I listen to punk and related genres of music almost exclusively, so I have heard my share of protest songs that push political ideologies. Punk has fostered movements including anarchy, feminism, anti-racism, and gay pride. Of course, there are also Nazi Punk bands that preach the opposite of many of these movements. This is what sparked my interest in the political aspects of punk. What is it about punk that can bring people together in such strong movements including some movements that clash with each other pretty violently? What kinds of movements are present in punk music? What political changes have these movements made in the world today?
I think from the view of people who don’t know much about the punk scene, it’s just a bunch of teenagers acting out, being crazy and doing drugs. The reality is the punk scene is very complicated with all sorts of different kinds of punks, punks with differing political agendas, and some punks who really are just doing drugs and being violent teenagers.
Punk is often an outlet for kids with a lot on their mind. Punk is a way to express your anger with the way the world is, the way you’re treated, or the way others act. To me this is why punk is such a good place for political movements to start. You get a bunch of really pissed off people together, they start to talk about what it is that pisses them off, and how they could stop it. Before you know it, you have a movement.
Politics in punk tends to be very aggressive. This makes sense because punk is a very aggressive sounding music and has a lot of aggressive people as part of it. Punk movements tend to be anti-something. There are anti-drug movements, anti-immigration movements, anti-government movements, even the pro-feminist movement spends a lot of time yelling at and about the terrible things that happen to women. Punk isn’t a great outlet for movements about building something new and great, but it really gets into starting movements about tearing down the old stuff.
Most of these movements haven’t necessarily taken the world by storm, but they are often a huge influence on parallel movements that take place outside of the punk world. You won’t find a single anarchist website or message board that doesn’t have at least one post about punk rock, Crass, or the Sex Pistols. You’d be hard pressed to find a comprehensive record of third wave feminism that doesn’t mention Riot grrrl.
I think from the view of people who don’t know much about the punk scene, it’s just a bunch of teenagers acting out, being crazy and doing drugs. The reality is the punk scene is very complicated with all sorts of different kinds of punks, punks with differing political agendas, and some punks who really are just doing drugs and being violent teenagers.
Punk is often an outlet for kids with a lot on their mind. Punk is a way to express your anger with the way the world is, the way you’re treated, or the way others act. To me this is why punk is such a good place for political movements to start. You get a bunch of really pissed off people together, they start to talk about what it is that pisses them off, and how they could stop it. Before you know it, you have a movement.
Politics in punk tends to be very aggressive. This makes sense because punk is a very aggressive sounding music and has a lot of aggressive people as part of it. Punk movements tend to be anti-something. There are anti-drug movements, anti-immigration movements, anti-government movements, even the pro-feminist movement spends a lot of time yelling at and about the terrible things that happen to women. Punk isn’t a great outlet for movements about building something new and great, but it really gets into starting movements about tearing down the old stuff.
Most of these movements haven’t necessarily taken the world by storm, but they are often a huge influence on parallel movements that take place outside of the punk world. You won’t find a single anarchist website or message board that doesn’t have at least one post about punk rock, Crass, or the Sex Pistols. You’d be hard pressed to find a comprehensive record of third wave feminism that doesn’t mention Riot grrrl.