This statement makes it pretty clear you're just basing things off the mainstream perspective. Punk is still being made, it's still relevant. It's important to remember though, that though much of punk is part of a rebellion movement, it doesn't mean the lyrics must be about rebellion. It's much more in the attitude. Even the music style may vary.
I resent that. I am very much a part of the current punk "scene" and my views come from inside punk not from mainstream perspective. I agree, punk is still alive and relevent.
Sorry, I may not have been clear; let me reiterate. Punk is still a rebellion. It's just not a backlash any more. You can only backlash against something for so long before it becomes ordinary lashing. I was just trying to emphasize that punk has changed. it has become more defined. It used to be that any kind of music that went against the grain was punk. If your music was loud, angry, or different it was punk. People didn't even know what punk was-- Blondie was a punk band! Bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash are no more punk to today's punks than Greenday. They denounced their punk status when they started making music for money instead of as a rebellion. They Sex Pistols
announced that they toured with money as the primary objective. The Clash never tried to piss any body off. Rock the Casbah was designed to please.
The punk most people see is the commercial punk because, well, it's commercial. You only see real punk if you look for it and know how and where to look. This leads people to believe punk is what they've seen of it. Commercial and pointless. They compare this with what they've heard of punk --that it's a rebellion and counter culture-- and conclude that punk is dead.
Crass was a band that was truly punk. To give an example, Crass played a Rock Against Racism show. At the end of the show, when Crass was given their cut of the procedes, they refused and said "Give it to the cause". The manager of the show replied "This is the cause". It was the last RAR they ever played. Thats punk,
not touring for cash. If any of you have even heard of Crass, please shout, I'll be impressed.
These days, it's
very difficult to be punk just through attitude because most attitudes are accepted as OK in mainstream society. And because they're accepted, they're not rebelling and thus not punk.
-Leo
