Punk ideologies

Punk ideologies are a group of varied social and political beliefs associated with the punk subculture. This article provides a rough generalization of the philosophies of individuals who identify themselves as punks and doesn't completely represent the views of all of those who do so.

In its original nature, the punk culture has been primarily concerned with individual freedom, which tends to create beliefs in concepts such as individualism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism and free thought. Punk ideologies have often included a critical view of the world; seeing modern day societies as placing extensive limits on humanity. Punk ideologies are usually expressed through punk rock music, punk zines, independently-published literature and spoken word recordings.

Punk culture originated as a movement of shock, rebellion, and discontent; and from certain points-of-view, it has evolved into an overt socio-political movement. Lyrically, punk bands often express discontent with the individuals and institutions that influence society. The political ideology most often associated with punk is anarchism, however punk has also been associated with other leftist ideologies such as social liberalism, socialism and communism. Despite the association that punk ideologies have with the left wing, some punks perceive the efforts of leftists as ineffectual, and sometimes just as objectionable as the right wing—this claim is most commonly associated with libertarian punks.. Although not as common, some right-wing ideologies have appeared within punk culture, including conservatism and neo-Nazism.

Religious ideologies within the punk subculture include atheism, agnosticism, humanism, Christianity, Islam, the Rastafari movement and the Hare Krishna movement (especially amongst 1980s straight edge scene), which often overlap onto a punk's political beliefs.

Punk ethics

In the late 1970s, the punk movement was operating in an environment controlled by outside influences. Because this impinged on the freedom of the movement, people in the punk scene began creating their own record labels, organizing their own concerts, and creating their own print media. This became known as the do it yourself (DIY) ethic. "Don't hate the media, become the media" is a motto of this movement.

Punks sometimes participate in direct action such as protests, boycotts, and in some cases, violence. Some of the most militant punks have bombed gas stations, destroyed animal research laboratories, alterred billboards to include political messages, and occupied abandoned buildings. Hacktivism has become an additional method of sabotage. These acts are committed in an effort to create social change when it is felt that the normal channels for change have been proven ineffective. See songs on direct action.

Selling out

Selling out refers to any abandonment of personal values in exchange for reciprocal gain, in the form of wealth, status, or power. Because anti-establishment attitudes are such an important part of punk ideologies, a network of independent music labels, venues, and distributors has developed. Some punk bands have chosen to break from this independent system and work within the established system of major labels. Some punks argue that these artists have betrayed their communities, and that their creative integrity is necessarily compromised. However, some artists argue that working in the major label system is a necessary evil, allowing the widest distribution of their messages.

Another meaning of selling out is for a punk band to change its musical style, such as to prog rock, pop or heavy metal. For example, many of Black Flag's later songs show obvious metal influence, while their older work was mainly punk rock. Selling out also has the meaning of adopting a more conservative, mainstream lifestyle and ideology. One example of someone accused of selling out is Garry Bushell, who largely abandoned socialism after getting a job at The Sun newspaper. However, according to Ian Glasper in his book Burning Britain, Bushell became disillusioned with the punk movement.

Punk fashion and visual art

Main articles: punk fashion and punk visual art

Punk fashion was originally an expression of nonconformity with mainstream culture, as well as that of hippie counterculture. Punk fashion displays many of the things that punk music expresses: aggression, rebellion, and individualism. This use of fashion to shock may have been partly influenced by the Futurist art movement. Early British punk clothes were an example of polysemy, which is the appropriation of everyday items as clothing to changed the original meaning of the item. For example, safety pins and bin liners were worn by some early punks. Early punk styles have been linked to dandyism, because they were concerned with making the body a work of art. It's common for punks wear to bondage bracelets, heavy chains, and bullet casings. Some punks have body piercings and tattoos, some of which are politically oriented. Many punks wear vintage or thrift/ charity shop clothing, partly as an anti-consumerist statement and partly harks back to dandyism.

In 1990s USA, there were distinctive east and west coast styles. West coast style became more aligned with a loose, surfer or skateboarder style, while in the midwest and east, the style was more prim, in alignment with indie. In 1990s Britain, punk fashion sometimes mixed with heavy metal and nu metal styles. Examples of this include hoodies and baggy trousers. The streetpunk punk fashion of leather, chains, patches, mohawk hairstyles and boots persists as a distinctive fashion. The newer punk fashions can be said to be apolitical, but they make a statement constructing affiliation and difference in society. However, this is based more on cultural differences than ideology. Some punks refuse to fall into the punk fashion. This anti-fashion is often associated with hardcore punk like Minor Threat and Black Flag.

