What does PUNK mean to you?

[softgrey]

How do YOU define punk...?

is it a style of music?
is it a style of dress?
is it an attitude?
is it a way of thinking?

what is it, in your opinion?...

please give examples...

____________________________________________

i think that punk-

is an anticonformist movement...
antiestablishmentarianism ...

an·ti·es·tab·lish·ment (

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adj. Marked by opposition or hostility to conventional social, political, or economic values or principles.

it's all about nonconformity...
that's the punk attitude...
nonconformist to the core...

......B)...

*true story...

 

[lepetitcouturier]

"What's your favourite punk song?"
"Uhhhh..... the sex pistols?"

"What's your favourite punk band?"
"Uhhhh..... the sex pistols?"

"Did you go to the bathroom before you got here?"
"Uhhhh..... the sex pistols?"


And let us not forget Hailee Steinfeld digging Green Day and Avril Lavigne.

 

[Scott]

everything you said softie,i concur wholeheartedly.

for me it's everything....it was reaction to the social barometer...the class system. the way the working class was treated. everything was exposed and raw and shoved into the establishment's face. it was the pistols belting out mantras of anarchy. it was DIY out of sheer lack of money and disdain for emperor's new clothes.....

 

[justaguy]

To me, punk was a way of life, not a trend. Kids rebelling against the establishment that fueled their frustrations from lack of jobs, training, direction, etc. The outcome was a reflection of that pent up angst which ignited an explosion of creativity through music, fashion and attitude. This movement gave kids an outlet to express themselves. I think punk started long before the likes of the Pistols and Ramones brought it to the mainstream. But regardless, it left a legacy that will live and inspire forever.

 

[iluvjeisa]

To me punk has always been about not giving a **** on an intense level.

It is a frame of mind, and it has little to do with age.

It's also a form of expressionism.

 

[softgrey]

"What's your favourite punk song?"
"Uhhhh..... the sex pistols?"

"What's your favourite punk band?"
"Uhhhh..... the sex pistols?"

"Did you go to the bathroom before you got here?"
"Uhhhh..... the sex pistols?"


And let us not forget Hailee Steinfeld digging Green Day and Avril Lavigne.

ahhh...ahhaahaa...
yeah...
some of that red carpet interview stuff was really painful to watch...


i think it's ok if hailee steinfeld doesn't know anything about punk...
i don't even know or care who she is, so i think that's kind of fair and balanced...

 

[Mockingbird]

The opposite of everything that Anna Wintour stands for

In more seriousness, I think in its simplest form, punk is (yes, not past tense) anger that stems from disillusionment. Punk was a movement that rose out of frustration, but I think it is also an emotion. Depression, anger, resentment...Punk fashion and music were just after-effects of the emotions felt by the punk movement, what came together as a result of people expressing their punk beliefs through whatever methods possible.

 

[softgrey]

The opposite of everything that Anna Wintour stands for

In more seriousness, I think in its simplest form, punk is (yes, not past tense) anger that stems from disillusionment. Punk was a movement that rose out of frustration, but I think it is also an emotion. Depression, anger, resentment...Punk fashion and music were just after-effects of the emotions felt by the punk movement, what came together as a result of people expressing their punk beliefs through whatever methods possible.

so, what would you say are punk beliefs?

 

[ultramarine]

Transgression.

As softgrey said: it is being anti stablishment.

I do have some proto-punk friends here, and they are REAL hardcore and have been for many years now. They have earned my admiration and respect.

And punk is this ...

Img from Hoxton pub's facebook page.

 

[Melisande]

I agree that punk is ONE expression of antiestablishmentarianism, but one characterized by a specific aesthetic and attitude.

However it is by no means antiestablishmentariansim (I like that word, lol) per se.
People like Aung San Suu Kyi, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, even many writers and artists, designers are anti-establishment and non-conformist, but not punk, you know? Neither are they hippies, beatniks, what have you.

However, I don't think punk has to do with non-conformity, since punk usually entails a certain amount of conformity to certain elements of style and/or music/values. On the contrary...

True non-conformists defy classification...

