Punk subculture
Encyclopedia
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion
, visual art
, dance, literature
, and film
, which grew out of punk rock
.
Early punk had an abundance of antecedents and influences, and Jon Savage
has described the subculture as a "bricolage
" of almost every previous youth culture that existed in the West since the Second World War "stuck together with safety pins". Various philosophical
, political
, and artistic movements influenced the subculture. In particular, punk drew inspiration from several strains of modern art
. Various writers, books, and literary movements were important to the formation of the punk aesthetic. Punk rock has a variety of musical origins, both within the rock and roll
genre and beyond.
The earliest form of punk rock, named protopunk
in retrospect, started as a garage rock
revival in the northeastern United States in the late 1960s. The first ongoing music scene that was assigned the punk label appeared in New York City
between 1974 and 1976. At about the same time or shortly afterward, a punk scene developed in London
. Soon after, Los Angeles
became home to the third major punk scene. These three cities formed the backbone of the burgeoning movement, but there were also other scenes in a number of cities such as Brisbane and Boston
.
Around 1977, the subculture began to diversify with the proliferation of factions such as 2 Tone
, Oi!
, pop punk
, New Wave
, and No Wave
. In the United States during the early 1980s, punk underwent a renaissance in the form of hardcore punk
, which sought to do away with the frivolities introduced in the later years of the original movement, while at the same time Britain saw a parallel movement called streetpunk. Hardcore and streetpunk then spread to other regions just as the original subculture had. In the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in America, various underground scenes either directly evolved from punk or at least applied its attitudes to new styles, in the process producing the alternative rock
and indie music scenes. A new movement in the United States became visible in the early and mid-1990s that sought to revive the punk movement, doing away with some of the trappings of hardcore.
called punk rock
, usually shortened to punk. While most punk rock uses the distorted guitars and noisy drumming that is derived from 1960s garage rock
and 1970s pub rock
, some punk bands incorporate elements from other subgenres, such as metal (e.g., mid-1980s-era Discharge
) or folk rock
(Billy Bragg). Different punk subcultures often distinguish themselves by having a unique style of punk rock, although not every style of punk rock has its own associated subculture. Most punk rock song
s are short, have simple and somewhat basic arrangements using relatively few chords, and they use lyrics
that express punk values and ideologies ranging from the nihilism
of the Sex Pistols
' "No Future
" to the anti-drug message of Minor Threat
's "Straight Edge". Punk rock is usually played in small bands rather than by solo artists. Punk bands usually consist of a vocalist, one or two overdriven electric guitar
s, an electric bass player, and a drummer (the vocalist may be one of the musicians). In some bands, the band members may do backup vocals, but these typically consist of shouted slogans, choruses, or football/soccer-style chants, rather than the arranged harmony vocals of pop bands.
Although punks are frequently categorized as having left-wing
or progressive
views, punk politics cover the entire political spectrum
. Punk-related ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment
views. Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic
, non-conformity
, direct action
and not selling out
. Other notable trends in punk politics include nihilism
, anarchism
, socialism
, anti-militarism, anti-capitalism
, anti-racism
, anti-sexism
, anti-nationalism
, anti-homophobia
, environmentalism
, vegetarianism
, veganism
and animal rights
. However, some individuals within the punk subculture hold right-wing
views (such as those associated with the Conservative Punk
website), neo-Nazi
views (Nazi punk
), or are apolitical
(e.g.horror punk
).
Early British punks expressed nihilistic views with the slogan No Future, which came from the Sex Pistols
song "God Save the Queen
". In the United States, punks had a different approach to nihilism based on their "unconcern for the present" and their "disaffection from both middle and working class standards". Punk nihilism was expressed in the use of "harder, more self-destructive, consciousness-obliterating substances like heroin, or ... methamphetamine"
, hairstyles
, cosmetics
, tattoos, jewelry and body modification
. Early punk fashion adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing was held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing was customized by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint; a black bin liner became a dress, shirt or skirt; safety pins and razor blades were used as jewelry. Also popular have been leather
, rubber
, and vinyl
clothing that the general public associates with transgressive
sexual practices like bondage
and S&M
.
Some punks wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, plaid/tartan trousers, kilts or skirts, T-shirt
s, leather jackets (which are often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), and footwear such as Converse sneakers, skate shoes
, brothel creeper
s, or Dr. Martens
boots. Some early punks occasionally wore clothes displaying a Nazi
swastika
for shock-value, but most contemporary punks are staunchly anti-racist and are more likely to wear a crossed-out swastika symbol. Some punks cut their hair into Mohawks
or other dramatic shapes, style it to stand in spikes, and color it with vibrant, unnatural hues.
Some punks are anti-fashion, arguing that punk should be defined by music or ideology. This is most common in the post-1980s US hardcore punk
scene, where members of the subculture often dressed in plain T-shirts and jeans, rather than the more elaborate outfits and spiked, dyed hair of their British counterparts.
punks enjoy, usually with underground
, minimalistic
, iconoclastic
and satirical
sensibilities. Punk artwork graces album cover
s, flyer
s for concerts, and punk zine
s. Usually straightforward with clear messages, punk art is often concerned with political issues such as social injustice
and economic disparity. The use of images of suffering to shock and create feelings of empathy in the viewer is common. Alternatively, punk artwork may contain images of selfishness, stupidity, or apathy to provoke contempt in the viewer.
