Introduction
The contemporary society nowadays is divided into different groups according to demographic, national, religious, professional, social and other characteristics. One of such division is cultural, according to which the society is divided into many various subcultures. A general definition of subculture is following: it is a distinct group with its specific values, customs and beliefs that exists as an independent segment within more complex and bigger society. (Kumar 88)
This essay will focus on one particular contemporary punk subculture that was born in London and is still quite popular there. The paper will discover the history of punk movement, its characteristics, customs, beliefs and the fashion in order to understand what makes punk subculture so special and distinct from other modern subcultures. Moreover, the purpose of the essay is also to answer the question, what is the place of the punk subculture today in the contemporary society, and whether it still exists nowadays.
Definition of punk and the main elements of the punk subculture
Though the punk subculture has a long history and has been already researched by many scholars, it is still quiet difficult to give a general definition of punk. Moreover, it is considered that there is a definition of punk for every punk in the world. The main reason of why it is difficult to give a universal definition of punk is that it is a global phenomenon nowadays that exists in every country on each continent and therefore it has various styles. For example, there are the punks who accepts drugs and alcohol, and those punks, who against it. Also, there are also political and antipolitical, religious and antireligious punks. There are also those members of the punk subculture, who pay great attention at fashion and appearance, and those, who ignore fashion at all and focus more on the philosophy of punk movement itself.
Though there is no a universal definition of punk, there are specific features of punks that helps to distinguish them from the rest of society and members of other subcultures. The main and the most evident characteristics of punks is that they are contrast to the mainstream, pop culture, general public and the capitalist society. The second significant feature is that punks try to be free from any rules and restrictions imposed by the contemporary society – either they are collective or individual. The third feature is their focus on the concept called “do-it-yourself” that means that punks create their own life style, music and infrastructure in order to resist the mainstream to keep control over the subculture. As any other subculture, the punks are the subject of the subculture theory, the main idea of which is that people, who do not follow the norms are criticized or ridiculated by other people in the subculture, and those who follow them are admired and respected”.
Originally punk subculture was developing centred on punk music and included a range of ideologies, fashion and various forms of expression such as cinematography, dance, visual art and even literature. (Forsyth and Copes 561) In terms of the punk, it is characterized as very loud, aggressive type of rock music that is usually played by bands.
Another interesting characteristic of the punk subculture is it political direction. The subculture covers almost the whole political spectrum and the most common punk political ideologies that are focused on individual’s freedom are “do-it-yourself ethic”, direct action, non-conformity, anti-authoritarism, not selling-out and some others.
Fashion of the punk subculture is also quiet specific and is considered to be very expressive and extravagant. Usually, most of punks wear different T-shirts with confrontational messages, leather jackets and leather pants, jeans, Doc Marten boots and many various accessories in order to emphasize their belonging to these subcultures such as chains, leather bracelets, collars with pins and etc. Female punks do not try to point their femininity and mostly prefer masculine clothing. At the early stage of developing punk subculture, the clothing was the method of punks to claim to the mainstream that they are different from the rest of society and to say to society “We belong to punks”. Moreover, another purpose of an early extravagant punk fashion was the opposition to disco craze and hippies that wore long hair and clothing of bright colours and were especially popular in 80s. Already in late 70s the first punk stores were opened in many big cities, where it was possible to buy the punk clothing and accessories. One of the first such stores was Manic Panic in New York, the owners of which were the sisters Tish and Snooky. Also, in 1977 in Los Angeles one of the first articles was published, in which it was described, how to create a punk look. The article gave following suggestions:
cut up T-Shirt, then lace or pin it back together;
wear jeans with pins;
loads of hair or no hair;
make hand-paint words or graffiti on T-shirts and decorate them with pins and buttons,
create a vest out of black trash bag and then decorate it with pins. (Hannon 51)
One of the most influential figures in the punk fashion were designers, who invented and created new trend in the fashion of this subculture. In the United Kingdom they were Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood (Fig. 1)
They opened a store in London in 1971, where they sold various shocking designing clothing. As materials they used plastic bags, leather, tartan and etc. (Guillain 14)
One of the most significant elements of punk fashion is their hairstyle. Usually punk hairstyles are Mohawks, hair coloured with bright colours, spiked hair and etc. Mohawk or Mohican is the most recognizable hairstyle in the punk subculture that appeared and came into fashion in 1980s (Fig. 2)
It is also quite usually for punk to make tattoos, piercing and different body modifications. The initial purpose of piercing was to make punks look more frightening and brave beyond pain. (Strong 122) In terms of tattoos, the most popular style was neo-tribal tattooing that is characterized by heavy lines and black-only designs, which made them easy to execute. Most punk tattoos focused on death motifs, anarchy symbols, and words and images that were directly related to punk music. (DeMello 228)
The history of the punk subculture
The punk subculture started as a music-based movement, however there is almost no agreement regarding its geographic origin. Some historians and researchers claim that first punks appeared in New York, the United States in the middle 60s, while others persuade that the punk subculture emerged in 1970s in the United Kingdom and later spread throughout the world. The punk subculture also gave birth to many other different subcultures in 1980s such as Emos and Goths.
