sonic reducer
- Punks On Film: 10 Other Punk Movies
- Vancouver Punk
- Punk References in Hard Core Logo
I love to yammer about punk history and punk music and the different aspects of this wild subculture. I've written here about some of the different aspects of punk music, media, culture & politics, in relation to Hard Core Logo and the punk background of the movie.
Punks LOVE to talk about what punk is or isn't, and none of them agree. Some of them don't even think they're punks. So, some notes:
punk and politics
From the beginning punk had a political content - it made references to political events & military tactics, it used the aesthetics of war, crime, violence and even fascism.
Some people will tell you that the point was the aesthetic confusion - swastikas next to anarchy As, Mao next to Stalin next to Bakunin next to Marilyn Monroe. However it's also clear that many people involved in punk were interested, engaged and sincere about politics.
Punk writer & historian Stuart Schrader argues that punk itself was a political activity, and not just in the sense that everything you do is political. Punk caught fire the way it did because it was a channel for political anger and energy at a time when traditional political activity had been discredited. This coincided in the US and UK with the beginning of modern neoliberalism.
Punk anger comes with the despair of knowing your anger is futile, that punk positions were marginal, and punks themselves were marginal. Influential punk band Crass captured the horror and despair of being at the mercy of the rich and powerful.
punk and gender
Many punk scenes were male dominated, while the image of punk that has been manufactured in a devil's bargain between the most popular bands and the media is of four white boys with guitars. However punk was more diverse than this from the beginning and women were involved in punk at every step - as musicians, producers, managers, fanzine editors, illustrators and artists. Queer people were also deeply involved in punk from the beginning. While punk was not what you would call a safe space, the roar of the repressed it represented was and is attractive to many people who have been marginalized. Punk was also attractive to many gender dissenters because it provided an alternative to the stereotypically masculine or feminine social roles. Unfortunately yesterday's innovations become tomorrow's new stereotypes. The "wounded masculinity" that emerged from punk subcultures has been identified by critics with a sense of masculine entitlement.