Much of the earlier artwork was in black and white, because it was distributed in zines reproduced at copy shops. Punk art also uses the mass production
aesthetic of Andy Warhol
's Factory studio. Punk played a hand in the revival of stencil
art, spearheaded by Crass
. The Situationists also influenced the look of punk art, particularity that of the Sex Pistols
. Punk art often utilizes collage
, exemplified by the art of Dead Kennedys
, Crass, Jamie Reid
, and Winston Smith
. John Holmstrom
was a punk cartoonist
who created work for the Ramones
and Punk Magazine. The Stuckism
art movement had its origin in punk, and titled its first major show The Stuckists Punk Victorian
at the Walker Art Gallery
during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial
. Charles Thomson
, co-founder of the group, described punk as "a major breakthrough" in his art. In terms of photography, the punk subculture has often been associated with an intense, colorful style which has even crossed over into the non-mainstream modeling industry.
and mosh
ing. Stage diving
and crowd surfing
were originally associated with protopunk
bands such as The Stooges
, and have appeared at punk, metal and rock concerts. Ska punk
promoted an updated version of skanking
. Hardcore dancing is a later development influenced by all of the above mentioned styles. Psychobillies
prefer to "wreck", a form of slam dancing that involves people punching each other in the chest and arms as they move around the circle pit.
and prose
. Punk has its own underground press
in the form of punk zine
s, which feature news, gossip, cultural criticism, and interviews. Some zines take the form of perzine
s. Important punk zines include Maximum RocknRoll
, Punk Planet
, Cometbus, Flipside
,and Search & Destroy
. Several novels, biographies, autobiographies, and comic books have been written about punk. Love and Rockets
is a notable comic with a plot involving the Los Angeles
punk scene.
Examples of punk poets include: Richard Hell
, Jim Carroll
, Patti Smith
, John Cooper Clarke
, Seething Wells
, Raegan Butcher
, and Attila the Stockbroker
. The Medway Poets
performance group included punk musician Billy Childish
and had an influence on Tracey Emin
. Jim Carroll's autobiographical works are among the first known examples of punk literature. The punk subculture has inspired the cyberpunk
and steampunk
literature genres.
with news clips and home videos of band concerts. Several famous groups have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High School
, the Sex Pistols in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
, and Social Distortion
in Another State of Mind. Some well-known punks have had biographical film
s made about them, such as Sid and Nancy
, which tells the story of the Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious
(portrayed by Gary Oldman
) and Nancy Spungen
(portrayed by Chloe Webb
).
Original footage of punk bands is also often used in music documentaries. The seminal punk documentary is The Filth and the Fury
, detailing the rise of the Sex Pistols. In addition to the members of that band and its affiliates (Malcolm McLaren
, Vivienne Westwood
, Nancy Spungen
, etc.) it also features archival footage of Billy Idol
, Sting, Shane McGowan, and a young teenaged girl who would grow up to be Siouxsie Sioux
, among others. One of the highlights of the movie is footage of the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen" on a barge in the middle of the Thames during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
, and their subsequent arrest.
The No Wave Cinema
and Remodernist film
movements owe much to punk aesthetics. Derek Jarman
and Don Letts
are notable punk filmmakers. Many other films are associated with punk, such as 24 Hour Party People
, which presents the evolution of punk rock into New Wave
and Madchester
, and Threat
, which focuses on militant Straight edge
punks in the New York hardcore
scene.
in terms of its ideology. Although the punk subculture is mostly anti-racist
, it is vastly white (at least in predominantly-white countries). However, members of other groups (such as Blacks
, Latino
s, and Asians) have also contributed to the development of the subculture. Substance abuse
has sometimes been a part of the punk scene, with the notable exception of the straight edge
movement. Violence has also sometimes appeared in the punk subculture, but has been opposed by some subsets of the subculture, such as the pacifist strain of anarcho-punk
.
Punks often form a local scene, which can have as few as half a dozen members in a small town, or as many as thousands of members in a major city. A local scene usually has a small group of dedicated punks surrounded by a more casual periphery. A typical punk scene is made up of punk and hardcore bands
; fans who attend concerts, protests, and other events; zine
publishers, band reviewers, and writers; visual artist
s who create illustrations for zines, posters, and album covers; people who organize concerts, and people who work at music venue
s or independent record label
s. Squatting
plays a role in some punk communities, providing shelter and other forms of support. Illegal squats in abandoned or condemned housing and communal "punk house
s" sometimes provide bands a place to stay while they are touring. There are some punk communes
, such as the Dial House. The Internet
has been playing an increasingly larger role in punk, specifically in the form of virtual communities and file sharing
programs for trading music files.
of their commitment to the values or philosophies of the scene, which may range from political beliefs (e.g., in an anarcho-punk squat) to lifestyle practices (e.g., not using drugs or alcohol in a "straight edge" scene"). In the punk subculture, the epithet poseur (or "poser") is used to describe "a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not." The term is used to refer to a person who adopts the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a punk or hardcore subculture, generally for attaining acceptability within the group, yet who is deemed to not share or understand the values or philosophy of the subculture.
