The state of punk today?

*First off I'm not trying to offend anyone with this so don't think that is what I want to do. I'm just stating my opinion.* I was watching SLC Punk today and it's made me realize something that I have given thought to before. Is it just me or is the punk culture pretty much dead these days. To make it worse the corperate whores of america are doing there best to make fat cash off of the punk lifestyle. The only thing punk really seems to be these days is a dress style. It's no longer about anarky, anti-corperate & against the popular opinion. It's now became about money/fame/trend setting. Given there are some true punks still left, but if you are walking around wearing a Blink 182 shirt saying your punk you are far from it. Most people that say they are punk today are really just posers from what I can tell. For the most the punk lifestyle was killed, what does everyone else think. Once again this is just my opinion. I could be wrong, it's happened plenty of times before.

I think like any other movement in music punk has merely changed...it is much more mainstream and accepted at than in the past (key example Vans Warped Tour----would not have had corporate sponsors in the days of Black Flag). It is sad that pop punk ( Blink, Green Day, Sum 41 and others) has become so prevalent but punk is far from dead, even in the wake of the deaths of punk legends Ramones (Dee Dee and Joey). Bands like Rancid, Dead Kennedys, Sleater Kinney, and so many more are burning a punk torch into the heart of popular music. Just because the popularity has spread, and caused more kids to embrace the punk rock movement...definetly isnt dead. If it survived the crap from Blink 182 and other bubble gum punk music..that it should continue for the forseeable future...

my thoughts...good idea for thread

and the 'emo' ..indie revolution of lately is also bringing into question whats punk whats not...and all that good stuff...but if its good music..and you connect with it...no need to label or put in a certain section except for in your playlist or disc rotation

what are you talking about? punk's not dead, just ask the chick who just sold me plaid pants and a nofx t-shirt at hot topic!

but seriously, i've been thinking for a while that a new punk movement is on the way, what with the nationalism trend now and all. just you wait.

im going to REALLY offend everyone here, but i think punk "culture" was stupid from day 1. the whole concept of anarchy combined with massive alcohol consumption doesnt seem to fit to me. and people will say it "turned into fashion"... what was it before? 3 foot mohawks? patches, pins, boots, chains, leather? i think there are more "normal" looking (read: less fashion oriented) modern punk bands than there were back in the start, though obviously being a scene whore still exists. rebellion is nice, when its organized and has goals, but punk has never quite organized itself to attempt to realistically make any positive change.

damntheman: you say its sad that pop punk has become so prevalent then go on to mention punk "legends" the ramones? they were the founders of pop punk! there really isnt that big of a difference between the ramones and green day styles.

If you count Dead Kennedys touring without Jello and with some child actor in his place.. well...

And Rancid was only punk as a style anyway, as far as I could tell.

I think Eve is right... everytime there's a war, punk seems to crop back up. The stuff dies down in times of peace and when there's a Democrat as president (the people who'd be punks just usually feel they don't have as much to complain about, I guess).

I don't see a lot of people doing the DIY / autonomous thing the way that Crass records was (and also the way they supported unique, new music), but then again I'm pretty out of touch with things right now. The last I saw, it looked like Profane Existance was lurching toward movement again, which could be a good thing. Unless you're chapter one

ANOK and Peace has a website now, and yes they still take months to deliver stuff.

true in a sense...but i just hold a special place in my heart for the ramones...granted some of their songs were pop esque but when was the last time you heard rockaway beach or sheena is a punk rocker

i hear the ramones all the time. college radio. which is also where all the new DIY punk bands are heard. people seem to forget that for every 'sell-out' band (though i hate the term, and i like half the bands people call sell-outs) there are still hundreds of local bands doing things the hard way.

Punk's not dead it just deserves to die when its become another stale cartoon.....


And if you want anti-corpoate and against the popular opinion...check out Anti-Flag.

well, no offense (again) but i dont really consider anti-flag to be that deep, a lot of their songs come off as reactionist to me.

if you want anti-mainstream listen to some true black metal like Beherit or Darkthrone.

never liked punk,myself

but what if you dont like black metal?

Who cares?

I mean, I probably would have agreed with alot of it when I was sixteen. I just don't care anymore though, here's my take, as long as a band is doing what they want, and not conforming to what's popular, or what an A&R tells them to do in order to sell more records, then the rest is irrelevant.

To be perfectly honest, I have heard so many demos and seen so many shitty bands, that I respect pretty much every signed band these days.

