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The age old question: "What Is Punk Rock"

Posted over 5 years ago
The punk rock culture has become so commercialized thanks to Wal-Mart, Target, Hot Topic, the media and countless other money sucking fucks. The the past couple of years its been "cool" to wear Ramones and CBGB Tshirts, studded belts, wear makeup (boy or girl), have odd haircuts and listen to the most obscure band that you can find in hopes no one else has heard of them. It obviously just doesn't seem right.I got into punk at the age of 12. I did all of the above, minus the makeup, when I was younger but I always questioned why I was doing it and the only answers that constantly came up were 1) because it's what everyone else is doing and 2) its "cool". Nothing like, "this is my statement to the world", no art message no rebellion either. Now I'm 22. I'm sitting here w/ a Columbia jacket and a bouncing soul tshirt. Sometimes life requires me to wear a shirt and tie and I own multiple pairs of American Eagle blue jeans. I shower twice daily and I am so anal about cleaning that I think I border on OCD. None of this is really punk rock, it's really typical and maybe even bland. But I still listen to punk rock and it affects my life greatly. It really is about the mentality you have, not the cloths you wear and what you do and don't do. It's about the message, not the culture. I'm still gonna beat the hell out of my steering wheel when I'm 52, still going to pump my fist in the air and still have my mouth drop to the floor when I hear a song that means something to me.happy holidays
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Comments (11)