Punk visual art is usually straightforward with a clear message. Album covers contain potent messages concerning social injustice, economic disparity, and images of suffering. Alternatively, they may contain images of selfishness, apathy, and other things that may provoke contempt in the viewer. Much of the earlier artwork was in black and white, because it was distributed in fanzines created at copy shops. Other imagery can be cartoonish, especially in less overtly-political and apolitical bands. The Ramones often had cartoon images on album covers, reflecting their love of campy 1950s and 1960s pop culture.

Anarchism

Main article: anarcho-punk

Many punks align themselves with the social movement of anarchism. These punks form a social movement within punk that is similar to anarchism without adjectives, collectively known as anarcho-punk. Some well-known punk bands (e.g. The Exploited and the Sex Pistols) sing about anarchy, but do not use the word in the sense of anarchism as a political philosophy . As such, they are not considered part of the anarcho-punk genre. Notable anarchist punks include: Tom Gabel, Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud, Eve Libertine, Gee Vaucher, Jack Grisham, Colin Jerwood, Dave Dictor, Jello Biafra and Kelvin "Cal" Morris of Discharge.

Socialism

The Clash were the first strongly political punk rock band, as they introduced socialism to the punk scene. Some of the original Oi! bands expressed a rough form of socialist working class populism — sometimes mixed with patriotism. Many Oi! bands sang about politically-charged topics such as unemployment, police harassment and working class power. Notable socialist and communist punks include: Bruce La Bruce, Joe Strummer, John Sinclair, Paul Weller, Attila the Stockbroker, Billy Bragg, Tom Robinson, Stewart Home, Seething Wells, Fermin Muguruza, Garry Bushell (until the late 1980s), Justin Sane, Dennis Lyxzen, Jaz Coleman, Thomas Mensforth, James Dean Bradfield, Nina Hagen, Picchio, Alberto Pla, enteria III and Ian Svenonius.

Straight Edge

Main article: Straight edge

Straight edge, which originated in the hardcore punk scene, involves abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drug use. Some who claim the title straight edge also abstain from caffeine, casual sex and meat. Those more strict individuals may be considered part of the hardline subculture For some, straight edge is a simple lifestyle preference, but for others it's a political stance. In many cases, it is a rejection of the perceived self-destruction of punk and hardcore culture. Notable straight edgers include: Ian MacKaye, Jose Ballada III Sean Muttaqi, Davey Havok, Tim McIlrath, Dennis Lyxzen and CM Punk. Unlike the shunning of meat and caffeine, refraining from casual sex was without question a practice in the original straight edge lifestyle, but it has been overlooked by many of the reincarnations of straight edge. Many non straight edge people, as well as straight edge people who do uphold this value, criticize those who claim straight edge but engage in casual sex as weak and not really edge, claiming that they just don't have the discipline.

Conservatism

Main article: Conservative Punk

A small number of punks are conservative, embracing the punk lifestyle while rejecting the left-wing and anarchist views held by the majority of the subculture. Notable conservative punks include: Michale Graves, Johnny Ramone, Joe Escalante, Billy Zoom, Bobby Steele and Dave Smalley.

Neo-Nazism and nationalism

Main articles: Nazi punk and Rock Against Communism

Nazi punks have a far right, nationalist, fascist, and racist ideology that is closely related to that of white power skinheads. Ian Stuart Donaldson and his band Skrewdriver are credited with popularizing white power rock music, also known as Rock Against Communism.

Nihilism

Centering around a belief in the abject lack of meaning and value to life, nihilism was a fixture in some early punk rock. Nihilist attitudes and aesthetics were apparent in protopunk and punk rock musicians such as Iggy Pop, MC5, Richard Hell, Sex Pistols and G.G. Allin. High unemployment and other socio-political conditions in the United Kingdom led to the punk slogan "No future." Notable nihilist punks include: GG Allin, Sid Vicious, Dee Dee Ramone, Richard Hell, Johnny Rotten and Seth Putnam.

Apolitical

Another punk minority are those who claim not to be political. Examples of this would be Charged GBH and G.G. Allin. However, in practice, socio-political ideas do find their way into these musicians' lyrics. Charged GBH have sung about social issues and anti-war themes, such as in the songs "Wardogs" and "No Survivors." G.G. Allin expressed some vague desire to kill the U.S. President and destroy the current political system (as evidenced by his song Violence Now).[1]

Situationism

Situationism was an early part of punk ideology in the United Kingdom. Started in continental Europe in the 1950s, it was an avant-garde political movement that sought to recapture the ideals of surrealist art and use them to construct new and radical social situations. While the movement itself failed to make meaningful political progress, it did have significant impact on music and culture. Introduced to punk by svengali Malcolm McLaren, situationism found an effective breeding ground in the desperation of 1970s England. McLaren had been interested in the philosophy since the 1960s and, had tried unsuccessfully to participate in the May 1968 demonstrations in Paris. This failure led him to seek alternative methods by which to enact the philosophy.

