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Punk Rockers
Useful Vocabulary
Anarchy, anti-establishment, rebellion, tyranny, authority, individual, mohawk, consumerism, conservative, radical, controversial, uncontroversial, mosh pit, subculture, metal, rock, classical, jazz, hip hop, rap, folk, country, swing, pop, clean cut, fashionable/unfashionable, hairstyle, role model, entertainment, education
Read and discuss the following passages in groups. Punk is a subculture that became popular in the 1970s. It can be used to refer to a music style, look, or lifestyle. In all cases, it means resisting tyranny in any form and making your own decisions and own living without worrying about what others say. It's associated with rebellion, avoidence of consumerism, and anti-establishment ideas. Punk music contains a wide variety of sounds. It usually is based on guitar bands, though these range from bands like the Ramones, the Clash, and Green Day, to Dropkick Murphys, Blink-182, Misfits, and Joy Division. Have you heard of any of these bands? What is your opinion of their music?
The punk look is iconic. Clothing can be home made, brightly coloured, and leather jackets and skinny jeans are commonly associated with the look. Brightly coloured and unusually styled hair, like mohawks, are also common, as are piercings and tattoos. What do you think of the punk look?
Now, as a group, imagine you are in a band...
Prepare a presentation to deliver to the class about the band. What will your band be called? What kind of music will you make? What will your message be? Decide on a genre of music and a look for your band, and describe it in detail. What kind of influence will your band have on society? Write a chorus or verse of a song to demonstrate your band's message and influence. Reading Activity
No future? Punk is still the sound of youth rebellion the world over Nostalgia alone can't explain its survival, 35 years on from its annus mirabilis in 1977 [From The Guardian Online: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jun/01/no-future-punk-youth-rebellion]
To most people, punk may be preserved in the amber of history but to those who attend events such as Scumfest it is very much a going concern, and not one that is simple to describe.
To the average Briton, meanwhile, punk is a piece of familiar pop culture bric-a-brac that Andy Radwan, writer, solo artist and veteran of the punk band Eater, sums up as "the three chords, the mohican, the leather jacket and the spitting".
Nostalgia doesn't explain the survival of punk as a sprawling global subculture. There is something there – some irreducible core attitude – that continues to thrive even when Joe Strummer is dead. When a musician (or writer, or activist, or fashion designer) uses the phrase "punk rock attitude" we sense what they mean, even if we don't agree with their application. "Punk to me means living by your own politics and doing things on your own terms," says the Wakefield-based "acoustic punk" Louise Distras. "The term has been used very liberally, maybe too much, but I think it all boils down to that one universal idea." British punk was the product of a specific time and place. In London in the mid-70s, wrote the young Martin Amis, "everything seemed ready for the terminal lurch".
Punk was a symptom of that mood of crisis, but from the very start it refused definition.
The US punks disagreed with the British punks. The Clash disagreed with the Sex Pistols. John Lydon disagreed with the rest of the Sex Pistols. Some embraced politics, others ignored it; some wanted to return to rock 'n 'roll basics, others to forge bold new styles. "I don't think punk is necessarily a style of music," says John Robb, a writer and musician. "It's a questing attitude and not just slavishly following the rules. Punk means different things for every person. For some people it's anarchistic, for some people it's leftwing, for some people, unfortunately, it's rightwing and a lot of people in the middle just like the records and have some vague notion that it's travelling in a communal direction." When it comes to the true meaning of punk you are never far from a heated argument. Distras says that she has been criticised both by old punks for playing an acoustic guitar and by fellow acoustic punks for writing strongly political lyrics. "I come across the different factions but I don't even know the names to be honest. It's a bit pointless to be arguing about what punk means when we're all trying to make the world a better place."
This may sound almost hippyish in reference to a culture which emerged in a complicated roar of rage and disgust but even when punks clash over ideals they agree on the fundamentals: self- expression, independence, nonconformity, resistance, a belief in alternatives.
While punk's external signifiers are no longer shocking, these core principles continue to inspire new generations. "Mainstream culture tends to eat everything up but I think punk still has the connotations of something subversive," says Maclean, who offers as succinct a summary of the living spirit of punk as you are likely to find. "It is a refusal to accept that this is the way it's going to be."
Your Notes... ______Discussion Questions
- What does punk mean to you? Is it a music style, a fashion style, or a lifestyle? - “Music is always political”. Do you agree or disagree? Why? - The punk genre started in Britain. Opera is an italian type of music. - Can you think of other types of music that come from Italy, or from different cultures? - What can these types of music tell us about a culture? - When were they invented? Who listens to them?
Examples of genres punk/ rock/ rap/ classical/ opera/ folk/ country/ jazz/ metal/ world/ medieval/ baroque/ orchestral/ electronic/ soul/ pop
Political vocabulary leftwing/ rightwing/ communist/ socialist/ liberal/ conservative/ republican/ radical/ anarchist/ democracy/ democratic/ autocracy/ autocratic
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