Impacts of Punk Culture

Although its origins can be traced back in the late 60’s, even earlier, punk culture showed itself in the early 1970s and evolved in time. It seemed to form a distinct youth culture that in turn provoked a media-driven moral panic with certain ideologies, fashion choices, visual arts, dance styles, literature and films cluster around a loud – aggressive genre of music called “punk rock” and prompted notable cultural change.

For decades, the punk culture shaped people’s characters, perspectives about life. Even though there were a lot of negative opinions from people (Especially considering the word “punk” was a slang term used for describing certain groups of youths at the bottom of the social scale) who do not approve the punk culture about how distractive and harmful the ones who live their life dedicated to punk culture.

Saying “Suffused with self-reflexive irony, these punkshave recycled cultural images and fragments for purposes of parody and shockingjuxtaposition, thereby deconstructing the dominant meanings and simulationswhich saturate social space”(Moore, 307) and claim they are a threat for the society.

The punk culture has been providing the freedom of self-expression, self-esteem many of the punk culture followers lack of in many areas and bringing them together and show people their capability, the real power they have in life to change the world.Punk culture gave people a type of freedom that supports being an individual. Before people embraced the punk culture expressing opinions that are out of the societies liking were not okay.

However, punk culture is mainly based on knowing every individual has a different approach to a topic and supporting to emit these opinions openly, without fear. According to punk culture the first step to be an independed individual requires not accepting everything the society tells you, not following rules they teach you, not listening what the authority says; just use your own mind to guide yourself, use your power to do everything that was normally supposed to be hidden, as society says, to bring to the front, to in front of the society’s face.

In order to follow that movement, the most prevalent core value in the punk subculture that created itself is Do-It-Yourself (or D.I.Y.). For example, punk music bands adopted the Do-It-Yourself subculture to record their own music, to release their own records, to book their own shows and tours, radically to spread their own ideas with the minimum amount of outside assistance. They made their own merchandise for their fans, sometimes even with the help of their fans.

The outgrowth of hardcore punk in the 1980s would not have been possible without D.I.Y. Because no major labels showed interest in punk, punks were forced into creating almost every aspect of the subculture (Moran, 62). D.I.Y. in the punk subculture is often not a choice because of the low economic income of individuals in the subculture. At some point punks had no choice other than not rely on anyone but themselves. To follow the D.I.Y. method, the punk did not have to have the same perspective about world. There were virtually no politics in uniform except for doing it yourself.

One of the articles used to create this research gave the example of Screwdriver, a white supremacist band, and Crass, an anarchist punk band, as both being classified as “punk” bands despite their lack of shared values. Being a participant in the punk subculture suggests that one must be active in the creation and support of other members of the movement (Moran, 63).The fashion sense the punks promotes individual freedom and self – appreciation.

The punk fashion, again, is supported by the D.I.Y. method. A lot of clothe items is made, sewed and put together by the person who wears the clothes. Punk was a radical style marked by unconventional combinations of elements and materials and a high shock value. What began as an anti-style aimed at thumbing its nose at the established norms of high fashion ended up having a great deal of influence on the fashions of the late 1970s and beyond (1).

The look of punk was basically wearing almost entirely black, pants with holes in them, especially on the knees, which deliberately ripped, composed their outfits mixing, matching, and layering as they saw fit. To have a altered, more individual look was the main key to look punk. Quite often the garments were torn, colored, with the items bought at second-hand or military surplus shops. Black turtlenecks, short leather skirts or tight leather pants or jeans, leather jackets customized with paint, chains, safety pins and metal studs, and heavy leather boots were essential for the look.

The clothes were often decorated with obscene or disturbing words and images. What is now called punk is generally dated to 1972 when the British fashion designers Malcolm McLaren (1946–) and Vivienne Westwood (1941–) opened their London boutique, First called Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die and later renamed Sex, sold a variety of black leather and rubber designs and became a central meeting place for those in the emerging punk music scene (1).

Gender based clothing was no longer ideal for them to express their self-image, the idea of “There is no gender, clothes are just piece of fabric” began to assimilated by the punks and spread to world.

Speaking of self-image and expression, re-creating your image other than wearing ‘punk appropriate’ clothes were being espoused such as dying natural hair with vibrant hair colors, different haircuts and styles (for example, spiked haircut, achieved by applying large amounts of gel or Vaseline to one’s hair and then rubbing talcum powder into it to dry it into spikes that stuck out away from the head, or shaved parts or all of their heads, creating mohawks), doing obscure make-up looks with darkened eyelids and lips for both men and women, piercing multiple body parts, doing tattoos which is considered to be only can own by the prisoners a.k.a. bad guy (which supported punks to provoke the society) and creating new methods and styles for these acts (for example dermal ‘anchors’ piercing).