While this perceived inauthenticity is viewed with scorn and contempt by members of the subculture, the definition of the term and to whom it should be applied is subjective and the subject of much debate. For example, the Television Personalities' 1978 song “Part-Time Punks,” "declared that either everyone who wanted to be a punk was one or that everyone was a poseur (or both)" and it argues that "the concept of … punk rock authenticity … was a fiction." Music journalist Dave Rimmer
’s book Like Punk Never Happened
argues that the "first punk kids in London envisioned waging a revolution against the corruption that had undeniably crept into a becalmed and boring rock scene." Rimmer notes that the "terms in which they expressed their disdain for hangers-on and those whose post-hip credentials didn’t quite make it came straight out of the authenticity movements: "Poseurs" was the favorite epithet." Ross Buncle's history of late-1970s punk rock in Perth, Australia claims that eventually the scene "opened the door to a host of poseurs, who were less interested in the music than in UK-punk fancy dress and being seen to be hip"; he praises the gigs where there "were no punk-identikit poseurs" in the audience.
The term was used in several punk songs, in addition to the song “Part-Time Punks,” including the X-Ray Spex
song "I am a Poseur", the early 1980s hardcore punk
band MDC's
song "Poseur Punk", and California punk band NOFX
's song "Decom-poseur", which "lashes out" at "an entire population of bands … guilty of bastardizing a once socially feared and critically infallible genre" of punk. An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore
is the true spirit of punk", because "after all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic
haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics", the punk scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics"; punk "[l]ifers without the ambition to one day settle into the study-work-family-house-retirement-death scenario."
ers such as New York Dolls
and David Bowie
had big influences on protopunk
, early punk rock and glam punk
. Punk and hip hop emerged around the same time in the late 1970s New York City
, and there has been some interaction between the two subcultures. Some of the first hip hop MCs called themselves punk rockers, and some punk fashion
s have found their way into hip hop dress. Malcolm McLaren
played roles in introducing both punk and hip hop to the United Kingdom
. Hip hop later influenced some punk and hardcore
bands, such as Hed PE, Blaggers I.T.A.
, Biohazard
, E.Town Concrete
, The Transplants and Refused
.
The skinhead
subculture of the late 1960s — which had almost disappeared in the early 1970s —
was revived in the late 1970s, partly because of the influence of punk rock, especially the Oi!
punk subgenre. Conversely, ska
and reggae
, popular among traditionalist skinheads
, has influenced several punk musicians. Punks and skinheads have had both antagonistic and friendly relationships, depending on the social circumstances, time period and geographic location.
The punk and heavy metal
subcultures have shared some similarities since punk's inception. The early 1970s heavy metal scene had an influence on the development of protopunk. Alice Cooper
was a forerunner of the fashion and music of both the punk and metal subcultures. Motörhead, since their first album release in 1977, have had continued popularity in the punk scene, and singer Lemmy is a fan of punk rock. Genres such as metalcore
, grindcore
and crossover thrash
were greatly influenced by punk and heavy metal. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal
influenced the UK 82 style of bands like Discharge
, and hardcore punk was a primary influence on thrash metal
bands such as Metallica
and Slayer
. The early 1990s grunge
subculture was a fusion of punk anti-fashion
ideals and metal-influenced guitar sounds. However, hardcore punk and grunge developed in part as reactions against the heavy metal music that was popular during the 1980s.
In punk's heyday, punks faced harassment and attacks from the general public and from members of other subcultures. In the 1980s in the UK, punks were sometimes involved in brawls with Teddy Boys, greasers, bikers
, mods and members of other subcultures. There was also considerable enmity between positive punks (known today as goths
) and the glamorously dressed New Romantics.
In the late 1970s, punks were known to have had confrontations with hippies due to the contrasting ideologies and backlash of the hippie culture. Nevertheless Penny Rimbaud
of the English anarcho-punk band Crass
said in interviews, and in an essay called The Last Of The Hippies, that Crass was formed in memory of his friend, Wally Hope
. Rimbaud also said that Crass were heavily involved with the hippie movement throughout the 1960s and Seventies, with Dial House being established in 1967. Many punks were often critical of Crass
for their involvement in the hippie movement. Like Crass, Jello Biafra
was influenced by the hippie movement and cited the yippies as a key influence on his political activism and thinking, though he did write songs critical of hippies.
The industrial
and rivethead
subcultures have had several ties to punk, in terms of music, fashion and attitude.
Punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...
, visual art
Punk visual art
Punk visual art is artwork which often graces punk rock album covers, flyers for punk shows, and punk zines. It is characterised by deliberate violation, such as the use of letters cut out from newspapers and magazines, a device previously associated with kidnap and ransom notes, so the sender's...
, dance, literature
Punk literature
Punk literature is a form of literature that emerged from the punk subculture. The attitude and ideology of punk rock gave rise to distinctive characteristics in the writing it manifested...
, and film
Punk film
Punk film is a type of film associated with the punk subculture. Many punk films have been made, and punk rock music videos and punk skate videos are common. The use of stock footage typifies punk film. Several famous groups have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High...
, which grew out of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
.
History
The punk subculture emerged in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia in the mid-1970s, and has maintained a strong following to present. Exactly which region originated punk has long been a major controversy within the movement.Jon Savage
Jon Savage , real name Jonathon Sage, is a Cambridge-educated writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming, published in 1991.-Career:...
has described the subculture as a "bricolage
Bricolage
Bricolage is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts, to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process...
" of almost every previous youth culture that existed in the West since the Second World War "stuck together with safety pins". Various philosophical
Philosophical movement
A philosophical movement is either the appearance or increased popularity of a specific school of philosophy, or a fairly broad but identifiable sea-change in philosophical thought on a particular subject...