  1. etcvisitor
    etcvisitor says it always boils down to where your heart is when you wake up, when you go to bed, and every moment in between. im glad i know you, stay true.
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  2. lisj27
    lisj27 says hmm... it's all about enjoying the music. i think its funny when people actually care about looking scene an wanting to be associated with a particular genre of music. i have no problem going to a bouncing souls show wearing j.crew jeans and a banana republic sweater... in fact i have... several times... and i get no greater satisfaction then proving to every person there who actually gives a crap about what i wearing that i "will rock harder" than they could ever possibly ever wish... do these people honestly believe that you can't be a real fan if you don't fit a certain profile? please. its all about just enjoying the music and having a good time...
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  3. deadmandeadman
    deadmandeadman says In the teen years its so important, for some, to ride in the safety of the herd. In the twenties you get to know yourself. If you define yourself by your STUFF, or your Wardrobe, Or those you run with, you're still learning. When you define yourself in your heart, an' your head, you gain the awesome strength of true humility. MERRY CHRISTMAS.
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  4. lemontwist
    lemontwist says Of course it's not about how you act or dress, it's about what you like. :)
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  5. Sparkylulu
    Sparkylulu says The funny thing is, almost all of the original punk WAS about what your wore and looked like. THe Ramones were really doing nothing more than speeding up blues rock and The Pistols were about marketing and atitude (they admit so). The Ois of the late 70's were about boots and skinheads. Rock has always been about preening in some way or another. This ideology that "it's all about the music, man" is utter bullshit and always has been. I might blog about the "Proprietary aspect of music" sometime soon, since there is so much of that in what is popular. But, seriously, punk was an atitude and an appearance. The fact that a lot of the music was good helped. It's always funny to me when people lump bands like Green Day in as "punk" since they are so obviously influenced by pop rock bands like The Beatles, Queen, The Shoes, The Knack even. They have less in common with Dead Kennedys, TSOL and their ilk and more to do with The Ramones. And the Ramones were a harder edged version of pop rock. They were the Raspberries on steroids.
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  6. CrashPryor
    CrashPryor says - the punk scene is like the cicadas (locusts) are in southern states- you only get to see 'em rise out of the ground and into the treetops every seven years or so but when they come, you'll hear about it *everywhere* and miles around..."It really is about the mentality you have, not the cloths you wear and what you do and don’t do. It’s about the message, not the culture." I think the proverbial "it" is a mixture of all of these sprinkled with some of what deadman and lemon said and a sidecar of Sparkylulu's input, in my opinion- as an older head, I wonder if "*the punks I've known*":http://mog.com/CrashPryor/blog_post/10168 would've been as fastidious as you in the dress/ shower departments- I'm not hatin', in the least, though, son. A decade and change from now, you'll wonder about the "punk scene" (in that future time) and what it was like in your day (now)...if punk music is taught me anything: punk don't die, it just changes faces...
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  7. fairportfan
    fairportfan says About seven years before you were born, judging from your post, i first began picking up on *The Ramones* (i was 30 at the time); the next year, i saw *Blondie* opening for *the Kinks* (this was like nine months before Heart of Glass). Yes, despite what some say, it *is* "all about the music". If the music's no good, all the clothes and makeup and jewelry in the world won't make it so. *Sparkylulu*: I respectfully disagree totally with your conclusions. *The Ramones* are the seminal band in the punk movement; they were "punk" in the original, American meaning of the term - garage-band psychedelic-influenced rock. (See "*Nuggets*":http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000AFWZ/mikewebersweberw nad its sequelae). It was said (by John Cale, i think), with some accuracy, of the *Velvet Underground*'s original "*Banana*":http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002G7C/mikewebersweberw album that only five thousand people bought it, but they all started bands... The Ramones' shows in London in that are immortalised on "*It's Alive*":http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002N2N/mikewebersweberw pretty much hold that same place in the punk world. But it is "all about the music, man" - if you're any good, if you're honest. If it's just all about the benjamins, then you can probably make more money easier driving a truck. It is possible to be "commercial" (meaning people want to pay money to hear you/see your shows) without being "commercialistic" (which means you're only in it for the money).
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  8. fairportfan
    fairportfan says Oh - and i meant to point out that i'm 58, and still pogo happily 'round the room when the random selector cycles up *Blitzkrieg Bop* or *Sheena*. And back in '92, i did three high-speed loops down the middle of I-65 in Alabama when i dodged a possum-on-the-half-shell, because i hadn't noticedthat pounding the wheel, bouncing in my seat and nailing the gas pedal to the strains of Motorhead's *Angel City* had me up to 100-plus mph...
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  9. Sparkylulu
    Sparkylulu says Dude, I'm 41 and I pogo to The Ramones. That said, a helluva lot of punk was all about the look, the tude and the like. And every generation seems to think that "punk isn't the same as when I......." but it really is. It never changes. In fact, I would submit that there are few genres of music as judgmental as Punk. For a movement that was all about individuality and being yourself, if you didn't fit into the punk box, you were outcast. But, admittedly, I was a little late to the party. I was 12 at the height of the punk scene. New Wave was my era. Which was just punk with a new name so parents wouldn't be scared of it. I never said it was all about money. I said ithat punk was a fashion. The MUSIC was exciting and new, but that was really because it was back to basics. It was old, and revved up. Can you imagine listening to The Ramones today and thinking that they are too hard and fast? They are almost subnambulist compared to today's "punks". But, they stripped away the artifice that the Beatles had built and brought everything back to the start. It wasn't about the $$ since the ramones were always poor. But the punk moniker was about fashion. even the punk bands didn't consider themselves by that term. They just played.
    Permalink posted 12/24/2006
  10. 1234chainsaw
    1234chainsaw says Sparky has a good point that the '70s progenitors of "punk rock" rarely called themselves punk--even though the term "punk" was put to this use already in 1970. But it's just a label. If you can talk about what you do without pigeonholing yourself, why not do so? Also, In general I think this thread suffers from running separate questions together. (1) What characteristics define a genre of music known as punk rock? (2) What characteristics define a certain kind of DIY attitude towards whatever kind of music you're doing? (3) From what kinds of motives are you doing whatever kind of music you're doing? These are very different. You can easily do music that classifies as punk under (1) while not being punk under (2) and (3) because what moves you is money or a certain look or desire to belong in a certain subculture or whatever. You can easily like music that classifies as punk under (1) while being narrow-minded and judgmental. But from this you can't conclude that the genre of music known as punk is somehow intrinsically judgmental. (Just one example is that you can hear whole-hearted approval of the friggin' Supremes all over the Ramones. That doesn't make their music any more or less punk rock.) If anything, punk in senses (2) and (3) is quite the opposite. Likewise you can easily do music that doesn't classify as punk under (1) but counts as punk under (2) and/or (3). Johnny Cash comes to mind. Late '20s-early '40s acoustic blues guys come to mind. Lot of bands in the late '70s whose music counts as punk under (1) simply skipped over the political concerns that were loud and clear in the '76-'77 punk and fall under (3) broadly speaking. Discussion were easier if people specified what sorts of things they have in mind when they talk about punk rock. And frankly, whether you pogo to some particular song whether you're 20 or 60 hasn't got shit to do with whatever it or you are punk rock. Nor does what you wear, not as such.
    Permalink posted 12/25/2006
  11. orphanage
    orphanage says can you put that in a mathmatical equation for me? ;)
    Permalink posted 12/27/2006

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