Here's my research dissertaion for college, around 4500 words, it needs marking so I can make some changes but yeah :')
Introduction
“Punk is not just the sound, the music. Punk is a life-style.
There are a lot of bands around who claim to be punk and they only play the
music, they have no clue what it's all about. It's a life-style.” - (Armstrong)
Since the start of the punk rock movement in the 70s, punk has
developed into many sub-genres and managed to always stay quite successful,
despite it starting out as a rebellion against ‘the norm’. Punk music has mixed
with Reggae to create Ska, with Metal in bands such as Avenged sevenfold and My
Chemical Romance, and then of course there is ‘pop-punk’; which is basically
completely contradictory genres, or at least they were at some point. Everyone
seems to have a different opinion on what defines punk music, if it’s the quick
power-chord riffs and simple / angry vocals, then how do bands like Fall Out
Boy, Green Day or even The Clash fit in with the genre? And if it’s the
rebellious attitude that makes punk music, then people like Eminem and Lady
Gaga could easily be classed as punk artists. In this dissertation I will be
looking at the History of punk rock, the ways in which it has expanded and also
what defines punk rock, or maybe no music genres can really be defined?
The
beginning of Punk Music
“Well, I don’t give a f*** what the general
public think”. – Sid Vicious.
The beginning of punk rock can’t really be expressed as fact, as
people can never really agree on what defines punk or even really how punk
music came about. “’Punk Rock’ was
originally used to describe the garage musicians of the '60's. Bands like the
Sonics were starting up and playing out with no musical or vocal instruction,
and often limited skill. Because they didn't know the rules of music, they were
able to break the rules.” - (Cooper) So at the roots of punk rock, it seemed to
be defined by the ‘rule breaking’, the limited talent and limited knowledge of
music, maybe by the rebellion in youth... but now that is definitely not the
case, with musicians like Billie Joe Armstrong, who’s first vocal recording was
at the age of five with ‘look for love’ (a much more Motown feeling song than the
music he makes with his band Green Day).
Getting into the late 60s a few more bands
seemed to be into the rebellious and ‘raw’ feel, speaking out for their
opinions in a new way that the public weren’t used to, and often the lyrics
were quite political. This was opening people’s eyes to a new movement. The
punk rock scene really started to become noticed around the mid 70s in New York
(with bands like The Ramones and Blondie) and across the pond in London.
England’s punk movement was a bit more political, because around this time the
un-employment rates were worse than ever. “England's youth were angry, rebellious
and out of work. They had strong opinions and a lot of free time.” - (Cooper)
Most people would agree that one of the first bands in the punk
scene, to really shape ‘punk rock’ and also one of the most memorable rock
bands, are the ‘Sex Pistols’. “On a visit
to New York, Malcolm McLaren saw what was happening and returned to London with
a vision; start a Punk band (the Sex Pistols), and the rest is history.” - (Vale, 2006)
The Sex Pistols took a while to fully form and find the right name, in 1975 Steve
Jones met Johnny Rotten in ‘SEX boutique’, “he looked different, he had green
hair and even though he hadn’t sang before he was asked to join the band.” - (Shiveley, 2007). This shows that in the
beginning, you wouldn’t really need any skill whatsoever as long as you had the
rebellious style and outspoken attitude to get yourself heard, or at least in
this case. They were looking for something to grasp an audience. The same thing
happened with Sid Vicious, he couldn’t play the bass but his look fit in well.
I think at first one of the main points of punk rock was the unique style, the
bright hair colours and ripped up clothes. Back when the Sex Pistols were
recording their first and only album, punk rock was new, the way punk rock will
always be remembered; ‘raw’. Little talent and a lot to say, sporting the Union
Jack, bright colours and a nice amount of aggression, which ironically was
often aimed at their country. “The Punk Rock Cultural Revolution was really a
full-on, comprehensive rebellion against illegitimate authority in the domains
of culture, politics, and society.” - (Vale, 2006)
How has
punk music evolved and stayed successful?
“Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing
what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering
and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.” - (Cobain)
60’s – 80’s
Punk music can effect everyone in one way or
another... in the 70s hip hop and punk rock were often played in the same
places, both were looking for something new and edgy. On the outside they may
have different looks, but both were unique. You don’t necessarily have to have
the bright hair and ripped up clothes to feel the spirit of punk, you don’t
even need to like punk rock music. This is why I feel punk music has stayed
successful and also why so many punk bands use influences from genres with a
more urban or ‘blues’ feel, in a way there are no rules. Along with the
evolution of music technology, but in what ways has punk music evolved?
So as we know in the beginning punk rock seemed to be a rebellion
and a style. Although as far as the musical characteristics go, it has more of
a ‘mix and match’ feel, it’s hard to pin down what sounds punk and what
doesn’t. “During the '60s, there were some bands that can definitely be
connected to the influences of punk rockers. The Stooges, The Sonics, The who; all
of these bands had elements in their music that contributed to the growth of
punk.” - ('MixtapeChick', 2012) Punk rock took a while
to become a solidified genre, and will probably never be able to be described
in one sentence, with all of the influences it takes from other genres and all
of the subcultures. It would take someone forever to distinctly talk about all
the influences on different punk bands throughout the years, so I’ll be
choosing some of the most promenant.
Hip hop is probably one of the main genres that
punk music has similarities with, and in a way both have also evolved in
similar ways. Both used to be a rebellion and had alot to say about politics
but have now been vastly watered down to most of what we would hear today. “The
connection between punk music and hip-hop was that to somebody, the music meant
something personal. It spoke to people, and it was also open to interpretation
and experimentation for anyone. Basically, the music used to push boundaries
not for nothing, but to further colour in your feelings.” - (BlueSkye, 2011)
Even to this day the main influence in punk I hear (besides Rock and Roll /
Metal influences) is hip hop. Some bands seem to be a full 50/50 split between
punk and hip hop. If you listen to bands like Rage against the machine, they
have the political messages along with a rock feel and a rap/hip hop feel. If
you listen to Eminem alot of his songs have distorted guitars and punk
characteristics. There’s even rap in a Blondie song called “rapture”. “The
Velvet Underground, Stooges and New York Dolls gave birth to a kicking, screaming dynasty where
the Ramones did it fast, the Clash did it smart, The Misfits made it manic and Fugazi did it on their own terms. In
the beginning, the same sentiment was applied in Hip Hop... And just like those
seminal Punks, seminal Hip Hop artists did it their way. Kurtis Blow paved the way, Big Daddy Kane was decadent yet never
made it who he was, Public Enemy
spit fire, all the while telling you how it was, N.W.A gave a glimpse of the life and Run DMC? They only demolished every single barrier Hip Hop faced.”
- (An_Anvil_Tree, 2004) At a glance punk and hip
hop, and the people who listen to punk and hip hop, may seem as opposite as
possible, but that’s not the case. Punk music can be linked in with alot of
genres, wether it be the sound or the lyrics.
Another quite obvious influence on punk rock
(atleast in late 70’s / 80’s) is Reggae. Reggae – influences punk even has it’s
own sub-genre; Ska-punk. Ska-punk is a successful genre that includes bands
like The Stranglers and Reel Big Fish. Bob Marley even has an album named
“Punky Reggae Party”, that may not be enough to say that punk and reggae are
close genres, but enough to say they have a mutual respect for the most part. “Punk and
reggae became further intertwined because of two of punks most influential
figures, Mr Rotten and the boys in the Clash. Reggae was very much a part of
their musical scene and growing up and each vied to say they loved it more than
the other as an influence.” - (Letts, 2005).
Reggae was more of a UK punk influence and Hip Hop was more of a USA punk
influence. With The Clash and Sex Pistols came some reggae influences, and with
bands like Blondie came hip hop influences. “Bands like The Clash used reggae and dub sometimes (even dabbled
in hip-hop influences on one of their last albums) themselves, Refused messed
with electronica and jazz on their classic last album, and even Whole Wheat
Bread rapped.” - (BlueSkye, 2011).