, political
Political movement
A political movement is a social movement in the area of politics. A political movement may be organized around a single issue or set of issues, or around a set of shared concerns of a social group...
, and artistic movements influenced the subculture. In particular, punk drew inspiration from several strains of modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
. Various writers, books, and literary movements were important to the formation of the punk aesthetic. Punk rock has a variety of musical origins, both within the rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
genre and beyond.
The earliest form of punk rock, named protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
in retrospect, started as a garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
revival in the northeastern United States in the late 1960s. The first ongoing music scene that was assigned the punk label appeared in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
between 1974 and 1976. At about the same time or shortly afterward, a punk scene developed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Soon after, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
became home to the third major punk scene. These three cities formed the backbone of the burgeoning movement, but there were also other scenes in a number of cities such as Brisbane and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
Around 1977, the subculture began to diversify with the proliferation of factions such as 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...
, Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
, pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, and No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
. In the United States during the early 1980s, punk underwent a renaissance in the form of hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, which sought to do away with the frivolities introduced in the later years of the original movement, while at the same time Britain saw a parallel movement called streetpunk. Hardcore and streetpunk then spread to other regions just as the original subculture had. In the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in America, various underground scenes either directly evolved from punk or at least applied its attitudes to new styles, in the process producing the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
and indie music scenes. A new movement in the United States became visible in the early and mid-1990s that sought to revive the punk movement, doing away with some of the trappings of hardcore.
Music
The punk subculture is centered around listening to recordings or live concerts of a loud, aggressive genre of rock musicRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
called punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, usually shortened to punk. While most punk rock uses the distorted guitars and noisy drumming that is derived from 1960s garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
and 1970s pub rock
Pub rock (UK)
Pub rock was a rock music genre that developed in the mid 1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive and glam rock. Although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and...
, some punk bands incorporate elements from other subgenres, such as metal (e.g., mid-1980s-era Discharge
Discharge (band)
Discharge is a British hardcore punk band formed in 1977 by Terry "Tezz" Roberts and Roy "Rainy" Wainwright. They are often considered among one of the very first bands to play hardcore punk, and to mix punk with metal...
) or folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
(Billy Bragg). Different punk subcultures often distinguish themselves by having a unique style of punk rock, although not every style of punk rock has its own associated subculture. Most punk rock song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s are short, have simple and somewhat basic arrangements using relatively few chords, and they use lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
that express punk values and ideologies ranging from the nihilism
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
of the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
' "No Future
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977...
" to the anti-drug message of Minor Threat
Minor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...
's "Straight Edge". Punk rock is usually played in small bands rather than by solo artists. Punk bands usually consist of a vocalist, one or two overdriven electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s, an electric bass player, and a drummer (the vocalist may be one of the musicians). In some bands, the band members may do backup vocals, but these typically consist of shouted slogans, choruses, or football/soccer-style chants, rather than the arranged harmony vocals of pop bands.
Ideologies
Although punks are frequently categorized as having left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
or progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
views, punk politics cover the entire political spectrum
Political spectrum
A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions....
. Punk-related ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment
Anti-establishment
An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda...
views. Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
, non-conformity
Conformity
Conformity is the process by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people.Conformity may also refer to:*Conformity: A Tale, a novel by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna...
, direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
and not selling out
Selling out
"Selling out" is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for money or "success" . It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience...
. Other notable trends in punk politics include nihilism
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
, anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, anti-militarism, anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
, anti-racism
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
, anti-sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, anti-nationalism
Anti-nationalism
Anti-nationalism denotes the sentiments associated with the opposition to nationalism, arguing that it is undesirable or dangerous. Some anti-nationalists are humanitarians or humanists who pursue an idealist form of world community, and self-identify as world citizens. They reject chauvinism,...
, anti-homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, veganism
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
. However, some individuals within the punk subculture hold right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
views (such as those associated with the Conservative Punk
Conservative Punk
Conservative Punk was a website that promoted conservative views in the punk subculture. It was created by Nick Rizzuto, an employee of a New York City rock radio station, partially in response to the left-liberal group Punkvoter . The Conservative Punk website received significant press coverage...
website), neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
views (Nazi punk
Nazi punk
A Nazi punk is a neo-Nazi who is part of the punk subculture. The term also describes the related type of music. Nazi punk music sounds similar to most forms of punk rock, but it differs by having lyrics that express hatred of Jews, homosexuals, communists, anarchists, anti-racists and people who...
), or are apolitical
Apolitical
The state or quality of being apolitical can be the apathy and/or the antipathy towards all political affiliations. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased position in regard to political matters.-References:...
(e.g.horror punk
Horror punk
Horror punk is a music genre that mixes Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery and lyrics, which are often influenced by horror films...
).
Early British punks expressed nihilistic views with the slogan No Future, which came from the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
song "God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977...
". In the United States, punks had a different approach to nihilism based on their "unconcern for the present" and their "disaffection from both middle and working class standards". Punk nihilism was expressed in the use of "harder, more self-destructive, consciousness-obliterating substances like heroin, or ... methamphetamine"
Fashion
Punks seek to outrage others with the highly theatrical use of clothingClothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
, hairstyles
Hairstyles
Hairstyles is a title used for international editions of a professional hairdressing magazine originally published in Barcelona, Spain under the name Peluquerias. The founder of the magazine is Spanish hairdresser Lluis Llongueras....
