Is Punk Music/ Scene Dying?

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.