Main article: Punk rock
Punk rock
started off as a reaction to the lush, producer-driven sounds of disco, and
against the perceived commercialism of progressive rock that had become arena rock. Early punk borrowed heavily from the garage
band ethic: played by bands for which expert musicianship was not a
requirement, punk was stripped-down, three-chord music that could be played
easily. Many of these bands also intended to shock mainstream society,
rejecting the "peace and love" image of the prior musical rebellion
of the 1960s which had degenerated, punks thought, into mellow disco culture.
Punk rose to public awareness nearly simultaneously in
The Sex Pistols chose aggressive stage names (including "Johnny Rotten" and "Sid Vicious") and
did their best to live up to them, deliberately rejecting anything that
symbolized "hippies": long hair, soft music, loose clothing, and
liberal politics, and displaying an anarchic, often confrontational, stage
presence; well represented on their first two singles "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen". Despite an airplay ban on the BBC, the record rose to the top chart position in the
The Ramones exemplified the American side of punk: equally aggressive
but mostly apolitical, more alienated, and not above fun for its own sake. The
Ramones reigned as the kings of the New York punk scene, which also included Richard Hell and Television, and centered around rough-and-tumble clubs,
notably CBGB's. Punk was mostly an East-coast phenomenon in the
Main article: New Wave
Punk rock attracted devotees from the art and collegiate world and soon
bands sporting a more literate, arty approach, such as the Talking Heads and Devo began
to infiltrate the punk scene; in some quarters the description New Wave began to be used to differentiate these less overtly punk bands.
If punk rock was a social and musical phenomenon, it garnered little in
the way of record sales (small specialty labels such as Stiff Records had released much of the punk music to date) or American radio airplay,
as the radio scene continued to be dominated by mainstream formats such as disco and album-oriented rock. Record executives, who had been mostly mystified by the punk movement,
recognized the potential of the more accessible New Wave
acts and began aggressively signing and marketing any band that could claim a
remote connection to punk or New Wave. Many of these bands, such as The Cars and The Go-Gos were
essentially pop bands dressed up in New Wave regalia; others, including The Police and The Pretenders managed to parlay the boost of the New Wave movement into long-lived
and artistically lauded careers.
Punk and post-punk bands
would continue to appear sporadically, but as a musical scene, punk had largely
self-destructed and been subsumed into mainstream New Wave pop by the
mid-1980s, but the influence of punk has been substantial. The grunge
movement of the late 1980s owes much to punk, and many current mainstream bands
claim punk rock as their stylistic heritage. Punk also bred other genres,
including hardcore, industrial music, and goth.
Anarcho-punk
(sometimes known as peace-punk) is a subgenre of the punk rock
movement consisting of groups and bands promoting specifically anarchist
ideas.
A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred during the 1970s in the UK
following the birth of the punk rock movement, in particular the situationist-influenced
graphics of Sex Pistols
artist Jamie Reid, and
that band's first single, Anarchy in the UK. However, while the early punk scene appropriated anarchist imagery
mainly for its shock value, the band Crass expounded serious anarchist and pacifist ideas, and were to become a notable influence within various
late-twentieth century protest movements.
Many anarcho-punks are supporters of issues such as animal rights, feminism, the anti-war
movement and are often pacifist (although some support organizations such as Class War) and
tend to be in favor of direct action.
While no doubt participants would dispute having any leadership, it is
difficult to imagine anarcho-punk existing without the influence of Crass,
although Crass founder Penny Rimbaud has stated that it is a label he dislikes. He feels that the
anarcho-punks were actually representative of true punk,
while the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned etc.
were in fact nothing more than 'music business puppets'.
Many anarcho-punk bands, especially at the local level of unsigned
groups, have taken on what is known as a "DIY" ethic: that is, Doing
It Yourself; indeed, a popular Anarcho-punk slogan reads "DIY not EMI",
a reference to a conscious rejection of the major record company of that name.
Many anarcho-punk bands were showcased on the Bullshit Detector series of LPs released by Crass Records and Resistance Productions Records between 1980 and 1994.
There is an argument that despite promoting an anti-capitalist ideology, these were commodities sold in the market place and thus were
inherently contradictory. It is however difficult to see how such groups could
otherwise make their music and ideas available, although some anarcho-punk
performers were also a part of the Cassette Culture scene. In this way an attempt was made to bypass the traditional
recording and distribution routes, with material often being made available in
exchange for "a blank tape plus self-addressed envelope". The
anarcho-punk movement also had its own network of fanzines
(sometimes called punk-zines)
which disseminated news, ideas and artwork from the scene. Again, these were usually very much 'DIY' affairs,
tending to be produced in runs of hundreds (at most) rather than thousands
(although there were exceptions, such as Toxic Graffiti, printed on photocopiers or
duplicator machines, and distributed by hand at punk gigs.
Anarcho-punk has been highlighted as one of the social phenomena which
took anarchism in the direction of 'identity politics' (or 'lifestylism'). Some
argue that style became an essential ingredient of the movement, sometimes
obscuring other factors, although others would reply that the performers who
aligned themselves with anarcho-punk in fact embraced a wide diversity of
approaches in both format and ideas. This would appear to be borne out by the
range of artists and performers listed on the anarcho-punk bands page.
Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing to the present, there has evolved a distinctive and
largely cohesive system of thought associated with the Anarcho-Punk subculture
(often simply referred to as Punk). Individualism, anti-authoritarianism, political anarchism, free thought, and ethical
enlightenment are concepts,
among others, that receive some of the greatest attention in Punk thought. Punk
ideology views
the world as deeply corrupt and wrong but seeks to change this through the
encouragement of enlightenment. Punk thought usually achieves its highest level
of expression through punk music, fanzines, and spoken-word
albums. The rest of this article will use the word "Punk" to refer to
Anarcho-punk ideology or to a person who espouses Anarcho-punk ideology
Anti-folk is a genre of music related to punk rock and American folk music that originated in the mid-1980s in New York City.
Anti-folk had its roots in punk rock, and is
still considered by some to be an active subgenre within that scene. By a loose
definition, Anti-folk combines the raw, abrasive, and
frequently politically charged attitudes of the punk scene with the sounds of
American folk tradition.
Anti-folk, as pioneered by Beck on albums such as Mellow Gold and Stereopathetic Soulmanure,
mixes the musical style of folk music with ironic and often nonsensical lyrics.
This genre takes the earnestness of politically charged '60s hippie music and subverts it into something
completely different: music that sounds raw and authentic, but also fun to
listen to.
The Moldy Peaches, Ani DiFranco and Beck are considered influential
artists in this genre, primarily responsible for its popularity. Contemporary
anti-folk music is popular in many parts of United States and has also broke
the scene in Europe. The