The development of the punk subculture began with the appearance of such bands as The Stooges and MC5 that started playing very aggressive rock music, which was their response to the hippie culture and the commercialization of the society. The early punk musical scene was formed with the help of such bands as Television, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols and others. Different bands were formed in various locations all over the globe:New York, London, Boston and etc. For example, it is believed that the event in London in The Roundhouse in July 1976, where initially The Strangels and the Six Pistols played, launched the punk scene in the United Kingdom. By the end of 1976 the Sex Pistols’ fans had also formed other bands in the UK including The Adverts, The Vibrators, X-Ray Sex, The Clash and others.
The 80s was the period of reaction against the negative images of the punk subculture offered by the mass media of that time. As the result of this reaction the movement called hardcore was formed. It was also the punk music, but even more aggressive and violent. The most notable bands playing hardcore were The Descendents, Minor Threat and Black Flag. These bands and their hardcore music have made the punk culture more popular and well-known, and it was not confined anymore to the urban environment. However, a traditional punk movement in 1980s started losing steam. Instead, new forms of the punk subculture emerged, such as post-punk movement for example. This movement was especially popular in the United Kingdom, where many musical bands playing this genre were formed. (Leblanc)
In 2000s many other different forms of the punk music were developing and appearing by transforming the whole punk subculture that is mostly dependent on the music. One of the most popular musical punk genres emerged that time was alternative rock. This music was also called “pop punk” or “mall punk” because it was not as aggressive as traditional punk music of 1970s. The examples of pop punk bands that are still popular nowadays are: Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Green Day, Blink 182 and others.
The contemporary punk subculture in UK and in the world
It is used to believe that the punk subculture is dead nowadays since it has been replaced by many other subcultures that emerged from the punks including the above mentioned pop punk, Emos, Goths and etc. However it is not like that and there are still many representatives and followers of the traditional punk subculture despite the fact that famous punk band such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash do not perform nowadays and even do not exist. The ideology, fashion, music and art still exist, especially in the countries of its origin and big cities – such as London, for example. The proof of it is the number of different events related to the punk subculture and punk music. One of them is Punk.London – a festival that throughout the year will conduct different events associated with the punk subculture and its influence on the contemporary art, music, ideology, cinematography, fashion and etc. The events of the festival include exhibitions, tattoo workshops, musical events and many others. One of the most significant events of the festival is the weekender in the Roundhouse – the place, where the English punk subculture was born and emerged 40 years ago. (Punk.London: 40 years of subversive culture).
There are also other different events in the United Kingdom that keep the punk subculture alive and prove that it still exists in the modern world. One of them is an annual non-profit urban punk festival Scumfest that every year gathers punks living in London in order to celebrate the punk subculture. Of course, contemporary punk subculture is not similar to that one that was born in the United Kingdom many decades ago as the way an aggressive protest to the mainstream. However the modern punks are still followers and supporters of the same ideology that is based on the idea that you need to be yourself and unique and follow the punk motto “Do-it-yourself” (DIY).
Conclusion
The punk subculture is one of the most influential and expressive subcultures with the long history that has influenced almost all areas of people’s life including fashion, art, music, cinematography and even literature. Moreover, it gave birth to many other subcultures that exist and well-known nowadays, as well as made popular many musical bands that are considered to be legendary today.
Though it is believed that the traditional punk subculture died at the end of 1990s when new subcultures and new genres of music replaced it, it still exists nowadays in many countries and big cities like London, but in less aggressive forms. The contemporary punk subculture has a broad sense and unique meaning for everyone. As John Robb, a writer and musician who promotes the annual punk festival in Blackpool claims “I do not think that punk is necessary a style of music. Punk means different things for every person. For some people it is anarchistic, for some people it is leftwing, for some people it is rightwing and a lot of people in the middle just like the records and have some vague notion that it is travelling in a communal direction”. (Lynskey)
Works Cited
DeMello, Margo. Encyclopedia of Body Adornment. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press. 2007. Print.
Forsyth, Craig and Heith Copes. Encyclopedia of Social Deviance. London: SAGE Publications. 2014. Print
Guillain, Charlotte. Culture in Action: Punk. Music, Fashion, Attitude! London: Raintree. 2011. Print.
Hannon, Sharon. Punks: A Guide to an American Subculture. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press. 2010. Print
Kumar, Arun Tyagi. Consumer Behaviour. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. 2004. Print
Leblanc, Lauraine. Pretty in Punk: Girls' Gender Resistance in a Boys' Subculture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 2002. Print
Lynskey, Dorian. “No future? Punk is still the sound of youth rebellion the world over”. The Guardian. Guardan News and Media Limited. 1st June 2012. Web. 14 March 2016.
Punk.London: 40 years of subversive culture. Punk.London, 2016. Web. 14 March 2016.
Strong, Marilee. A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain. London: Pinguin Books. 1999. Print
