Punk

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Perry Grossman

Punk music developed "scenes" centered on bands, clubs, and fans in a particular area, such as Manchester and London, England. The Damned, Stiff Little Fingers, the Jam, and Sham 69 were particularly influential, as were the Gang of Four, the Mekons, and the Delta 5 from Leeds, England. In the United States, the Los Angeles, California, scene produced such bands as Black Flag, Fear, the Germs, X, and the Circle Jerks. Two documentaries--The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) and Another State of Mind (1984)--document the lives of various L.A. punk bands both on stage and off. The Dead Kennedys (San Francisco), the Teen Idols, State of Alert (S.O.A.), and the Bad Brains (all Washington, D.C.), and Hüsker Dü (Minneapolis) were all especially important early punk bands.

Punk was always about more than music, however. For both fans and musicians punk amounted to a kind of lifestyle. From the beginning, punk haircuts and clothing stood in stark contrast to the appearance of rock 'n' rollers. As Dick Hebdige describes, punks rebelled by wearing ripped clothing, black leather, and assembling cultural icons as decoration. Mohawk haircuts, dyed hair, or extremely short cropped haircuts distinguished punks from the typically long-haired rockers. Hardcore attire followed directly from punk, although it tended to be more subdued. Dark clothes, black leather jackets, ripped jeans, sneakers, or boots (especially Doc Martens) were common; however, the outlandish costumes of punk--bright clothes and colored hair--were often toned down. Many hardcore fans simply wear jeans, a tee-shirt (often with a band insignia), and sneakers. In some sense this was a rebellion against the mainstream cooptation of punk dress but it was also an attempt to get beyond an anti-fashion style that was not only a lot of work, but made punks subject to verbal, and occasionally physical, harassment. Less dramatic attire allowed hardcore punks to move more easily between mainstream and alternative cultures. Thus hardcore, while characterized by a louder and more aggressive music, began a tendency back to more mainstream attire.

Punk has offered a radical critique of society and has been noted for its unique ideological characteristics; however, punk has not presented a coherent philosophy but rather a series of related critiques. Punks have been particularly hostile to authority and questioned rules and rulemakers. Rather than focussing simply on politics in the conventional sense, punk challenged the patterns and norms of contemporary social relations. As Dick Hebdige writes, punk has "signified chaos at every level." The politics of everyday life were most central to punk and lyrics question social rules and relationships. Many lyrics are centered on love, relationships, jobs, and so on, but punks put a radical spin on such issues. Punks have aimed to shock and offend and are particularly anti-romantic in their sentiments. Love is frequently referred to only in sexual terms and often quite graphically, as in the Dead Boys' "Caught with the Meat in Your Mouth." Some punks have used Nazi images and ornaments in their outfits, and have made callous reference to such tragedies as the Holocaust in such songs as "Belsen Was a Gas." However, such practices generally reflect an attempt to use images in an ironic sense to question conventional meanings. Furthermore, punks have been by and large anti-Nazi and anti-fascist and have frequently espoused left-wing and humanitarian concerns.