, cosmetics
Cosmetics
Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...
, tattoos, jewelry and body modification
Body modification
Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self expression...
. Early punk fashion adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing was held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing was customized by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint; a black bin liner became a dress, shirt or skirt; safety pins and razor blades were used as jewelry. Also popular have been leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
, rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
, and vinyl
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
clothing that the general public associates with transgressive
Transgression
Transgression may be:*a Biblical transgression, violation of God's ten commandments; sin *a legal transgression, a crime usually created by a social or economic boundary*a social transgression, violating a norm...
sexual practices like bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
and S&M
Sadism and masochism
Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch...
.
Some punks wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, plaid/tartan trousers, kilts or skirts, T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s, leather jackets (which are often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), and footwear such as Converse sneakers, skate shoes
Skate shoes
Skate shoes are shoes specially designed and manufactured for use in skateboarding. While some non-skaters choose to wear skate shoes, the design of the skate shoe includes many features designed for use in skateboarding...
, brothel creeper
Brothel creeper
Creepers or brothel creepers are a type of shoe.They found their beginnings in the years following World War II, as soldiers based in the deserts in North Africa wore suede boots with hardwearing crepe soles because of the climate and environment...
s, or Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens is a traditional British footwear brand, which also makes a range of accessories – shoe care products, clothing, luggage, etc. In addition to Dr. Martens, they are known as Doctor Martens, Doc Martens, Docs or DMs...
boots. Some early punks occasionally wore clothes displaying a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
for shock-value, but most contemporary punks are staunchly anti-racist and are more likely to wear a crossed-out swastika symbol. Some punks cut their hair into Mohawks
Mohawk hairstyle
The mohawk is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair...
or other dramatic shapes, style it to stand in spikes, and color it with vibrant, unnatural hues.
Some punks are anti-fashion, arguing that punk should be defined by music or ideology. This is most common in the post-1980s US hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
scene, where members of the subculture often dressed in plain T-shirts and jeans, rather than the more elaborate outfits and spiked, dyed hair of their British counterparts.
Visual art
Punk aesthetics determine the type of artArt
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
punks enjoy, usually with underground
Underground art
Underground art, as with underground music and underground film, is a term that seeks to describe art forms that are aloof to the mainstream art world, are illegal, taboo, unconventional, rebellious or revolutionary...
, minimalistic
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
, iconoclastic
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
and satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
sensibilities. Punk artwork graces album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
s, flyer
Flyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....
s for concerts, and punk zine
Punk zine
A punk zine is a zine devoted to punk culture, most often punk rock music, bands, or the DIY punk ethic. Punk zines are the most likely place to find punk literature....
s. Usually straightforward with clear messages, punk art is often concerned with political issues such as social injustice
Social injustice
Social injustice is a concept relating to the claimed unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rewards and burdens and other incidental inequalities...
and economic disparity. The use of images of suffering to shock and create feelings of empathy in the viewer is common. Alternatively, punk artwork may contain images of selfishness, stupidity, or apathy to provoke contempt in the viewer.
Much of the earlier artwork was in black and white, because it was distributed in zines reproduced at copy shops. Punk art also uses the mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
aesthetic of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Factory studio. Punk played a hand in the revival of stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...
art, spearheaded by Crass
Crass
Crass are an English punk rock band that was formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...
. The Situationists also influenced the look of punk art, particularity that of the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
. Punk art often utilizes collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
, exemplified by the art of Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
, Crass, Jamie Reid
Jamie Reid
Jamie Reid is a British artist and anarchist with connections to the Situationists. His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, particularly in the UK...
, and Winston Smith
Winston Smith (artist)
Winston Smith is an artist who primarily uses the medium of collage. He is probably best known for the artwork he has produced for the American punk rock group Dead Kennedys...
. John Holmstrom
John Holmstrom
John Holmstrom is an American underground cartoonist and writer. He is best known for illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin, as well as his characters Bosko and Joe .As the founding editor of Punk Magazine at the age of 21 in late 1975, Holmstrom's work...
was a punk cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
who created work for the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
and Punk Magazine. The Stuckism
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art movement had its origin in punk, and titled its first major show The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art. It was held at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005, and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial....
at the Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial....
. Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
, co-founder of the group, described punk as "a major breakthrough" in his art. In terms of photography, the punk subculture has often been associated with an intense, colorful style which has even crossed over into the non-mainstream modeling industry.
Dance
Two dance styles associated with punk are pogo dancingPogo (dance)
The pogo is a dance in which the dancers jump up and down, while remaining in the same location; the dance takes its name from its resemblance to the use of a pogo stick, especially in a common version of the dance, where an individual keeps their torso stiff, their arms rigid, and their legs close...
and mosh
Mosh
Moshing is a dance in which participants push or slam into each other. They also flail their limbs to breakdowns of hardcore punk and its sub-genres. It is most associated with aggressive music genres, such as hardcore punk and heavy metal...
ing. Stage diving
Stage diving
Stage diving is the act of leaping from a concert stage onto the crowd below. It is often the precursor to crowd surfing.Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at hardcore punk and thrash metal performances. Many musicians have made stage diving a part of...
and crowd surfing
Crowd surfing
Crowd surfing is the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person during a concert, transferring the person from one part of the venue to another...
were originally associated with protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
bands such as The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
, and have appeared at punk, metal and rock concerts. Ska punk
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...
promoted an updated version of skanking
Skank (dance)
Skanking is a form of dancing practiced in the ska, ska punk, hardcore punk, reggae, and other music scenes.The dance style originated in the 1950s or 1960s at Jamaican dance halls, where ska music was played. British mods and skinheads of the 1960s adopted these types of dances and altered them...
