Punk Article

Punk. What defines punk? Well we could go by the literal definition,
meaning we are all homosexual cats, or even bark on a tree. That makes no
sense to me. Now we could also argue that it is simply music, a style of
playing instruments and singing. I choose none of the above. I instead
choose it as a sub-culture. It is a culture that appealed to the unhappy people
in society. The people who in society hated the norm, and the people that
didn't like everything that was shoved down their throats. People like you and me,
well maybe not you, that hated mainstream society. So these people revolted.
They broke free of those bonds and created their own style.


For this revolution to work it couldn't be solely based on an appearance, or
certain sound. It had to be based on a mentality, a certain setting of
mind. If it was based off of appearance then I wouldn't look the way i do.
My look is commonly accepted in many cities as of late. It is common to see
people with crazy hair now. It is common to see outfits that stand out.
Instead the entire fashion aspect of punk was based off of D.I.Y. For those
who are slower than the others that means do it yourself. Anything that a
punk could make he, or she would. As oppose to going out and buying it.
This led to many interesting and different styles. Like my jacket for one.
It is completely hand made. The studs reflect my O.C.D for things to be
symmetrical and even. The patches on the back represent he bands i love, or
have some kind of meaning to me. That was and still is common in the punk
community. It is a way to support the bands you like. In the early days it
was mostly used for local bands though. Even though i still do that.


Now to get into the mentality of your common punk. There is none. Punks are
very different. You have straight edge, crust, street, political,
anarchist, chaos, and many many more different types of punks. Meaning how
can we set a certain lifestyle that we all have to live by? We can't.
Instead its these differences that we celebrate. We sing songs of unity,
and help out those that we sing them along side us. We may disagree, but we
get along when it matters. Punks are just people who are unhappy with
societies norms. So they seek the shelter of people who are also unhappy.
So they break free and don't follow trends. They do what they please. They
don't listen to what others tell them to do. Only what they tell themselves
to do. They have no problem speaking their mind when it matters. They
aren't afraid of what other people think of them. They aren't afraid to be
and outcast. In fact most of them wear that as a badge of pride. Punks
spirit's can't be broken, simply because they can endure whatever is thrown
at them. They gladly take the shit people give them for being different,
because they pride themselves on being different.


Given this information no one can honestly say when punk started. Did it
start in the 60's with The Sonics? Did it start in the 70's with the velvet
underground? To me it started much earlier then that. It started in the
20's with the french art revolution. People who were unhappy with what art
was. People who wanted to create a new style of art all to their own.
People Who shunned the normal ideal of what art was suppose to be at the
time, and created something new. Yes, they were not accepted at first, but
they did it anyways. Why? Because like punks, they were not happy with
society.


Now lets clear up these common misconceptions about punks. They are not all
poor, dirty, smelly, rude, stupid, violent, squatters, druggies, drunks,
and many more negative terms. In fact all those negative terms about punks
are largely false. On average most punks actually own a house, or
apartment. They may share it with others, but it does in fact belong to
them. They are not squatting if that is the case. Well except for the
street punks, but that is due to their personal beliefs, not because they
can't get a job. Most punks since they can afford a place to stay are
obviously not going to be dirty, or smelly. If they were extremely rude
people how could they get a job to afford the place they are sleeping? They
simply wouldn't be able to. Punks also will accept damn near anyone into
their ranks. This is because they know what it is like to be thrown away.
They will take anyone under their wing, as long as they are willing to
stand up and sing the song of unity next to them. If punks were all dumb,
how on earth would they be able to get a job once again? Punks are not
naturally violent. The only time punks are very violent is when they are in
a mosh pit, but the pit isn't about violence, more on that later. Punks
generally will stick up for each other and fight if they have to. If
someone is going to hit them, they will hit them back. Who can say that
they wouldn't either?


The music aspect of punk is huge. It doesn't all sound the same. You have
punks with beautiful voices, others that yell their lyrics. Some play with
trumpets in their bands, others keep the typical line up. Punk music varies
just as much as the people do. Punk has also adopted, or created many new
genres of music by itself. A little known fact is that emo actually came
from hardcore punk. It stood for emotive hardcore punk. I could rant on
about that for days. But this is not about emo. From punk also came
psychobilly. Psychobilly is a mixture of rockabilly, think of people like
Elvis, and punk. It is played with a stand up bass and has a punk attitude.
Ska is also largely listened to in the punk community. Ska is a reggae
influenced music played with a heavy horn section. Many punks also listen
to those music genres, and people who like those genres also enjoy their
fair share punk. This just proves how punk is about unity. Rude boys,
psychobilly's, and punks all share music, and get along. So punks don't
just accept their kind, but those of other cultures as well.


Punk and mosh pits. They mix very well. However unlike other genres like
metal, it isn't about beating the shit out of the person next to you. Its
about letting all that anger and violence out. Doing this in a safe way,
with the people who are close to you. When i say safe, i don't mean you
won't get hurt, believe me you will, but you aren't going to be afraid of a
fight breaking out over it. I have seen a person get hit in the balls, and
the person who hit him helped him back up. Asked if he was ok, the reply
was yes. They then went back into the pit linked at the arms. Its not about
the violence. Its about letting all that anger out, and helping other
people let their anger out.


As much as i love what i have written. As much as i have helped other
people understand what punk is. This is a very true, yet extremely false
article. Punk can not be defined. It can only be outlined. It is open to
interpretation by anyone who chooses to be part of punk. They may agree
with me, and think i am spot on, or they could say i am wrong and don't
know a thing about it. The thing is once mainstream enters punk, it will
change. It will alter itself again and again in order to prevent it from
becoming part of society. All of this is simply what punk is to me. This is
what i think it is. You may have a different opinion. All i can hope is
that this made you think about it in a different view. Hopefully you will
look more closely at it. Perhaps you hate it even more. Whatever you choose
is your decision, just know that punk is here to stay, and this is what it
means to me. I just hope that you don't see it as something horrible. I
also hope that this reaches the ears of all the elitist punks out there.
Punk is not a secret club. It is not a selective thing. We don't choose to
be punk. Punk chooses us and we evolve into it. So stop trying to prove how
punk you are, and just accept people and show them the roots of the
culture.