What did it really mean to be a punk?

Punk is currently attracting a lot of interest. God save the queen, a Sex Pistols classic, topped the UK singles charts during Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. This milestone comes 45 years after the original release of the song, which, oddly enough, was not so successful at the time, the Silver Jubilee in the summer of 1977.

Famed director Danny Boyle also dramatized the life of the gang in his series. Pistolwhich shows the evolution of the Sex Pistols and the British punk movement that originated in London in the 1970s.

The series, based on the autobiography of Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, has been the subject of controversy, including a legal battle with the band’s former frontman John Lydon, who tried to prevent his music from being used. The singer called the series “the most disrespectful shit I’ve ever had to put up with”.

Almost all genres of popular music have subcultural connotations, that is, they influence, for example, fashion and moral values. But it can be said that no other genre has more subcultural significance than punk. Talking Heads musician and singer David Byrne stated that “Punk was defined by attitude, not musical style”.

But what does it mean to be a punk?

Rejection institution musical and political authority

Unlike progressive rock and glamor what preceded it, punk was anti-establishment, anti-regulation and anti-commerce. It originated in the early to mid-1970s as music became less accessible and less recognizable to the next generation of audiences. The emergence of punk coincided with a period of economic recession and rising social unrest. It was a time when the youth felt that their future was very bleak.

The break with the intellectual and elitist attitude was central to the punk attitude. The names of early British punk bands such as The Clash, The Stranglers and The Damned (meaning The Clash, The Stranglers and The Damned respectively) served as statements of both militancy and provocation.

NewRose The Damned is considered one of the first UK punk anthems. It was released in October 1976. The single featured aggressive, high-energy drums (played by the curiously named Rat Scabies), rough, distorted rhythm guitar (sometimes switching to lead guitar), backed by a bassist attacking the root notes of the guitar chords. The chord progressions were simple and sometimes annoyed by the less obvious progressions. Voices are at an intermediate point between what they sing, what they say, and what they shout.

Thematically, punk lyrics were often antagonistic, challenging the “norms” of society. Songs like Anarchy in the UK (1976) The Sex Pistols gave a voice to a younger generation that felt disenfranchised in their own country.

Punk was never limited or gendered in the way that early forms of rock music were. Many women actively collaborated and participated, among them Susan Ballion, aka Sioux Siouxwho fronted the iconic punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, and style icon Pamela Rook, also known as Jordan (queen of punk).

Notably, there was also a thriving punk scene across the Atlantic that preceded the UK punk movement. The CBGB club in New York, opened by Hilly Crystal in 1973, served as the nerve center for the crystallization of the scene. The Ramones, Television, The Voidoids, Blondie, Patti Smith Group and Talking Heads played their first gigs there and went on to fame.

What did punk mean to the “original” punks?

Music journalist John Robb, who was also the lead singer of the punk rock band Goldblade and the bassist and vocalist of the post-punk band The Membranes, stated:

“It’s impossible to define punk. It’s subjective and means something different for each person… It’s exhilarating, confusing, exhilarating, a grenade that’s about to explode, intellectual but not academic, revolutionary. It tore through the fabric of pop culture and we all fell through it.”

Punk was multifaceted and for many people it was different. Something that was felt, reinforcing, reinforcing, contradictory, that manifested itself through individual and collective expression… But, perhaps, to understand that it was in the beginning, one had to be there.

Musician Peter Hook’s origins are firmly rooted in punk, most notably at a Sex Pistols concert at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976. It was attended by only about 40 people, but many of them became culturally significant figures in British music. It was this event that inspired Hook to buy a bass the next day and hatch a plan to form a band. He would co-found Joy Division, which would become New Order following the death of singer Ian Curtis.

For dance music pioneer and 808 State co-founder Graham Massey, one of his first bands was the punk band Danny and the Dressmakers. Massey described how he was denied access to music education at the school:

“Rebel, I started making music during the punk era when musical ability was not required. There was a great urge to just jump up and make some noise.”

The fact that musical education and virtuosity was not required meant that punk was not limited to musical elites and institutions with big pockets, as was largely the case in the past. Massey also talks about the “creative thrill” of “reinvention” after the dismantling institution musical.

The do-it-yourself spirit was present in the movement. Punks created fanzines, bands created their own labels, and people made their own clothing as a form of cultural expression. Manchester band The Buzzcocks and their manager Richard Boone formed New Hormones, the UK’s first independent punk rock label. They were also responsible for organizing a Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, which included Hook in attendance, among others.

Beginning in the late 1970s, punk lost its original cultural momentum and split (as music and cultural waves always do) into styles such as anarchopunk, street punk and gothic punk. These movements subsequently gave rise to new ones (including a new wave). However, the term itself punk it is still used to describe inconsistency and subversion.

Eva Hanna Mazerska, Professor of Film Studies, University of Central Lancashire and Tony Rigg, teacher of music industry management, University of Central Lancashire

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.