1. EXIST TO RESIST
By Rebecca Small Nguyen
Forty (some may argue fifty) years ago in London, youth culture was turned on its head
with the arrival of punk. This year London has celebrated this landmark with an ongoing
string of events - but it would seem that not everyone has been partaking in the
celebrations.
Since the beginning, Punk has been a movement destined to cause friction. So to even ask
whether Punk is dead takes guts. With Joe Corré, the son of punk monarchs Vivienne
Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, preparing to set his £5 million punk collection alight
this November accompanied by what will be a substantial turn out in support, it seems
now is the perfect time to re-evaluate the position of the movement.
Fittingly it was the Queen’s approval of the year long celebrations that sparked this
renewal in rebellion, and with backing from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, as well
as the Heritage Lottery Fund it has felt like the punches have just kept on coming. Joe
Corré summed it up by stating “the Queen giving 2016, the year of punk, her official
blessing is the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard. Talk about alternative and punk
culture being appropriated by the mainstream. Rather than a movement for change, punk
has become like a fucking museum piece or a tribute act”. In all fairness he makes a few
valid points. In the past, the mere mention of the P-word would conjure up reactions of
uncertainty, disgust, even fear yet today society does not hold the same response, it has
become desensitized to it all. It was a movement filled with bands giving any source of
authority the middle finger yet now the head of country is in support of them. In more
ways than one, punk has become conventional - rehashed repeatedly in fashion and
deadened by the marketed notion that to be punk is to be ‘cool’ - which was never what it
was about. Even Camden, thought to be the birthplace of punk and home to the
alternative, is overridden by tourists, families and Chavs. Somewhere along the line, Punk
has become less a form of rebellion and more of a money cow for the entertainment and
tourism industry. For this, the resentment toward the exploitation of a ‘genuine moment
of political and social rupture’ by such sedating industries is understandable - but is it the
final nail on the PUNK coffin maybe?
Never. Those who question the existence of punk do so without recognizing its place
overseas and its ability to adapt. We may have grown accustomed to the ways of Punk in
the West but in other parts of the world Punk is having a trickle down effect. In 2014
documentary Yangon Calling: Punk in Myanmar, by Alexander Dluzak, it was clear the
sound, style and attitude was just beginning to have an impact. Just like London in 1976
bands like No U Turn and Rebel Riot have formed in Myanmar, their purpose is not to
entertain but to express their ‘hatred for authority’ and provoke a reaction in a city where
‘poverty is the governments way of keeping you down and controlling you’. With punk
material like records and magazines being imported by sailors at the request of a rare few,
there were approximately 200 punks in the city at the time of filming. Two years later and
the Punk scene in Myanmar is still very much an underground one, as it is in many other
censored areas of the world. In Islamic countries like Indonesia authorities and religious

2. fundamentalists have been known to persecute those who identify with the movement as
Punk is perceived as a threat. Nonetheless, whatever the constraints the irrepressible
spirit of punk is without a doubt prevailing.
In terms of the existence of punk in todays music, sadly there are not many artist making
anything remotely like Talking Heads or Siouxsie Sioux or even anyone who stands for
something similar. Punk today often exists alongside other genres but this is not a novel
idea. It has been around since the early days with bands like Bad Brains combining it with
Reggae and The Clash combining it with funk and rockabilly, so as far as adaptability goes
not much has actually changed. What has changed is their motivations. As the world
around us has evolved so have the causes for rebellion. In addition to censorship and
poverty, there is economic recession, austerity measures [in Greece], third wave
feminism, climate change, capitalism, sexuality and even though our societies are more
multicultural than ever, there are still issues with race - and it is with these issues that
punk remains to be fueled. Even though Alien Kulture were the start of Muslim punk in
1979, rises in extremism and islamophobia have seen it resurface and built upon as seen
with the emergence of the Taquacore genre which, following the inspiration of Michael
Muhammad Knight’s 2003 novel The Taquacores, is now a subgenre of punk which
addresses Islamic culture and interpretation.
Regarding music there are also a few who equate the lack of Punk on the radio to the be
all end all of the movement, but this point is a contradiction in itself. Punk was never
intended to make it onto mainstream radio. To be played on the radio defeated the point
of being punk in the first place. Besides, if you were the Sex Pistols, you were more likely
to get your record banned [by the BBC, WH Smiths and Woolworths too if you remember
it]. We also live in a world where records belong to a multitude of genres so it could even
be argued that most of the time people do not even realize they are listening to it. Even in
cases of completely different music styles there is still evidence of cold, hard punk ethics.
Moreover, Punk is not just about fighting outward systems, whether it is contesting
opinion or making local and global political injustices known to the masses - it comes in
different forms. In the US, the original birthplace of Punk, groups like Ho99o9 incorporate
Hip Hop into their records and continue to create just to provoke those that oppose them
while letlive. bring in aspects of metal in order to ‘advance the conversation’ on societal
affairs. In these instances, punk has been adapted to suit the moment and, with all due
respect to Corré, it does not sound like anyone has ‘given up the chase’ – it seems more
the case of chasing something different. Admittedly, it is hard to see a future for punk
when its icons now lead respectable lives. Lesley Woods (singer/guitar for Au Pairs) is now
an immigration barrister, Jordan (aka Pamela Rooke - punk icon) is a veterinary nurse and
Steve Ignorant (lead singer for Crass) has been a lifeboatman for around nine years now.
But when you look a little closer, it becomes clear that their original punk intentions of
trying to attain meaning and make a difference remain true. It is this underlying need to
speak up and do something that maintains the legacy of and punk and its icons to this
day. It could also be the reason why ‘appropriation’ of punk culture takes place - because
everybody can relate to fighting for something, whether it is internally or externally. In
some strange way, this ‘appropriation’ could be a generation revising the definition of

3. punk to suit their situation, even if it does not tick the ‘conventionally punk’ box. Who
knows, this ‘revised’ meaning may not even involve punk as we know it at all – with Dance
Tunnel closing in August and club culture in London vanishing, maybe a punk revival (of
sorts) will stem from a generation of clubbers and students who are ready to ‘explode all
the shit once more’. In any case, the title and words of the Stranglers 1977 single
‘something better change’ have never rung truer.
In essence, Punk will never die as there will always be something to fight against. In
todays age, like a lot of things, it will not always be clear who or what is punk and it will
not always be expressed through music or clothing. The modern punk will not have to
listen to the archetypal music or fall into the archetypal image (as it has never solely been
about these things) but what they will have is a DIY attitude and a willingness to speak
their mind, act however and live with the consequences. They will understand that it is
about having a questioning nature, taking chances and not accepting the status quo -
maybe even expanding the means of their expression to the world of art, photography
and film. Or not. Doctor, actress, vagabond – to put it in the simple [paraphrased] terms of
1998 American film SLC Punk! ‘punks are still everywhere, but a lot of them like myself
wear their camouflage on a daily basis so they're a little harder to spot - you can do a lot
more damage within the system than you can outside of it’. Now, is that ‘punk’ enough for
you.