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Creating from destruction. Creating with destruction.

It really is linked to dadaism and expressionism in that sense.

Being angry is part of it, but depression, apathy and nihilism are too. After all, Joy Division are still linked to punk, having seen the Sex Pistol's now infamous Manchester gig, and having decided to play music - because what else could they do? The country was being systematically changed once Thatcher took control. You can still feel the after-effects in Manchester... In NYC, bands like Television or the Voidoids were clearly about nihilism.

It's the inexorable feeling that it's impossible to overcome or fit into "the system" or culture in place, thus the ensuing rejection of that and formation of a new subculture.

 

[Tardigrade]

Somehow ironic

There are different kind of punk scene in punk. But a symbol such as a Crass logo is to show that you are "one of them", like a way of getting to know "your kind of people". But just because you belong to a subculture doesn't mean that you fit in to some sort of stereotype. But in the end punk is not actually about the fashion so much as standing for something or doing things your own way... Well punk can actually also be anti fashion in some peoples mind... Like if you look at the early punk rock grunge scene, their fashion was an anti fashion statement from the start... Then that way of dressing became a trend...

There after punk is an identification based on very political grounds. So it somehow a bit ironic how you can sell clothes that are punk for very expensive prices (I love those clothes myself though). When punks them self often are kind of against those kind of system that are based of spending in those kinds of way (anarchists against capitalism).

Source: Punk friends of mine

 

[prosperk]

Musical genre and American jailhouse slang in equal measure, before I even see Punk Rockers in my mind's eye. Maybe I watch too many old B-movies...

 

[tangerine]

Rebellion. The rejection of monolithic or rigid hierarchies that appear too big be dislodged; a stand against seemingly overwhelmingly entrenched forces of conformity or dictates of behavior.

Whether you identify with the Ramones and other NY-based bands refusal to accept the formula of rock dinosaurs packing huge stadiums in the mid-70s or The Clash and Sex Pistols' rejection of the Jubilee and Thatcher's England, the same principle applies.

The designation "punk" suggests the parallel with an impudent child or delinquent fighting a (presumably) unwinnable battle.

 

[Citypigeon]

I definitely agree, 'rebellion' is the key word when it comes to punk- Resistance against oppression, which comes in all sorts of forms in society.

I've always found there to be a fascinating relationship between punk and hip hop. I've always loved both philosophies, how they both began and flourished in NYC, and stood for a type of rebellion, spirit, and style, and couldn't help but feel the two were deeply connected to each other. I recently took a hiphop/bboying studies course and learned from readings that the first white people to have embraced and integrated themselves into the first generation hip hop scene and house parties of 1970s Bronx were the punk rockers. I thought that was really interesting, and then realized how it only makes sense.

Gang members and budding bboys of the Bronx were expressing themselves to resist the socioeconomic oppression around them, and not only used their dancing and their block parties, but also the bright colors of graffiti paint to boldly retake and claim their terf. It's easy to connect the two movements when you consider what the punks of the 1970s stood for, how their scene quickly overlapped with the art scene cause of the bright colors they used for shock value, their DIY anti-fashion sensibility, so forth and so on. They'd obviously be the first people to "get" each other :

They were both fighting the same kind of fight, and they both gave birth to incredible art/music movements that way.(As for the punk rockers going to hip hop parties, there was a vice-versa, too. When first gen bboy, Popmaster Fabel, visited my school, I asked him about punk and he explained that he was a huge fan and was very engrossed in the punk scene at the time. I'm sure he wasn't the only kid from the Bronx to be like that.)

It's amusing to consider how, like hip hop, punk started as a anti-conformist/anti-suppression movement of a minority that established its own unique aesthetic, art scene, music scene, and fashion statements, all of which have been appropriated by mass commercialism, and whose artistic elements are still extremely popular today. It's both sadly ironic, but also positive. There would be something wrong with the world if such movements just died and never resonated with the rest of the world, even at the cost of dilution/commericialism .

 

[lady stardust]

punk is about opposition and to being free in your expression and of course the *anger is an energy* stuff B)