Doing all of these punk styles, seeing others to do them too, enabled punks to feel more comfortable and safe in their own skin with the freedom of self-expression.The genre of music punk culture creates helps people to express their emotions. In general, punk rock was a negation of the dominant trends in popular music. It contained attitudes, approaches and subject-matter that had been excluded from the practice of popular music, which by the mid-1970s was more than ever. Punk rock was intensely contradictory. Frequently, the same musician used both progressive and reactionary elements (sometimes even in the same song).

The main style of punk rock was fast, loud and aggressive rhythm and used of harsh, very expressive language in lyrics which disturbed many other people due to the political statements they partake. Punk groups have produced songs about unemployment (Career Opportunities, Right To Work), the Notting Hill carnival (White Riot), the monarchy (God Save The Queen) and general expressions of an apocalyptic rebellion (Anarchy In The UK, London’s Burning), many of these songs have not been broadcast as a result of formal or covert censorship, it is worth dealing in some detail with the most prominent of them (Laing, 124).

The punk performers claimed they were ‘exposing the reality’. Also, again, the usage of the D.I.Y., the records were made quickly and cheaply in small recording studios, manufactured and distributed locally through a company set up by a manager or local entrepreneur, such as a record shop owner, created not perfect copy of the records compared to the earlier music styles that embraced the clean sound of music. However, this imperfect image of punk music represents did not back-fired like the others (anti-punks) assumed.

Listeners liked the natural vocal and sound approach. Another approach the punk performers focused on was sexuality, the aggression they present was usually sexual. The Rolling Stones used this approach a lot to their advantage. Another style called “glamrock” (glamorous rock, named after the fancy, over-the-top style the performers choose) performed by David Bowie, Queen and others was also an influence on this style. The punks support each other’s idea, that’s why the punk culture created big, worldwide communities.

Firstly, studying a punk concert, seeing the communication and relationship between the performers and the audience, also between the audience itself is a very efficient way to choose. Participants perform the carnival rituals of faux violence, and in doing so establish, maintain, and sustain the resident punk community and culture.

The activities near the stage give the impression of chaos. Audience participants readily mounted the stage and dove or ran back into the crowd. Band members easily entered and left the audience (HerrMann, 166). Punk rock can be played in concert at either venues or basement shows, aired on radio stations, or recorded to albums or bootlegs for dissemination by the punk wing of the cassette culture.

Parties also serve as an important component of a punk scene, providing an event to exchange music and reinforce scene solidarity. Punks mostly interact with one another in their local area, forming a local punk scene. In dozens of countries worldwide, almost all major cities, many medium-sized cities, and a few small towns have such scenes. The worldwide punk community may sometimes be called the punk scene.

Another approach to observe the community supported by the punk culture the ideas and acts support equality such as feminism, meaning to support equality between women and men and LGBTQ+ community and understand that they were big steps to enlighten people’s minds and change their perspectives. The ones who struggle with their own sexualities and genders were supported by many communities.

Of course not everyone was happy with that, but it was just the beginning. Punks were scruffy, dirty in clothing and language, but at the same time with a sense of parody and steeped in irony. The punk culture was a celebration of chaos. Punk was a culture that reflected a consumer-based society moving out of affluence into real economic, social, and political crisis.

The Punks intentionally disconnect themselves from the parent culture and represent themselves as inscrutable. The music they created was crude and chaotic. Unlike any previous music-based youth culture, the punks attempted to break down the barriers between performers and audiences.

All of these facts had a big role to shape the world we now have.WORKS CITED* HerrMann, Andrew F. Never Mind the Scholar, Here’s the Old Punk: Identity, Community, and the Aging Music Fan. In Studies in Symbolic Interaction. 2015.*Laing, Dave. The Sound of Our Time “Interpreting Punk Rock”.

Quadrangle Books, 1970.*Mooran, Ian P. Punk: The Do-It-Yourself Subculture,” Social Sciences Journal. 2010.*Moore, Ryan. Postmodernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Deconstruction, The Communication Review. 2004.*Punk.” Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages. 10 Apr. 2018, www.encyclopedia.com.