. Hardcore dancing is a later development influenced by all of the above mentioned styles. Psychobillies
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
prefer to "wreck", a form of slam dancing that involves people punching each other in the chest and arms as they move around the circle pit.
Literature
Punk has generated a considerable amount of poetryPoetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
. Punk has its own underground press
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
in the form of punk zine
Punk zine
A punk zine is a zine devoted to punk culture, most often punk rock music, bands, or the DIY punk ethic. Punk zines are the most likely place to find punk literature....
s, which feature news, gossip, cultural criticism, and interviews. Some zines take the form of perzine
Perzine
Perzines are a genre of zines; the "per" meaning "personal". Although most zines could be considered personal in that they represent the opinionated work of one person, this term describes zines that are written about one's own personal experiences, opinions and observations...
s. Important punk zines include Maximum RocknRoll
Maximum RocknRoll
Maximum rocknroll is a widely distributed, monthly not-for-profit fanzine based in San Francisco, USA. It features interviews, columns, and reviews from international contributors...
, Punk Planet
Punk Planet
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide...
, Cometbus, Flipside
Flipside (fanzine)
Flipside was a punk rock fanzine published in Los Angeles, California from 1977 to 2000.As one of the first and longest running US punk rock fanzines, this publication extensively chronicled the world of independent and underground music during this era. Known for its highly opinionated cast of...
,and Search & Destroy
RE/Search
RE/Search Publications is an American magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded and edited by Andrea Juno and V. Vale in 1980. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy , and was started with $100 from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti...
. Several novels, biographies, autobiographies, and comic books have been written about punk. Love and Rockets
Love and Rockets (comics)
Love and Rockets is a black and white comic book series by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, sometimes cited jointly as Los Bros Hernandez. Their brother Mario Hernandez is an occasional contributor...
is a notable comic with a plot involving the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
punk scene.
Examples of punk poets include: Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
, Jim Carroll
Jim Carroll
James Dennis "Jim" Carroll was an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.-Biography:Carroll was born to a...
, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet"...
, Seething Wells
Steven Wells
Steven Wells was a British journalist, author, comedian and notable punk poet born in Swindon, Wiltshire. He is best remembered for ranting poetry and his provocative, unapologetic music journalism. In June 2006, he wrote in the Philadelphia Weekly about his treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma...
, Raegan Butcher
Raegan Butcher
Raegan Butcher is an American poet and singer. He is known for his association with the anarchist collective CrimethInc., who published his first two books of poetry, Stone Hotel and Rusty String Quartet. According to a CrimethInc. biography, Butcher was born in Seattle, Washington and moved to...
, and Attila the Stockbroker
Attila the Stockbroker
Attila the Stockbroker is a punk poet, and a folk punk musician and songwriter. He performs solo and as the leader of the band Barnstormer...
. The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, North Kent in 1979. They were an English punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy Childish, Rob Earl, Bill Lewis, Sexton Ming and Charles Thomson...
performance group included punk musician Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
and had an influence on Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
. Jim Carroll's autobiographical works are among the first known examples of punk literature. The punk subculture has inspired the cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
and steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
literature genres.
Film
Many punk-themed films have been made, and punk rock music videos and punk skate videos are common. Punk films often intercut stock footageStock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
with news clips and home videos of band concerts. Several famous groups have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 musical comedy film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Allan Arkush, and featuring the Ramones.The film starred P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, and Clint Howard...
, the Sex Pistols in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas about the British punk rock band Sex Pistols....
, and Social Distortion
Social Distortion
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness , Jonny Wickersham , Brent Harding and David Hidalgo, Jr...
in Another State of Mind. Some well-known punks have had biographical film
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
s made about them, such as Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biopic directed by Alex Cox. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious , bassist of the seminal punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and his relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen .-Plot:The film opens with several police officers dragging Sid Vicious out of the Hotel...
, which tells the story of the Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
(portrayed by Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
) and Nancy Spungen
Nancy Spungen
Nancy Laura Spungen was the American girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.-Early life:...
(portrayed by Chloe Webb
Chloe Webb
Chloe Webb is an American actress.Webb was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York. Her New York theater debut was in the original cast of the long-running musical satire Forbidden Broadway...
).
Original footage of punk bands is also often used in music documentaries. The seminal punk documentary is The Filth and the Fury
The Filth and the Fury
The Filth and the Fury is a 2000 rockumentary film about the Sex Pistols directed by Julien Temple.-About the film:The Filth and the Fury is the second movie Julien Temple made about The Sex Pistols. His first effort was The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, which was released in British cinemas on 15...
, detailing the rise of the Sex Pistols. In addition to the members of that band and its affiliates (Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
, Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...
, Nancy Spungen
Nancy Spungen
Nancy Laura Spungen was the American girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.-Early life:...
, etc.) it also features archival footage of Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
, Sting, Shane McGowan, and a young teenaged girl who would grow up to be Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...
, among others. One of the highlights of the movie is footage of the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen" on a barge in the middle of the Thames during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...
, and their subsequent arrest.