And without getting into specifics, to the guy (or girl) who said Rancid was only about clothes, I mean I don't know if you know them or not, but I do, and I know they turned down a multi-million dollar deal in 1995 and stayed on Epitaph instead of "Selling out" and signing to Epic - there aren't very many people in this world that would do that. Some would even call it stupid, but Rancid had conviction and stuck to it, and today they have nice homes anyway.



[Edited on Oct 01, 2002 by Conceited_1]

i just want to make a beautiful melodic emotional punk/hardcore hybrid with some metal riffs thrown in AND THE LYRICS I WANT not the ones that fit with the "scene" and be all over the place with my music and add keys and weird sounds and effects and instruments no one would think to add and put stuff in places no one would think to put it without the punk kids whining about how its not "true" punk and the hardcore kids whining about how its not "true" hardcore and the metal kids whining about how its not "true" metal.

but that will never happen. so i say fuck them all. unfortunately i cant find anyone to join in on this project. people are way too worried about keep their scene "cred".

this is always going to be a touchy subject but to dan the man who brought up the Warped Tour as commercializing punk and mentioning that in Black Flags days nothing like that would exist, which is probably true, but if you looked at the line up for Warped this year you would've seen that not only did the Circle Jerks play but so did the Damned, and Total Chaos, not quite pop punk. For every crappy "pop" punk band on that tour you have a ton o smaller punk, hardcore and *gasp* emo bands busting there ass for some recognition. Warped tour exposes so many smaller bads to audiences that would most likely not see them on there own, and has been very helpful in breaking smaller bands into the mainstream for better of worse. And there is no corporate atmosphere on that tour either it's a very open community type atmosphere. I've done the tour now two years in a row and met lots of really cool people, and even when they have corporate sponsers Vans has always been one of the major supporters of the tour and you'll see the Vans CEO out there in 110 degree weather working his booth right along with his other family members and employees, what other corporation head would do that?

oh yeah and as far as punk being dead, who knows for sure. As long as I can keep discovering great bands that loosely fit into the "punk" catagory I gotta say NO. The very definition of punk is what has been basterdized not the music so much. When April Levigne is considered punk by marketing terms then we know it's a problem

"punk" is dead - true punk is....
...whatever today is - it needs a new name...
I call it Punky Brewster.....because it is so damn cute...
...but I'd do Avril Lavigne

I am not going to pretend to know that much about the punk scene, but anarchy as a rallying point really is dumb. Nevertheless, I *know* most people think the "rallying points" behind black metal are dumb.

I always thought being punk was more than just "anarchy" and "mass alcohol consumption." But I also wasn't born in the 70's.

On an unrelated note, my dad was in Germany in the early 80's and he saw some guy with a foot high mohawk. He decided to ask the guy how he got his hair like that and the kid said "Zuckerwasser" or "sugar water" in English. Now THAT'S hardcore.

Punk is dead .Crass said so. Seriously listen to bands like the ramones like crass like the dead kennedys like early misfits like the sex pistols ,like black flag and tell me honestly todays punk hasn't lost a step.Fashion has always been an element in punk, from the punk look of the pistols to the trademark leather jackets of the ramones.Punk will become viable when it takes a risk and forges a new identity..but all this shit like good charlotte cramming as many sex pistols references into a song as they can and all the other name dropping that goes on is weak and diluted punk.Hey I enjoy the music it has a punk sound but the attitude is gone.

what the hell is punk?

Eve stated just what I meant. Store's like hot topic pushing clothing that is "punk" and record labels pushing Good Charolette and Avril Levigne as supposed punks. It's been dominated by corperations and extremely watered down and mass marketed. That's why I'm saying punk is dead.

All these bands today are just out to make money. We need bands with ideals and integrity. You know, like the Sex Pistols.

*giggle giggle*

I think that punk has (sadly) become an accepted and even worse trendy part of American culture today. To reach this point the music and attitude of those leading the movement these days has softened to the point that it's digestable by the general public. Unfortunately bands like Green Day, Blink and Sum 41 to name a shitty few have sugarcoated their music and messages enough to maker it an easy pill to swallow. however, there is still a great scene. One that's always been there. Duane Peters and the U.S. Bombs, The Beltones, One man Army, AFI, Hot Snakes... are still as dingy and raw as ever and putting out great music all the time. Punks still alive. It's out there, just choose which path you will follow. The Yellow Brick Road to PussyPunk?... not for me.

Sorry if I offended anyone who likes crappy pop punk bands.

KEEP IT LOUD! - shinydemon