The influence of the Punk Movement on the world we live in today. Go Back
Whether we accept it or not, the punk movement of the 1970's has changed our
lives today. From it's beginnings with social discord and disillusionment with the
government following Britain slipping into recession. The British people were
suffering on a number of fronts. Terrorist attacks were taking place fairly
regularly, with the IRA beginning their campaign of terror. Along with the
recession came massive unemployment meaning the school leavers found
finding a job hard. Soon from nowhere bands like The Sex Pistols sprang up and
made one of the biggest marks on the scene.
John Lydon would later explain the punk scene and explained where the country
was at the time. "Early Seventies Britain was a very depressing place. It was
completely run‐down, there was trash on the streets, total unemployment—just
about everybody was on strike. Everybody was brought up with an education
system that told you point blank that if you came from the wrong side of the
tracks...then you had no hope in hell and no career prospects at all. Out of that
came pretentious moi and the Sex Pistols and then a whole bunch of copycat
wankers after us"
A band called London SS managed by Bernard Rhodes broke up before
performing live. The members of which went on to form The Damned and The
Clash. Music formed the core of Punk, with it's origins heavily entrenched in the
Do It Yourself aspect of music, in fact, knowing how to play an Instrument was a
bonus, but not entirely necessary. Although it is a bad example, of how the music
inspired bad musicians to make their own music. In 1976, the Sex Pistols played
a show in Manchester, around 40 people attended, amongst those were members
of the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall and Steven Morrissey who went onto
front The Smiths as Morrissey. In addition to those who received commercial
success albeit sometimes severely limited, many more bands were formed and
fizzled out before making anything of them‐selves.
Punk was the start of modern culture, not only musically though. Fashion and art
were both victims of the progression of punk onto the public consciousness.
British Punk Fashion was largely based on those sold in SEX the fashion shop run
by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.
In fact, during the early days of The Sex Pistols there was a search for a front
man. Johnny Rotten had met Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Malcolm McLaren whilst
wearing a Pink Floyd with the words 'I Hate' written above the name and the
eyes scratched out. It was held together with safety pins' that wasn't yet a
fashion statement. He later explained how it was because he wasn't too well off
and used the safety pins to hold the T‐Shirts together. He also had green hair and
very bad dental hygiene that led to his eventual renaming as Johnny Rotten.
Whilst Punk officially began in the states, a lot of the music that was produced
was largely overlooked with the exception of bands like the Velvet Underground.
The result of this is that the influence of the Punk scene from the US is nowhere
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near as pronounced as that of London. However in the late eighties and early
nineties another musical offshoot of the rock genre grew and eventually also
made it's mark on modern culture. Enter Grunge. Popularised in and around the
state of Washington, focussed around Seattle specifically. Grunge can be seen to
draw similarities with the Punk movement of ten years previous. Once again
there was often a mention of social problems, alienation and general apathy. In
fact, music critic Simon Reynolds said the following: "there's a feeling of burnout
in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future."
The fashion of grunge was in many ways similar to that of Punk, simple clothing
and unkempt appearance were the main aspects of the fashion. Generally the
clothes were simple, durable and above all else, cheap. Echoing the majority of
the performances that the bands provided. There were no complex lighting
setups or pyrotechnics. In many respects, the bands restrained themselves to
performing as they had when they were performing in the minor venues.
Grunge was largely un‐noticed until the late years of the eighties, where bands
such as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were signed to major labels. 1990 saw a
band from Aberdeen, Washington called Nirvana join the Geffen Label and in
September of 1991 Nirvana released the album 'Nevermind' this was the first
signs of Grunge becoming truly mainstream. In January of 1992 Nevermind
replaced Michael Jacksons' Dangerous Album at the top of the American Charts.
So, The initial question remains, how exactly do the punk movement and indeed
the subsequent grunge movement of the late eighties and early nineties affect
our current lifestyles, well again, the grunge movement inspired another genre.
Cue Britpop.
Damon Albarn was asked once if Blur were an anti‐grunge band. To which he
replied, "If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I'm getting rid of grunge".
Britpop was decidedly upbeat and much more optimistic than grunge and punk.
Essentially where the former were products of a disenchanted public, Britpop
was the sound of an altogether optimistic populace. A young Tony Blair and New
Labour had come to power and things were beginning to take shape.
Unemployment was shrinking, the British economy was booming and everything
was coming up tops for Britain. Life was becoming golden for Brits of all ages
and this was showing in the music. Music was becoming optimistic again and
above all else, life was good.
So, for all of those nights out where you and your friends have sung along to
Wonderwall at the top of your voices, you have Johnny Rotten to thank for it.
Imagine a world where every song was cut from the same mould. Although
recently it seems as if we have returned to those standards with relentless cover
versions and reality TV produced singers, the UK has been hit by a rather large
depression, unemployment is on the rise and in addition terrorism has had a
rather large effect on London today and the world in general.
Perhaps it's time for a return to the simplistic and basic ideals of the Punk
movement.