to start of ill tell you what punk isn't- punk isn't a fashion, a certain style of dress, a passing phase of rebellion against your parents, the latest cool trend or even a particular style of music really. its an idea that guides and motivates your life. punk exists to support and realize that idea through music, art, zines and more. and just what is this idea? think for yourself, be your self, don’t just take what society gives you, create your own rules and live your own life.
people always argue whether punk started in 1976 in England with the sex pistols or in new York with the ramones, either way it doesn't matter the ideas were around for years. punk started with working class white youths who were expressing their dissatisfaction with the poor social conditions. the early punks did not have well developed social and political theories like today and preferred to spit and swear rather than explain their feelings to the mainstream public. the punks back then just wanted to express their rage in a new and original way. these punks hated willing conformists and wanted to get rid of proper thinking.
punk question conformity not only by looking and sounding different (which has debatable importance) but by questioning the prevailing modes of thought on work, race, and sex. a non conformist does not rely on others to determine his or her own reality. punks don’t have much respect for authority which is why most of them call themselves anarchists. I think this is because authority figures can sometimes frown on punks because of their style of dress. for 'individualist' or 'non conformist' we can substitute 'deviant' for conformist we can substitute team player.
a lot of things have changed though, corporate music and fashion magazines that criticized punk for 20 years now call punks and punk bands groundbreakers. Huge labels will sign anything remotely punk, just for a new, cutting edge, rebellious sound.
punk can be described as an art form but it is much more, it includes different theories and politics now. early punks (probably without knowing) used tactics of early avant-garde art movements, which is fashion blurring the boundaries between art and everyday life. this comparison of punk to avant-garde shows that punk is not unique in its expression or even its methods of rebellion.
AS far as most people are concerned punks are all revolutionaries hell bent for the destruction of civilization, or whiney misguided teenagers (and both can be true). Whatever punk is about it has received a bad reputation, T.V, movies, comics and advertising have all misrepresented punk to the mainstream punk has been characterized as a self destructive violence-oriented fad. Although there has been many legitimated causes of punk violence (usually towards one and other) drug abuse, and petty crime it is usually because kids get the wrong impressions of punk from the media and turn it into something it isn't. It is also true that many punks are violent, fashionable, apathetic teenagers but the media has also created them and increased the ignorant factor in the punk scene. for those who are attracted to the scene because it is a place for them to create their own culture and live by their own rules they are what keeps the punk scene alive.
Punk has many different subcultures now, skinheads, rudeboys, riot grrrls, emo, straightedge and much more but they are all involved in the scene for similar purposes and they make the punk scene what it is today
Katie Davis