Using Language to Inform US punk is better than UK punk and the fact that Punk is still popular in the US proves it! Though debatable, punk is said to have started sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. At a time when war and unemployment raged around the world, many young person’s turned to music as a means of self-expression; hence the birth of punk and its many derivatives. According to Michael wood of American Punk; “America made better punk music because the atmosphere was different. From irreverent to politically charged manifestos, our songs were based on our lives, whether it was craving escape from the suburban hell holes of Orange County or righteous outrage at an American society gone mad with greed and power.” (Wood) This paper will explore …show more content…
At a time when women’s rights and immigration were major issues that were seen as infringing on the rights of the white man, competing for their jobs and resource; punk bands commenting on social issues often mixed these issues into their songs. Though there are many similarities between US and UK punk, there are also many differences as perceived by the audience. In order to examine these differences we will examine the music of the UK based gang of four against the US based talking heads, both of these bands were started in the 1970’s and have had tremendous impacts on the genre. One of the main differences between US and UK punk bands is the influence of the capitalist industry. In the US many bands many bands started as garage bands, groups of teens that would make music in their homes, selling cd’s themselves and playing small independent venues for example The Ramones. In the UK on the hand, the capitalist industry created marketable bands, controlling the lyrical content, album, singer’s styles and all aspects of the bands existence as noted by the rise of the Gang of four (Wood, …show more content…
UK punk had a reggae influence, songs likes the gang of four’s “I love a man in a uniform” and “to hell with poverty” used simple instruments and the lyrics centered on their experiences in poverty and under-employment (Wood, 2013). In the US however, bands like the Talking Heads US, tended toward music that featured war, revolt of the status quo and mindlessness, often on complex melodies that featured both electronic and tradition guitar elements to produce hardcore sounds that meld into tunes such as “pyscho killer”, “life at wartime” and “ road to nowhere” (Eriksen,
Throughout history, music has been the artistic stage of philosphoical output of both ideas, emotions and stories, enducing emotional and cogitational responses from the audience, through it’s representation of ideas and through ‘words in music’. Victor Hugo says- “Music expresses…. that which cannot remain silent” (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885), and is a predominant feature in the early 1990s ‘Riot Grrrl’ movement, in which female-empowerment bands would address modern issues of sexual abuse, racism, and the patriarchy through their underground, punk rock music.
"1991: The Year Punk Broke" is a documentary about the leading punk figures in the nineties such as Sonic Youth and Nirvana. In the continuation of the documentary, the viewer finds Thurstoon Moore of Sonic Youth asking young music enthusiats: “People see rock and roll as youth culture, and when youth culture becomes monopolized by big business, what are the youth to do?". In addition to the question, he states, "I think we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture by mass marketing and commercial behavior control and the first step to do is to destroy the record companies.” "The bogus capitalist process" that Moore talks about refers to the aggressive capitalist side of any market, but more
In rock music its target audience is the youth. And by youth I am not referring to teenagers, but instead to the mentality of youth, the adults and teens still in the sociological stage between being a ‘kid’ and accepting the responsibilities of ‘adulthood’ [Weinstein pg6] These youth negotiate the genre and change it to their liking. For example both males and females have different subgenres of rock targeted specifically at them. Males are seen from a young age as being naughty and rowdy, not very responsible and thus given more freedom. While girls are seen as quiet and polite, with very low aggression. These traits have reflected in the genres that are targeted at the two genders. Males were targeted with Heavy Metal as it expressed the qualities the very qualities they will have to give up in order to become adults and how they will lose their freedom. While for females rock music is soft and romantic, females will typically grow up faster than males and leave youth behind in order to take up responsibilities. An example of how the music was negotiated to fit the two genders is seem in the 1960s when performers such as Carole king and James Taylor transformed themes of protest into sentimental commentaries, romance and illusions of youth. [Weinstein pg 12-13] While heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath sung about politicians and how disgusting they are for exploiting young people in the name of greed which is shown in the song Wicked World. This very characteristic of rock being created by the youth for the youth is still alive today, for example during the 2004 presidential election Green Day released American Idiot. The song was about how the media and political are brainwashing Americans to remove their individuality. The singer wanted to warn America of this and prevent them from turning into ‘idiots’ and
Although considered the day Rock ‘n’ Roll was born, many other events in American history have given foundation to this much loved idea. Rock ‘n’ Roll is much more than just music, rather it is the movement which underlines cultural imperialism. Rock had been promoting a culture of comfort and freedom from social constraints as well. Although the style of ‘Rock music’ is easily adaptable into many different sounds, it is still thoroughly identified by its definingly amplified rhythm. The sudden worldwide popularity of rock and roll resulted in an unparalleled social impact. Rock ‘n’ Roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language in a way few other social developments have equaled. The social impact is so large that rock stars are worshipped worldwide. In its early years, many adults condemned the style of music, placing a stigma on its name, and forbid their children from listening and following its ways. Many considered Rock ‘n’ Roll culture as a bad influence to all people, but as the genre aged and the now not-so-young crowds had matured, Rock was respected and
The late 1970s gave birth to a punk culture that further distended into an evolution of the genre during the mid-1980s, particularly in Seattle, USA. A punk inspired movement called grunge became internationally recognized after Nirvana’s debut release album ‘Nevermind’, in 1995. Grunge gained a mass recognition for its punk ideology, attire and music, which stemmed further away, and was in itself a rejection to the mainstream metal and pop boom in the music industry of that time. Grunge incorporated a fusion of cultural and social threads that linked themes like feminism, liberalism, anti-authoritarianism, wry post-modernism, and not least a love of dirty, abrasive music; grunge reconciled all these into a seminal whole. (Standard grunge definition, Internet source)
The counterculture of the late 60’s on up to 1980 is prevalent to the history of media. New social forms arose, including the pop music of the British band the Beatles and the simultaneous rise of hippie culture. As the era continued, a vibrant youth subculture which emphasized creativity, experimentation and new manifestations of nonconformist/mellow lifestyles emerged. This emerging era influenced the media industry heavily. This short time frame in history was a definite media revolution. This era commercialized rock music, along with disco funk among other genres, the game show and variety show era, as well as popularizing mass media through magazines.
