For example, if you wanted to get people's attention, burning a flag would get more attention then having a sign on you that says "I Love Jenny." That is the philosophy behind punk, to get reactions where they really matter, politically.

Early punk had political content, but not like it did in the 1980s. Early punk had powerful lyrics about politics, but the weren't very deep or graphic. The 1980's was the decade when punk really made a difference politically.

The political punk movement started out when people we fed up with love songs that didn't mean anything really. They were boring, and didn’t prove anything. Punk music proved something. It proved what the world needed.

Early political punk songs weren't to direct. They just talked about the government in general. By 1980, however, punk had gotten into songs about specific political people, even specific laws and bills!

Of course political leaders weren't going to like this. They passed several censorship laws. The law that you have to have explicit lyric advisory sticker on albums that have bad words in them is because of punk music, specifically the band the Dead Kennedys.

Jello Biafra, the frontman of the Dead Kennedys, is known for writing for very powerful, direct political lyrics. He is also known for running for mayor of San Francisco. Yep, a punk rocker running for mayor of San Francisco. Amazingly, he ranked forth out of ten candidates! He even had very radical plans just to irritate people.