The "What Does Punk and it's Idealogy Mean To You?" Thread

[Black Francis]

Ive always thought Punk is all about rebelliousness.

Before punk bands even know how to play they have the attitude of punk as their main drive learning how to play tends to come second. ive always thought the spirit of punk is tied to the youth sense of defiance, alot of them speak of anarchy and follow a punk ethic that hardly stands for anything except pure rebelliousness.

I think this why most punks don't stay a punk forever, even the bands spearheading the movements eventually mature and break out of the punk movement because for most ppl being a punk was just a phase.

That's not to say you can't enjoy punk music without being a punk, even if you move on you can enjoy the music for what it is without tying your identity to it.

[Tristan_Geoff]

Originally Posted by Black Francis

Ive always thought Punk is all about rebelliousness.

Before punk bands even know how to play they have the attitude of punk as their main drive learning how to play tends to come second. ive always thought the spirit of punk is tied to the youth sense of defiance, alot of them speak of anarchy and follow a punk ethic that hardly stands for anything except pure rebelliousness.

I think this why most punks don't stay a punk forever, even the bands spearheading the movements eventually mature and break out of the punk movement because for most ppl being a punk was just a phase.

That's not to say you can't enjoy punk music without being a punk, even if you move on you can enjoy the music for what it is without tying your identity to it.

I think that's accurate for the most part. At least in the early days. I guess when the bands attitudes about life changed the fans' did too.

For instance, you really don't see as much law breaking from punks. Graffiti? Yeah, that's still common. But look at some of the biggest festivals of the genre. Riot Fest in Chicago and The Fest in Gainesville. Now look at the kind of people that go. It's mostly college kids and skate punks, right? They may not break rules but they'll rebel in other ways. I always saw part of this as punk fans being openminded. Mostly this means eradicating gender roles and being open to a wide variety of people. Gays, Muslims, feminists and a lot of other groups have found their place in the scene because of it.

[Apollonia]

Dude you generalise punks way too much. It's split off into so many different subgenres since it's inception that such blanket statements are entirely inaccurate.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Apollonia

Dude you generalise punks way too much. It's split off into so many different subgenres since it's inception that such blanket statements are entirely inaccurate.

True. I do too TBH. Much of my criticism is against early 70s punks -- or at least the British 2nd wavers from 77-78 who immediately followed the arty punks who would largely go on to make post-punk and sneer at the 2nd wavers -- and their missing the point of what made their forebears unique and interesting, instead opting to treat shallow rebellion and bad fashion as what punk was all about.

Also the early 80s hardcore kids, who would even further miss the point of the first scenes in London, New York, Cleveland, etc, to form cliques of gang-like hooligans bent on breaking whatever they felt like for no apparent reason and claim political beliefs that they barely understood, again treating punk as a fashion statement.

And now the high school morons who are more or less clones of the above two groups. Subcultures are by and large for kids who are just looking for a cookie cutter pseudo-personality to make up for their own lack of a sense of self. I did the same with 80s metal (to an extent, as I knew absolutely no one who listened to the same music who I could emulate) but by the time I was in my early twenties I'd discarded such silly notions, as did any punk with common sense.

[Apollonia]

I think the worst are pop punk kids who are absolutely clueless about the history, I saw someone on tumblr calll My Chem and some other ****ty bands "the holy punk trio" and wanted to ****ing die.

[Psy-Fi]

It never meant anything to me as a teen, back in the 70's, and it doesn't mean anything to me now. It was just music. Some of it sounded good to me at the time (and still does) and some of it sounded awful (and still does.)

I've always found the political/fashion/cliquish elements of punk to be more ridiculous than interesting.

[Tristan_Geoff]

Originally Posted by Apollonia

Dude you generalise punks way too much. It's split off into so many different subgenres since it's inception that such blanket statements are entirely inaccurate.

Yeah, it's really hard to put them all in the same boat and I realize that. I guessthat in general they all have similar idealogy though.

Edit: As an addition, I kinda started this to see how other people viewed the music and it's fans. So yeah, that's just how I see it. I haven't observed much to change my opinion as of yet but I'm totally aware of all the sub-sub cultures involved with the sub-sub genres. A Crack Rock Steady fan will probably think and act a little different from an Orgcore fan and etc.

But on top of that, the individual fans always have differing views, so it really isn't fair to say all in one sect act/dress/think the same is it? And so, opinions differ. And I realize that.

[Tristan_Geoff]

Originally Posted by Psy-Fi

It never meant anything to me as a teen, back in the 70's, and it doesn't mean anything to me now. It was just music. Some of it sounded good to me at the time (and still does) and some of it sounded awful (and still does.)

I've always found the political/fashion/cliquish elements of punk to be more ridiculous than interesting.

It can be sometimes. I'll agree with that.

[JGuy Grungeman]

For me it depends on the style. Punk as a whole is raw emotion. Pure punk is about teen rebellion, hardcore is about anger, post-punk is a sadder genre, riot grrrl's about girl power.

[Tristan_Geoff]

Originally Posted by JGuy Grungeman

For me it depends on the style. Punk as a whole is raw emotion. Pure punk is about teen rebellion, hardcore is about anger, post-punk is a sadder genre, riot grrrl's about girl power.

I think that's partly true, but there's definitely a lot more covered than just that.