Seventies punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of the protest song, rock music associated with political activism as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex and drug use. This was often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism an...
Rock ‘n’ roll and 20th Century Culture According to Philip Ennis, rock ‘n’ roll emerged from the convergence of social transformations which resulted from World War II (Ryan 927). Despite its pop culture origins, rock music is arguably one of the strongest cultural factors to develop in this century. Artists such as Lennon, McCartney and Dylan defined the emotions of a generation and, in the last decade, it as even been acknowledged by members of the establishment which it hoped to change as a major influence in the country. In order to understand how rock went from a sign of rebellion to a cultural icon, it is necessary to understand where it came from.
In the early 1980s, the "new wave" movement, a sub genre of punk rock that began in the '70s, was generating a more sophisticated pop sound. In Britain, artists including bands such as the Clash, Squeeze, and the Police attained both critical and commercial acceptance. The Pretenders, another British band established in the late 70s, was led by an American-born singer and songwriter, Chrissie Hynde. In the United States, the Los Angeles-based band X navigated the transition from punk to new wave, and the New York-based group Talking Heads with a big assist from MTV, succeeded in fusing art rock with funk and African rhythms. Which leads me to my next new 80's genre.
With rioting and terrorism taking place around the world, more aggressive and rebellious styles were being created. The punk look came with this; singers like Johnny Rotton and bands like The Ramones and the Sex Pistols were a few to lead a new generation of teens. There was also the introduction of glam-rock in which musicians mixed glamour with rock. Davis Bowie was the most successful. Fans copied his "rooster" hair cut. He made the androgynous look popular.
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
The term Punk was coined by music reviewer Dave Marsh in 1971 to define a new and emerging style in music and culture. Anti-establishment in nature, Punk took its influence from the culture clashes of the 1960’s, creating a new style and sound that had a tremendous effect on fashion, art and youth culture in America and around the world. The effects of Punk are still felt on the cultural world today and the lifestyle is now being carried on by a new generation of young people.
In the article by Dawson Barrett, “DIY Democracy: The Direct Action Politics of U.S. Punk Collectives,” as the DIY name implies, these bands basically had the freedom to do their own thing (23). What that means is that they did not have a major label pushing them to do one thing or another, so they were able to pick and choose what they did or did not want to do regarding their music, the scene they played in, and where they wanted to tour. If they would have had a major label, they would not have had the ability to do these things on their own. Ian Moran states in his article “Punk: The Do-It-Yourself Subculture” that the reason these bands were considered DIY was also because of the fact that they specifically wanted to seek an alternative lifestyle from the norms of music at the time (58). The norms definitely were not the crazy hair, weird style, aggressive behavior, or form of music these bands portrayed. For example, punks did not care what other people thought of them, they were just doing the music they wanted to do and trying to get a message across that they strongly believed in. If someone did not like it, that actually fueled them, because then they knew they were accomplishing their
The American rock band Nirvana impacted American culture and society by paving the way for the punk rock subculture into mainstream corporate America. Punk rock music stems from the rock genre but has its own agenda. The crux of punk rock is that it is a movement of the counterculture against the norms of society. Punk rock in itself is made up of a subculture of people who rejected the tameness of rock and roll music during the 1970s. (Masar, 2006, p. 8). The music stresses anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian ideas in its lyrics as well as scorns political idealism in American society. Before Nirvana unintentionally made punk rock a multi-million dollar commercialized genre of music, underground rock paved the way for the punk rock genre by creating core values that punk rockers drew upon.
Tracing back to the 1960s and 70s, famous pop stars Bob Dylan and John Lennon have written songs with a political purpose, such as Lennon’s well-known song “Imagine” that advocates for world peace. In the late 70s, the British punk rock band Sex Pistols released the song “God Save the Queen”, which is one of the first pop songs with a radical protest message. The song targeted the royalty system of the U.K. More recently, we have seen songs like Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” as an anthem for LGBTQ+ rightists. Politics have been married with songs since 50 years ago.