Seeing such an opportunity in the Sex Pistols, he commandeered the band members’ various rebellious, but working-class, tendencies, and placed them in the context of his radical politics. While the members of the Pistols certainly had all the impulses necessary to do things like swear on national television, it was McLaren’s refined leftist veneer that placed them in a greater context. Situationist ideals informed not only openly rebellious acts, such as the incident mentioned above and a 1977 concert McLaren and the Pistols staged on a boat before the Houses of Parliament, but also their public image. McLaren’s partner, and the band’s designer/stylist, Vivienne Westwood also ascribed to situationist ideals, and everything from album cover sloganeering to the bondage trousers they wore was intended to provoke a specific social response.

Liberalism

Liberal punks were in the punk subculture from the beginning and are mostly on the liberal left. Notable liberal punks include: Joey Ramone, Ted Leo, Crashdog, Hoxton Tom McCourt,Fat Mike, and Tim McIlrath.

There are also a number of classical liberal or libertarian punks. Although they do not reject capitalism per se, they do reject statist capitalism and social conservatism, and apply the same laissez-faire approach to the economy that is applied by punks to social life. Examples of libertarian punks would include Billie Joe Armstrong the anarcho-capitalist and the band The Yellow Day Brigade. (See also: minarchism, left-libertarianism, and agorism.)

Criticisms of punk ideology

Punk ideology has been criticized from outside and within. The anarcho-punk band Crass wrote songs such as "White Punks on Hope" which, among other things, accuses Joe Strummer of selling out and betraying his earlier principles, and "Punk is Dead", which attacks corporate co-option of the punk subculture. Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra accused the punk magazine Maximum RocknRoll of "punk fundamentalism" when they refused to advertise Alternative Tentacles records because they said the records "weren't punk". The Conservative Punk website argues that punks have become "hippies with mohawks". The Conservatives in punk rock often refer to the fact that punk rock rejected the perceived unrealistic liberal view held by hippies, a view that was often out of touch with the "common man". The reference to hippies could also be a reference to the fact that while hippies were generally pacifists, violence and brawling have always been a part of punk rock.

Jim Goad's essay The Underground is A Lie! argues that many punks are hypocrites.[2] He writes that many punks act poor, while hiding the fact they come from middle class (perhaps even upper class) backgrounds. In Farts from Underground, he claims that the DIY ethic never produces anything original, and it allows poor quality work to be championed.[3] He argues that in being politicized and propagandist, punk contributes to a model of alternative culture that is more bland than the mainstream. Goad claims that punk is as outdated and obsolescent as the mainstream it rails against.

In their book The Rebel Sell, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter claim that counterculture politics have failed, and that the punk understanding of society is flawed. They argue that alternative and mainstream lifestyles ultimately have the same values. They claim that the capitalist system does not seek conformity, and that instead, a force of social distinction drives the market; leading individuals to be in constant pursuit to "outcat" each other.

Another external criticism of punk culture comes from Aristasians, an all-female subculture that is heavily influenced by the traditionalist school of philosophy. Aristasians argue that punk accomplishes nothing but to kick the corpse of the establishment, which no longer existed after 1965; calling this idea "The Doctrine of The Cardboard Enemy". They argue that the more that punks rebel against the status quo, the more they become part of it. In an interview with a fanzine, their media representative Marianne Martindale implied that by declaring oneself non-conformist, one actually conforms to a societal norm.[4] Aristasians claim that this theory applies equally to other youth subcultures, such as hip hop, goth, skinhead, black metal, hippie, junglist and new age travellers.

See also

• Anarchism and animal rights
• Anarchism in the arts
• CrimethInc.
• DIY ethic
• Goth ideology
• List of political punk songs
• Music and politics
• Nazi punk
• Punk subculture
• Red Wedge
• The Rebel Sell (book critical of punk ideology)
• Rock Against Bush
• Rock Against Communism
• Rock Against Racism
• Rock Against Sexism
• Situationism

Bibliography

• O'Hara, Craig, The Philosophy of Punk, AK Press, 1999 ISBN 1-873176-16-3
• Garofalo, Rebee, "Rockin' The Boat: Music and Mass Movements", South End Press, 1991 ISBN 0896084272
• Sinker, Daniel, "We Owe You Nothing, Punk Planet: the collected interveiws", Akashic Books, 2001 ISBN 1888451149
• Taylor, Steven, "False Prophet: Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground", Wesleyan University Press, 2003 ISBN 0819566675

External links

• The apparent indeterminable classification of counterculture An essay on punk culture and thought by Craig Turnwall