The No Wave Cinema
No Wave Cinema
No Wave Cinema was a Colab sponsored boom in underground filmmaking on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Its name, much like its cousin No Wave music, was a stripped down style of guerrilla/punk filmmaking that emphasized mood and texture above everything else.This brief movement,...
and Remodernist film
Remodernist Film
Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
movements owe much to punk aesthetics. Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
and Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
are notable punk filmmakers. Many other films are associated with punk, such as 24 Hour Party People
24 Hour Party People
24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom...
, which presents the evolution of punk rock into New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
, and Threat
Threat (film)
Threat is an award-winning independent film about a straightedge "hardcore kid" and a hip hop revolutionary whose friendship is doomed by the intolerance of their respective street tribes...
, which focuses on militant Straight edge
Straight edge
Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a...
punks in the New York hardcore
New York hardcore
New York hardcore refers to hardcore punk and metalcore music created in New York City and to the subculture associated with that music. New York hardcore grew out of the hardcore scene established in Washington, D.C., by bands such as Bad Brains and Minor Threat. Hardcore '81 is an album by the...
scene.
Lifestyle and community
Punks can come from any and all walks of life and economic classes. Compared to some alternative cultures, punk is much closer to being gender equalistGender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
in terms of its ideology. Although the punk subculture is mostly anti-racist
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
, it is vastly white (at least in predominantly-white countries). However, members of other groups (such as Blacks
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
, Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
s, and Asians) have also contributed to the development of the subculture. Substance abuse
Substance abuse
A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
has sometimes been a part of the punk scene, with the notable exception of the straight edge
Straight edge
Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a...
movement. Violence has also sometimes appeared in the punk subculture, but has been opposed by some subsets of the subculture, such as the pacifist strain of anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
.
Punks often form a local scene, which can have as few as half a dozen members in a small town, or as many as thousands of members in a major city. A local scene usually has a small group of dedicated punks surrounded by a more casual periphery. A typical punk scene is made up of punk and hardcore bands
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
; fans who attend concerts, protests, and other events; zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
publishers, band reviewers, and writers; visual artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s who create illustrations for zines, posters, and album covers; people who organize concerts, and people who work at music venue
Music venue
A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Typically, different types of venues host different genres of music...
s or independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
s. Squatting
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
plays a role in some punk communities, providing shelter and other forms of support. Illegal squats in abandoned or condemned housing and communal "punk house
Punk house
A punk house is a dwelling occupied by members of the punk subculture. Punk houses are similar to the hippie crash pads of the 1960s and the slan shacks of science fiction fandom. The Factory, an alternative living space founded by Andy Warhol as the home base of The Velvet Underground, is directly...
s" sometimes provide bands a place to stay while they are touring. There are some punk communes
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
, such as the Dial House. The Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
has been playing an increasingly larger role in punk, specifically in the form of virtual communities and file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
programs for trading music files.
Authenticity
In the punk and hardcore subcultures, members of the scene are often evaluated in terms of the authenticityAuthenticity (philosophy)
Authenticity is a technical term in existentialist philosophy, and is also used in the philosophy of art and psychology. In philosophy, the conscious self is seen as coming to terms with being in a material world and with encountering external forces, pressures and influences which are very...
of their commitment to the values or philosophies of the scene, which may range from political beliefs (e.g., in an anarcho-punk squat) to lifestyle practices (e.g., not using drugs or alcohol in a "straight edge" scene"). In the punk subculture, the epithet poseur (or "poser") is used to describe "a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not." The term is used to refer to a person who adopts the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a punk or hardcore subculture, generally for attaining acceptability within the group, yet who is deemed to not share or understand the values or philosophy of the subculture.
While this perceived inauthenticity is viewed with scorn and contempt by members of the subculture, the definition of the term and to whom it should be applied is subjective and the subject of much debate. For example, the Television Personalities' 1978 song “Part-Time Punks,” "declared that either everyone who wanted to be a punk was one or that everyone was a poseur (or both)" and it argues that "the concept of … punk rock authenticity … was a fiction." Music journalist Dave Rimmer
Dave Rimmer
Dave Rimmer is a music journalist and critic who has written books and articles about a number of pop and rock artists. He wrote for SMASH HITS and FACE in the 1980s, and wrote a book about 1980s pop entitled Like Punk Never Happened. His second book Once Upon a Time in the East, is about Eastern...
’s book Like Punk Never Happened
Like Punk Never Happened
Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop is a 1986 book about 1980s pop by music journalist Dave Rimmer. The book compares 1980s pop bands with the 1970s punk rock groups that preceded them...
argues that the "first punk kids in London envisioned waging a revolution against the corruption that had undeniably crept into a becalmed and boring rock scene." Rimmer notes that the "terms in which they expressed their disdain for hangers-on and those whose post-hip credentials didn’t quite make it came straight out of the authenticity movements: "Poseurs" was the favorite epithet." Ross Buncle's history of late-1970s punk rock in Perth, Australia claims that eventually the scene "opened the door to a host of poseurs, who were less interested in the music than in UK-punk fancy dress and being seen to be hip"; he praises the gigs where there "were no punk-identikit poseurs" in the audience.
The term was used in several punk songs, in addition to the song “Part-Time Punks,” including the X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
song "I am a Poseur", the early 1980s hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band MDC's
MDC (band)
MDC is an American hardcore punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979. The band were subsequently based in San Francisco, California, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon. MDC originally formed as The Stains before changing their name...
song "Poseur Punk", and California punk band NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
's song "Decom-poseur", which "lashes out" at "an entire population of bands … guilty of bastardizing a once socially feared and critically infallible genre" of punk. An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
is the true spirit of punk", because "after all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics", the punk scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics"; punk "[l]ifers without the ambition to one day settle into the study-work-family-house-retirement-death scenario."
