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Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

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Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#41

Post by ikeboy »

mieseratte wrote: post #38
ikeboy wrote: post #25

Reading this with no clue what punk is. The article doesn't do a good job of explaining it or answering the question the title poses to someone not already part of it.

Back when I first got into the punk scene I ended up asking this semi-infamous old-timer at my local punk dive "Just what the hell is punk, anyway?" "Something you don't want to be in prison." Really, it's whatever the fuck you want it to be and fuck anyone who tells you otherwise because they're definitely wrong, and that includes me right now telling you this. What is punk? Punk isn't.

Punk is Zen

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#42

Post by mieseratte »

dpc59 wrote: post #21
rb808 wrote: post #19

Vans Warped tour is in its final year after 23 years. Crowds aren't what they used to be.

Vans warped tour hasn't had much to do with punk culture for like 15 years, unless you consider using it as a marketing tool as what punk really is. I saw anti-flag and face to face at a free show in Montreal this summer and punk rock certainly felt alive. The US has punk in drublic fest going on which is probably quite authentic considering it's thrown by fat wreck chords.

> punk in drublic fest

> which is probably quite authentic considering it's thrown by fat wreck chords

I believe it's actually throw some random investor types, who kicked NOFX and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes off of all Punk In Drublic events after Fat Mike, the owner and founder of Fat Wreck Chords, made a crass joke at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas this year. I will concede the Punk in Drublic fest has a lot of big-name punk acts, but I would suggest The Fest in Gainsville or Punk Rock Bowling which, alongside the big name / main stage acts, have a lot of small, intimate club shows with big and small acts alike.

[0] - https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8459092/nofx...

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#44

Post by electricslpnsld »

existencebox wrote: post #18
jjulius wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spent my college years and early 20's in Seattle helping throw parties at a variety of underground/DIY-ish venues (including ETG, two other loft spaces down Pike/Pine from ETG, and The Monkey Loft back when it was literally Brian's loft with his bedroom in it before he remodeled it and turned it into a licensed space). There's definitely a stark difference in vibe compared to larger and/or legal venues, and even a no…

I'm going to somewhat tangent this to pick your brain: Transplant to seattle from Baltimore, back east I knew all the good venues, DIY and otherwise, and had enough connections to friends working radio stations/djing gigs to stay in the loop. Out here I'm utterly clueless, even to something as simple as the basement EDM scene. Any tips, if that doesn't violate some unspoken dogma? :P (hip hop, electro, doom/grunge, p…

I can't speak to Seattle, but in Oakland at least most of the shows (somewhat surprisingly) end up organized on Facebook. Once you know a band or two you don't have to dig too deep to find out when/where shows are happening.

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#45

Post by ilamont »

One of the interesting thing about these underground music movements from hip hop to punk is the DIY ethos for the creation of music, publications, performance spaces, and more. Adults and respectable companies aren't helping (for the most part) so the kids have to direct and make things on their own.

I think it's not a coincidence that many people who get involved in underground music movements later start successful careers in creative endeavors - fashion, cuisine, publishing, design, programming, etc. There was a documentary a few years ago tracing the lives of people who had been active in the 1980s music scenes and so many of them ended up in these professions.

And you don't have to look far to find more famous examples - Kira Roessler (Black Flag bassist) won an Oscar for sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road, Damond John's fashion label coming out of the late 80s/early 90s NYC hip hop scene, and Anthony Bourdain's coming of age as a young chef and NYC punk fan in the late 70s.

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#46

Post by tnecniv »

rjbwork wrote: post #32
bcgraham wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old joke. First kid asks, "What's punk?" Second kid kicks over a trash can, points at it, and says, "That's punk." First kid kicks over another trash can and asks, "Is that punk?" Second kid says, "No, that's trendy."

Another old joke: "What's punk? Punk's dead, man."

Punk died in 1958

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#47

Post by tnecniv »

darkandbrooding wrote: post #16

Almost thirty years ago now, driving around on a hot summer day with a couple of friends. One guy puts a punk mix tape in the player, and the guy with a college music scholarship was aesthetically offended. "Anyone could make this music," he complained. The other guy nodded in agreement and replied, "that's the point."

The other thing about punk is that it's really more an attitude. Some punks are really skilled musicians and lyricists that bring a lot of outside influence into their music.

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#48

Post by andyidsinga »

related -- this is an interesting read on sub-cultures and how (in the author's opinion) they are co-opted over time: https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

excerpt:

Subcultures were the main creative cultural force from roughly 1975 to 2000, when they stopped working. Why?

One reason—among several—is that as soon as subcultures start getting really interesting, they get invaded by muggles, who ruin them. Subcultures have a predictable lifecycle, in which popularity causes death.

Re: Why punk keeps connecting people across space and time

#49

Post by olyjohn »

wuunderbar wrote: post #34
bcgraham wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old joke. First kid asks, "What's punk?" Second kid kicks over a trash can, points at it, and says, "That's punk." First kid kicks over another trash can and asks, "Is that punk?" Second kid says, "No, that's trendy."

So punk is vandalism?

No.
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