90’s
In the very early 1990’s, Grunge was the big
alternative scene, if you’d ask me, I’d say Grunge and Punk were pretty close
stylistically and bands like Nirvana practically paved the way for a punk
revival, and took punk influences themselves.
The ‘rebirth of punk’ and also the real
beginning of pop punk / modern punk was in 1994, when Green Day released the
album “Dookie” which was hugely successful. Green Day originally began forming
around 1984 when soon-to-be bassist Mike Dirnt met Billie Joe Armstrong at
their high school and instantly clicked over their mutual love of punk rock,
but it took until 1990 for Green Day (originally named: “Sweet Children”) to
get signed. “The modern-day classic not only launched the Bay Area punk trio
into the mainstream, it opened the door to a mid-'90s wave of popped-up punk
and provided a launching pad for the current crop of melodic pop-punkers.” – (D'Angelo,
2004) Green Day still had/have allot of similarities to the older punk
bands, political messages, bright coloured hair, a bit of rebellion and
attitude, but they had allot more than that. Yes some of their songs were fast
paced and quite heavy with almost shouting vocals, but they also had allot of
music that could be seen as pop music,
with allot of love songs even since the first album when they were signed to
indie label “lookout! Records”. You could certainly here the blues influences
passed down from Billie Joe’s father, (a blues musician who began teaching
Billie instruments at the age of 4). It’s this contrast that really sparked a
new movement of pop-punk bands. The list of successful pop punk bands is
endless: Blink 182, All Time Low, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Good Charlotte, Blink
182, etc. All of which have created a new craze themselves, by adding their own
unique twist to pop punk, making the subgenre equally as big or maybe bigger
than punk rock. I found a lot of examples of very successful pop punk musicians
inspired by Green Day, these are just a couple. “"Dookie
changed my life," confessed Good Charlotte's Joel Madden. “It made me want
to start Good Charlotte. ... Right after that record came out, we were like, 'we
have to start a band in our garage right now and play shows ... like Green
Day."” - (D'Angelo, 2004) “"I was about 14 when Dookie came out,"
echoed Sum 41's Deryck Whibley."I remember seeing the video for 'Basket Case'
for the first time. I had never heard of Green Day, and then this video came on
TV one day. I was so blown away by it.” - (D'Angelo, 2004)
Green Day of course weren’t the only band that brought back punk
in the early 90s. The Offspring and Blink 182 were also building their fan base
around the same couple of years. Some would argue that The Offspring or Blink
182 were even more influential than Green Day. Blink 182 formed in 1992 and had
their real big break in 1998 with an album named “enema of the estate”, where
as The Offspring were first signed to an indie label in 1989 (even before Green
Day). “In 1994, the Offspring
proved they were not only one of the best punk bands around at the time, but
they were sure as hell born in the right generation. As alternative music
became popular again, punk music was due for a comeback, and with fellow Green Day releasing 'Dookie' to critical acclaim, the Offspring joined in the fun with their
smash hit 1994 album 'Smash.'” -
(Rankles,
2005) You can hear some reggae influences in The Offspring’s music also. All
three of these bands added a nice amount of humour to punk rock that may not
have been used before, they still had messages in their music and sometimes
politics, but the older punk bands around in the 70s didn’t have music videos
to really concentrate on, so when The Offspring and Blink 182 could make videos
like “Pretty fly for a white guy” and “All The Small Things” they could attract
a bigger audience.
00’s +
The old ways of punk seeming hard-hitting mostly
faded away. There will always be some “real punk bands” around underground, but
I can’t imagine any having the success of earlier punk bands like The Ramones
and the Sex Pistols. Over the past 10/15 years pop punk has become a solidified
genre and maybe the most successful sub-genre within rock and roll.
