So the punk scene, what a scene it is. Big mohawks, piercings, and a bad attitude that all those movies and annoyed parents warned us about. But seriously, it’s not all that. Nowadays, punk has become nothing more than a front for stores like Hot Topic to make a quick buck off of and unless your Green Day, most of your venues are a small bar if they’re lucky. What is the kind of thing punk is mistaken for, what is it really, and just what happened to it all? Well, that’s what I am here to talk about today. Sadly, don’t expect a huge analysis on this one. This is merely a myriad of thoughts about a genre I am passionate about. And this isn’t the end all be all for this discussion, as it is a wide variety of possible things and some people see it different depending on their mindset, so this is just the mindset of someone who loves the message of punk more than anything.

1: Going Underground or What Punk Is To an Outsider



Now when I say outsider, I don’t want to give off the impression of “Hey, you just don’t understand the passion of punk normie, aka mom and dad”. I see punk as something that will welcome anyone who isn’t a completely uppity, or, the real reason for it. Punk has been known for having a style of crazy hair styles, insane piercings, vests with a ton of punk bands on it, black boots, tight pants, tattoos, and what scares corporate suits and parents, a really bad attitude. Now of course, that is just a style, that isn’t a mindset. Yes, it is a style that some could see as intimidating, but most punk fans I’ve seen are actually quite welcoming and for the most part, friendly… well, unless your Sid Vicious, but… We’re not talking about that. Anyway, when a fashion becomes trendy, that’s usually when someone wants to make a profit off that. Comic books became huge profits after movies started making it big, and video games started to become a huge market when Youtube became a thing. And music… oh, don’t even get me started. Hot Topic to Punk is like Disney to Marvel Comics, EA to gaming, and any producer to a Hollywood movie. Bring it up around any punk, and they coil in disgust, and usually for good reason. I mean…. Look at this shit



Kill me. So with that in mind, the most common mindset about punk to a younger audience is that it is a group that is about anti-government and anti-business, that they do not want to be bought and sold, to which I say… yes and no

2: Blitzkrieg Bop or What Punk Really Means



Yes, punk is an anti establishment and is highly against business and control. The 50s were a time to be a red, white and blue American, with the fear of the red scare, having faith in our president and our government. That all changed after the Vietnam War, a war that American citizens were thrusted into because the U.S. government didn’t want communism to spread to it. As a result, American soldiers were killed regularly and protests were not uncommon in the 70s. After the Vietnam War, the Kent State Shooting, and the Watergate Scandal which saw President Richard Nixon as an untrustworthy figure all within such a short amount of time, people had lost all faith in their government and their leader. Trust was broken and people didn’t see a reason to believe in them any longer. And so, punk music got its start in the 70s. From there, bands like Iggy and the Stooges, Black Flag, and The Misfits got popular through their vulgar lyrics and satirical messages on society, government and politics. However, in jolly old England, it was a different story. Most punk rock bands were never given huge brand deals and were limited to their garage or small venues if they were lucky. However, that all changed when a little band known eventually as the Sex Pistols came to New York to play a few songs, and from there, the UK punk scene went insane with all sorts of bands like The Jam, The Stranglers, The Clash, and The Buzzcocks. The UK punk scene was so influential to the genre as a whole that the Union Jack is still considered a symbol of punk even today. Now, why bring all this up? Why bring up this brief history lesson to talk about a music genre? Because it is important to understand the true meaning of punk and how it got that meaning. Punk isn’t simply about not taking shit from those in power, it’s about having freedom, true freedom, where you tell yourself what to do, what you want to do, and how you do it. Being a punk isn’t about dressing up in a cool style and listening to The Ramones or Dead Kennedys, it’s about having the ability to think for yourself. Punk can be seen in more than just the underground scene. Skateboarding was a huge thing for punk. A lot of indie developers, even bigger ones like Grasshopper Manufacture, thrive on the mindset of thinking for yourself. Punk is so much more than just a brand or a style, it is a way of being able to think freely… And I hate that this message has been stomped into the mud by corporations and garbage bands

3: Complete Control or How Punk Got Royally Screwed



So let’s talk about how punk has become less of a mindset in the eyes of the majority and nothing more than a style. It was always warned from bands like NOFX or Dead Kennedys, but boy did we not listen. To companies, punk music was in and so was the clothing. They grabbed up all the bands they could to make them huge and popular, like Blink-182 and Green Day, who had the potential for something great until they made Boulevard of Broken Dreams and instead of punk, they became emo. I hate to be that dickhead to say “Green Day isn’t true punk”, but it is really not what American Idiot or Basket Case was. And while I could rat on Hot Topic for the third time in this article, I feel it’s better to rat on someone else. Like punks who think that being a prick is cool. It’s cool to listen to this punk band while tattooing Nazi logos on my arm or just beating up people for fun. You know you’re the kind of audience punk musicians hate with a passion, right? And then we come to Rage Against the Machine… hoo boy. Okay, you can like the band all you want. You can like Tom Morello’s insane guitar skills. But there comes a problem with how a band that is considered punk and how it has this sort of message about killing police and burning parliament, while at the same time taking advertising and singing deals constantly. How can one band be on one end of the spectrum and then on the total other end at the same time? It’s no wonder punk has been seen as that outdated genre that people look at and say, “Wasn;t that song that played in Tony Hawk Pro Skater that one time?”

4: Get Off the Air or What Remains



Sadly, the punk style and the music is not as big as it was back in the day. People are no longer trusting of their government, their corporate overlords, or even each other if we can look at the local political climate. Nobody seems to have much trust for anyone and the climate seems to get more and more untrustworthy by the day with the rise of polar opinions. It seems people are more interested in throwing shade at each other rather than the people who are in charge. The glory of punk was that it was aiming at people much, much higher than them, from businessmen to politicians. But now, with everyone going at each other, it just feels like another argument you read about on the internet. Hot Topic is still going strong today, though I can’t exactly say the same for the entirety of shopping malls as a whole, since Amazon has kinda killed that off completely. As for music, the music industry has ignored it completely. No kids are gonna care about whoever the Descendents or Bad Religion. Even Reel Big Fish hasn’t gotten any traction, go figure. However, while the art of it is no longer as huge as it once was, the spirit is still there. There are people who want to think for themselves, who do what they want to do without being told to do it by some corporate businessman or some snide politician. You can see this in art, in independent projects for games and movies, even when you see someone sporting a different style from others. Some people may say punk as dead, but as long as the idea of freedom and having the ability to think for yourself is still around, the spirit of punk will stick around for quite a long time