Punk's Evolution

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Punk’s Evolution

"Punk is: a movement that serves to refute social attitudes that have been perpetuated through willful ignorance of human nature," at least according to Greg Graffin, a man who has a PhD and is also the lead singer of the punk band Bad Religion. This idea of social change in music is not new, by any means. People such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and many others had written songs of political injustice and the need for social change for a long time before punks were around. What made this different was the aggressiveness that they attacked these subjects with, a desperate, youthful, anarchic view that wanted change and they wanted it now. The Past 30 years have seen Punk music evolve with several punk revolutions in between. While Punk music is still thriving today for the most part the Punk ideology is dead. The initial idea that Punk could inspire social change through opposing mainstream methods failed due to the mainstreams acceptance and exploitation of the punk lifestyle.

No one is quite sure who started punk first. Many would argue that it was the Ramones in New York with the CBGB club, while others would say it was the Clash and the Sex Pistols in England. However there is no controversy over when the movement began in the mid 1970’s. Punk was a unique phenomenon, it was music that started in the underground to try and change mainstream societal problems. Punk was a stance against consumerism, racism, prejudice or any other negative ill that was seen in the mainstream. At this time punk was it’s most raw and shocking and was best described as youth angst against mainstream society. More than anything punks strived very hard to be individuals. They were not Hippies preaching peace and love and they were definitely not practicing mainstream American values. Punks wanted to tear down the barriers in society, cause anarchy and ultimately force society to change. But most of all Punks wanted to ...