Around the mid 00’s pop punk span into a huge
genre, meaning that some pop punk bands sounded almost classic rock, where as
some would sound a bit more soulful or urban, some even started taking a more
hardcore or metal root, still remaining to be ‘pop punk’ but sounding heavier
than traditional punk rock bands. “During the mid 2000s, the lines
that defined pop-punk genre began to become more and more obscured due to the
rise of many new bands with a unique blend of sound. Bands such as The Used,
Taking Back Sunday, and My Chemical Romance began to take the scene by storm,
showing many pop-punk characteristics but spouting a darker and more depressing
tone.” - ('TheMagician', 2010) My Chemical Romance in specific had a great mixture of musical
influences, the rhythmn guitarist mainly playing in a punk style influences by
bands such as Black Flag and The misfits, the singer and bassist
massively inspired by Iron Maiden and
Morrisey, all in all taking in
inspiration by lots of different genres, ending up with a kind of mix between
pop punk and metal.
Fall out boy were a large part in how recent pop
punk seems to have adopted styles from so many genres, I’m not saying all these
bands are inspired by Fall out boy, but Fall out boy definately sparked
something off and brought back some earlier sounds. Fall Out Boy started in
2001, and on their first couple of albums they sound like a more hardcore pop
punk band, with ‘breakdowns’ and screaming on some songs. “On paper,
it didn’t look like it should work. But somehow the combined powers of a
lyric-writing bassist obsessed with the Smiths, a singer who cherished classic
Motown songs more than punk rock, a politically minded hardcore drummer and a
guitarist that’s true to metal made Fall Out Boy one of the biggest success
stories in American emo-punk.” - (AltPress, 2012) Where as their 3rd album sounded more hip
hop influenced, with a song featuring Jay Z, and their 4th album was
almost jazz / swing on some songs. If you were to put all four albums on
shuffle it would seem to swap around between punk, hardcore, jazz, hip hop and
blues. Even though in my eyes this shows talent and stops people from getting
bored, a lot of people despise when a punk band strays into different genres or
breaks out a little. “At least one reviewer pouted that the band's
addictive new album Folie a Deux, is
too ambitious. Oh, please. Does
anyone say that about Radiohead or Animal Collective, or any of the sanctified
indie saints? Ambition is good.” - (Marino, 2009).
It’s a good thing that bands like Fall out boy had the ambition to try out
different things (along with many bands before and after themselves) because
punk and pop punk certainly aren’t narrow genres that can be specified easily. The hardcore side of things will have helped pave the
way for bands like A day to remember,
Sleeping with sirens and Four year
strong to become so successful. (Although there were some older punk bands
that sounded hardcore around long ago, such as Black Flag) the hardcore pop punk wasn’t really mainstream untill
around 2005, which I believe was largely because of Fall out boy being one of
the most successful rock bands of the time. “Fall Out Boy reached
the top 10 of the pop singles chart with a hard-edged punk pop sound that
sometimes teeters on the edge of hardcore.” - (Lamb, 2012)
The hip hop inspiration you can see and hear in
Fall out boy can also strongly be seen in some more recent pop punk bands such
as All time low and Breathe Carolina. Breathe Carolina only started making
music together in 2006/2007 mainly using Garageband, and they’re pretty much an
even mixture between hardcore, pop punk and techno/dance, they’ve even included
some acoustic rock songs and a dubstep track on their latest album, but if most
people would ask what genre they are, they’d probably say “pop punk” because
it’s such a vast genre. Breathe Carolina are one of the best examples of the
evolution of pop punk. They’ve been featured on the mix CD ‘Pop goes punk’ that
Fearless records release yearly, although this mixtape always will have bands
that some would say sound more techno, dance or hardcore, they all fit under
the ‘pop punk’ umbrella nicely. The same could be said for Panic at the disco,
who are also classed as pop punk although you can hear strong characteristics
of dance music and classic rock, especially through the powerful vocals of
Brendon Urie. “Punk
pop bands continue to emerge and gain commercial success. Among those that have
recently made a significant impact on pop charts are Simple Plan, All-American
Rejects, and Fall Out Boy.” - (Lamb, 2012)
Another defining moment I can’t forget about punk
music in the mid 2000’s is the American idiot album by Green Day. This added
another personallity, in a way, to punk music equally as much as bands that
infused hip hop and dance, because it was ambitious in a different way. This
album stands out from the rest and was even more successful than the previously
mentioned ‘Dookie’. ‘American idiot’ is a rock opera and an almost biographical
journey. “Armstrong's lyrics come off as almost autobiographical at times,
with the spitting of "Saint Jimmy / that's my name / and don't wear it
out!" over a rip-roaring punk rock instrumental. It's almost as if he's
writing this album about his own maturation over the band's 10-plus years under
the public eye. "Are We The Waiting" may be the most anthemic song
Armstrong's ever written, and "Give Me Novocaine" will probably win
the title for the hardest-rocking-yet-vocally-introspective he's ever been.” - (Scott, 2004) American Idiot has now been turned into
a successful broadway musical that’s currently touring, and has had guest
appearances from Billie Joe.
