Punk rock came on to the music scene in the mid-1970s with
many iconic punk bands such as Crass, The Ramones, The Damned , and The Sex
Pistols. According to a book published by DK called
“Punk: The Whole Story”,
punk rock started in 1976 with the emergence of The Sex Pistols and The Clash.
However, many debate the fact of where and when punk rock started. Currently,
the punk genre of music is at a standstill with no really good punk bands
emerging since the 1990s. My question is, “Will the punk scene die in coming
years?”
Punk rock is known
for its fast, and hard sound, and its anti-establishment attitude. After 1976,
the world saw a new subculture develop that dressed differently, rejected
mainstream music, was anti-authoritarian, and took on a “Do It Yourself”
mentality. This non-conforming subculture became to be known as the punk scene, riddled with
rebellious, angry young people .Nowadays, every single one of these traits are
slowly disappearing from the punk scene that exists today.
While real punk music
has not been relevant to the majority of people recently, many still contend
that the punk scene is alive and well on a local scale. Like Lee Gonzalez said,
former drummer of the ska/punk band The Insecurities, “The punk scene is
definitely not dead. When we toured the West Coast last year, every show was
packed with tons of punkers…. The problem is nobody is making real, new punk
music, now it’s all watered down with punk sub genres like emo, hardcore, etc.
The scene exists though, for sure.”
While many, including myself, agree that punk and its scene
are not dead, there are still folks that think the punk genre is dead and the
scene will soon follow. For instance, a person with the user name
“FlipChillson”on debate.org said “Punk rock has gone the way of the dinosaur. Honestly, the
pop music genre has completely taken over and is the reason behind the fall of
punk rock. There may be a select few that still listen to punk rock but still,
it's kind of like what cassettes did to records and CD's did to cassettes. As
we go further along, we hunger for something different and what we clung to in
the past gets lost in the shuffle.”
Most of us can agree that the punk scene is dwindling in today’s
modern society, compared to the strong following it once had in the late 1970s
and early 1980s. Nonetheless, there are still people who continue to listen to
and seek this rare sound that early punk bands such as Crass, Black Flag, and
The Dead Kennedys established in their heyday. Punk rock has and will always
attract those who are rebellious and anti-establishment. Steve Hacsi, a punk
enthusiast from Pueblo,CO, said “Punk music will always be important to me. As
a young man, it gave me a sense of individuality and awareness and still
influences my way of thinking, even to this day.”
So will the punk scene die off in the next few years? I
would say no. While the number of local bands seems to have declined, there are
plenty of good bands still touring around the world, that give punk rock, and
its scene, hope that this genre will survive todays dreadful onslaught of pop and
mainstream music.
