this study aims explores the different ways that the song has been performed and discusses the possible presence of an “Irish feel” on recordings that do not sound overtly Irish. ii Dedication Dedicated to my grandfather, Edward Blake, for instilling in our family a love of Irish music and a pride in our heritage iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my advisor, Graeme Boone, for showing great and enthusiasm for this project and for offering advice and support throughout the process. I would also like to thank Johanna Devaney and Anna Gawboy for their valuable insight and ideas for future directions and ways to improve.
    [Show full text]
  • Punk Preludes
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Supervised Undergraduate Student Research Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects and Creative Work Summer 8-1996 Punk Preludes Travis Gerarde Buck University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj Recommended Citation Buck, Travis Gerarde, "Punk Preludes" (1996). Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/160 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Supervised Undergraduate Student Research and Creative Work at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Punk Preludes Travis Buck Senior Honors Project University of Tennessee, Knoxville Abstract This paper is an analysis of some of the lyrics of two early punk rock bands, The Sex Pistols and The Dead Kennedys. Focus is made on the background of the lyrics and the sub-text as well as text of the lyrics. There is also some analysis of punk's impact on mondern music During the mid to late 1970's a new genre of music crept into the popular culture on both sides of the Atlantic; this genre became known as punk rock. Divorcing themselves from the mainstream of music and estranging nlany on their way, punk musicians challenged both nlusical and cultural conventions. The music, for the most part, was written by the performers and performed without worrying about what other people thought of it.
    [Show full text]