Interactions with other subcultures
Glam rockGlam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
ers such as New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
had big influences on protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
, early punk rock and glam punk
Glam punk
Glam Punk is a music genre that mixes elements of glam rock with protopunk or punk rock ....
. Punk and hip hop emerged around the same time in the late 1970s New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and there has been some interaction between the two subcultures. Some of the first hip hop MCs called themselves punk rockers, and some punk fashion
Punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...
s have found their way into hip hop dress. Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
played roles in introducing both punk and hip hop to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Hip hop later influenced some punk and hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
bands, such as Hed PE, Blaggers I.T.A.
Blaggers I.T.A.
Blaggers ITA are an Oi!/punk and agitpop band founded in 1988 in England. They are noted for their strong anti-fascist and left wing lyrics and activism. They had a couple of top 60 singles in 1993 followed by a top 50 single in 1994...
, Biohazard
Biohazard (band)
Biohazard is a band originally based in Brooklyn, New York. They are acknowledged as one of the earliest bands to fuse hardcore punk and heavy metal with elements of hip hop. The original lineup consisted of Vocalist/Guitarist Billy Graziadei, bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld, guitarist Bobby Hambel,...
, E.Town Concrete
E.Town Concrete
E.Town Concrete, or sometimes called E-Town, is an American rock band from Elizabeth, New Jersey. They formed in 1995 and shortly thereafter released Time 2 Shine, their first full-length album, in 1999 on the Resurrection A.D. label. They have since released four more albums on various record...
, The Transplants and Refused
Refused
Refused was a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1991. In total the band released five EPs and three albums, before splitting up in 1998...
.
The skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
subculture of the late 1960s — which had almost disappeared in the early 1970s —
was revived in the late 1970s, partly because of the influence of punk rock, especially the Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
punk subgenre. Conversely, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, popular among traditionalist skinheads
Trojan skinhead
Trojan skinheads are individuals who identify with the original British skinhead subculture of the late 1960s, when ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul music were popular, and there was a heavy emphasis on mod-influenced clothing styles...
, has influenced several punk musicians. Punks and skinheads have had both antagonistic and friendly relationships, depending on the social circumstances, time period and geographic location.
The punk and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
subcultures have shared some similarities since punk's inception. The early 1970s heavy metal scene had an influence on the development of protopunk. Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
was a forerunner of the fashion and music of both the punk and metal subcultures. Motörhead, since their first album release in 1977, have had continued popularity in the punk scene, and singer Lemmy is a fan of punk rock. Genres such as metalcore
Metalcore
Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...
, grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
and crossover thrash
Crossover thrash
__FORCETOC__Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to crossover, is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. The genre lies on a continuum between heavy metal and punk rock...
were greatly influenced by punk and heavy metal. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
influenced the UK 82 style of bands like Discharge
Discharge (band)
Discharge is a British hardcore punk band formed in 1977 by Terry "Tezz" Roberts and Roy "Rainy" Wainwright. They are often considered among one of the very first bands to play hardcore punk, and to mix punk with metal...
, and hardcore punk was a primary influence on thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
bands such as Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
and Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
. The early 1990s grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
subculture was a fusion of punk anti-fashion
Anti-fashion
Anti-fashion is an umbrella term for various styles of dress which are explicitly contrary to the fashion of the day. Anti-fashion styles may represent an attitude of indifference or may arise from political or practical goals which make fashion a secondary priority...
ideals and metal-influenced guitar sounds. However, hardcore punk and grunge developed in part as reactions against the heavy metal music that was popular during the 1980s.
In punk's heyday, punks faced harassment and attacks from the general public and from members of other subcultures. In the 1980s in the UK, punks were sometimes involved in brawls with Teddy Boys, greasers, bikers
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
, mods and members of other subcultures. There was also considerable enmity between positive punks (known today as goths
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
) and the glamorously dressed New Romantics.
In the late 1970s, punks were known to have had confrontations with hippies due to the contrasting ideologies and backlash of the hippie culture. Nevertheless Penny Rimbaud
Penny Rimbaud
Jeremy John Ratter , better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977.-Biography:Rimbaud Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943,...
of the English anarcho-punk band Crass
Crass
Crass are an English punk rock band that was formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...
said in interviews, and in an essay called The Last Of The Hippies, that Crass was formed in memory of his friend, Wally Hope
Wally Hope
Wally Hope was a name by which Phillip Russell was known.Phil was a visionary and a free-thinker, whose life has had a profound influence on many in the culture of the UK Underground and beyond...
. Rimbaud also said that Crass were heavily involved with the hippie movement throughout the 1960s and Seventies, with Dial House being established in 1967. Many punks were often critical of Crass
Crass
Crass are an English punk rock band that was formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...
for their involvement in the hippie movement. Like Crass, Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
was influenced by the hippie movement and cited the yippies as a key influence on his political activism and thinking, though he did write songs critical of hippies.
The industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
and rivethead
Rivethead
Rivethead can mean:* The head of a rivet* Formerly, since the 1940s, a nickname for American automotive assembly line workers* A fashion style, as described here----...
subcultures have had several ties to punk, in terms of music, fashion and attitude.