It’s hard to sum up all the ways punk has evolved over 50/60
years, making it even harder to define punk music, I’ve mentioned a rock opera,
dance music, hip hop, jazz, grunge etc, but there’s one last thing within punk
and pop punk that I think deserves a paragraph or so; and it’s the involvement
of females in pop punk. A lot of the women in modern punk and rock in general
were influenced by Joan Jett. “It’s obvious that she [Joan Jett] has had a huge
impact on many girl rockers out there, showing the world that a girl can indeed
make it in a male-dominated music scene.” - (Beaton, 2010) Joan Jett definately
inspired plenty of girls in punk rock, such as Mercedes Arn-Horn, the singer
and guitarist from Canadian Pop Punk band Courage
my love was quoted saying “Some people think girls can’t play guitar as
well as men... I’m really into Joan Jett and The Runaways, cause they were kind of the first real all girl rock
band, she writes awesome songs... currently I really like Hayley Williams from
Paramore and Sienna from Versa Emerge.” - (Arn-Horn,
2011). Although Joan Jett may have been the first, Hayley Williams is
arguably more of an influence on girls in pop punk recently. The front woman
from Paramore started the craze of
female pop punk bands in the 21st century. Paramore officially
formed in 2004 and shortly after released their hugely successful album “All we
know is falling”; paving the way for plenty more female fronted bands within
the last 7/8 years, such as Courage my love, Versa emerge, Hey Monday, Tonight
Alive, We are the in crowd, and plenty more.
“Punk rock is not dead, it is just evolving. Just because it isn't
screaming, yelling, moshing, etc doesn't mean it's not punk anymore.” - ('MixtapeChick', 2012)
Brief History
of Pop Punk
The pop side of punk rock has basically been
around since punk first got its name, because there will always be a softer
side of certain genres, but most people will have just called it punk rock
because it was early on and people weren’t too specific about genres then. I
wouldn’t say “pop punk” was really a used phrase until maybe the mid 90s. “Punk
rock has pretty much been taken over by pop-punk today, but I don't find that
much of a bad thing. A lot of it sounds the same, but there are also some gems
among the masses. Subgenres upon subgenres are still emerging from the original
punk rock sound. The evolution is still going.” - ('MixtapeChick', 2012)
In the 70’s, the biggest bands in the pop or
commercial side of punk were The Clash, The Buzzcocks and The Undertones. “Their [the Buzzcocks]
style was fast and frantic, yet they have maintained a bit of pop influence as
well. It's these pop overtones that lead them to be a primary influence of
today's pop punk bands, most notably Green Day.” - (Cooper, 2011) “By the late
1980's, a new form of punk began to emerge with a hard and fast guitar and
drums base but powered by pop melodies like much of 70's punk rock.
California-based independent record label Lookout! helped spearhead this
development.” - (Lamb, 2012) Lookout! Records
are also the first label that Green Day had signed to, before moving on to
Reprise Records just before the release of Dookie.
Is punk a
rebellion, a music genre or a fashion statement? Who are ‘posers’ and ‘sellouts’?
A lot of people would say the newer punk bands
are “sellouts”, “too pop” or just not even punk at all, they would argue that these
bands have no real punk characteristics; but it can be argued that possibly one
of the most respected punk bands of all time was one of the least ‘punk’. The
sex pistols were put together by someone else and signed to a major label, not
through a mutual love of music or ‘hobbie’. Not only that, but the main reasion
they were chosen was their style. “Sex Pistols were on a major
label, and was put together by a fatcat of the music industry the same way
*NSYNC was. They still get respect for making punk popular.” -(BlueSkye, 2011). Could real authenticity ever really be achieved? Even the more
‘underground’ punk bands that people would call authentic would probably sign
to a bigger label if given the chance, and may still not really play for “the
message”. A lot of people like to say that Green Day sold out when they signed
to Reprise, a lot of people would say they don’t make punk music, and that punk
is dead, because people who are called punk now are nothing like the older punk
bands. On the other hand, some of us would say they’re just being true to
themselves, which is a more ‘punk’ attitude than trying to replicate earlier
bands who try to look punk, by buying leather jackets and jeans to rip them up.
“If you like the music, make it. But
what matters is whether you believe in the music and all that it stands for. If
there is no feeling, then the music could be nothing more than a retread of
nostalgia some people haven't lived.” - (BlueSkye, 2011)
The style may be part of the rebellion of punk, or at least it was
at the beginning when people weren’t used to it. “Some bizarre, irregular
hairdos began appearing (but no mohawks--that was an Eighties phenomenon),
along with neon-bright shades of pink, blue, and green; the hair dye Krazy
Kolor had recently been invented and was hard to find and expensive; however, a
small supply found its way to the Bay Area. But the majority of early Punks
were late adopters; their hair was on the long side. The first band to sport
very short hair was the Avengers, who were students at the San Francisco Art
Institute. They more consciously aped the British Punk look.” - (Vale, 2006) These days if we see someone with bright
red spikey hair, it’s completely normal, it doesn’t have the same effect. Punk
isn’t dead it’s just changed. People don’t usually try to shock people with the
way they look to try and prove that they’re punk, and it’s for that reason that
I think in a lot of ways, punk is more of an authentic music genre now than it
ever was.
Fashion will always have a say in bands, wether
they choose it or not. You may not dress to look a certain way, but once you
influence people it will catch on. “Like any
band capable of causing a pop-culture sea change, Green Day circa Dookie
transcended their influence on music to have an impact on fashion. The Sex
Pistols had their safety pins, the Ramones brought back the leather motorcycle
jackets, and for Nirvana it was flannel shirts. Green Day's contribution to any
teen rocker's wardrobe was the striped sweater. "The 'When I Come
Around' video was the first time ever saw the trend of the striped
sweater," recalled Something Corporate's Partington. "I remember like
two weeks later, every kid in school was wearing a striped sweater, including
me."” - (D'Angelo, 2004) Yes, some of the bands might straighton their
hair and sometimes write about stuff less rebellious, but they’re doing what’s
important to them personally, instead of doing what they’re told, e.g. “stay on
an indipendant label or you’ll lose fans”. Punk started off as a rebellion that
could be expressed through style and music. Now I think rebellion has slightly
been pushed aside, because people can’t be shocked as easily. Punk can be a
style and a music genre, but they won’t usually fit in together. Someone who
plays punk music might dress more like they’re ready to go play football or go
to a bar, because punk has evolved and expanded.
“I think people are still
curious about Punk because it produced a lot of interesting culture that, for
whatever reasons, is still liberating, inspiring and against the status quo.
And it always illustrates how easy it is to express rebellion in a creative,
blackly-humorous way. Because truly, how much has the world really changed
since Punk began?” - (Vale, 2006)
Conclusion
In conclusion to the question “what
defines punk music?” the answer remains basically the same. Some people would
say the old bright hair and ripped clothes with angry lyrics and sound is the
real punk music, some would say it’s more about the music and that the style
doesn’t come into it. Personally I’d say as time changes so does punk music,
and it evolves as each person who plays punk music has taken on different
influences. Punk music can’t really be defined in a way that everyone would
agree with, no genre of music can.
-
Lizzie Tupman
