Let’s Talk Punk : What Does Punk Mean To You From Around The World

Spike Mike-(Spice Pistols) San Diego, CA

To me, Punk Rock is all about being yourself and not worrying about being judged. I grew up in the late 60’s and the 70’s into the 80’s so I was present during the early beginning before slam dancing and mosh pits when we all pogoed and had fun. There was none of the knocking each other out kind of bullshit. Punk Rock was born from outsiders, outcasts bonding together and making our own place. WE created our own community. WE are the members who reach down and lift each other up if WE fall in the pit. WE share what little food WE have. WE shared a place to crash. Punk Rock was never the clothes or even the music. It has always been the values. The principles of inclusion and acceptance. All of the Punkers that have been my friends have always been deeply principled humans. Very passionate about the things they believe.  

Haley McAfee Reid- Hawick, UK

Punk means being yourself, D.I.Y., family, community, supporting each other in life!

Spike Polite-New York, New York 

Punk Rock Is raw rock music sped up a bit yet medlodic singing about social issues  that need addressing     calling out corporate greed that destroys communities and racism to divide which confuse people to fight one another divided instead of attacking the manipulative corporation or politician behind it all     

I like the Clash a lot

Shaun Morris- Lymington, UK

When punk exploded it felt like a massive breath of fresh air. The mid 70s were such drab times. Glam Rock was on its last legs and everything here in the UK was drab, dull and boring. I hated music like prog rock and the commercial nonsense such as Wings, David Cassidy and Donny and Marie Osmond. The first punk record I bought was Holiday In The Sun by the Pistols in 1977 and I never really looked back. The first Clash album is my all-time favourite. The speed and the stripped down rawness of bands like The Damned and Ramones inspired me to write songs and get a band together myself. I’ve been doing it for forty-five years now and can’t imagine not doing it!

In essence, and I know it sounds like a cliche, what punk means to me is thinking for yourself and not  allowing yourself to be molded into other people’s expectations of how they feel they want you to be X

Joel Perdue-Atlanta, GA

No rules. Stay sharp and look out for fellow women and men. Fuck tradition. Keep pressing forward with life when things feel their most dire.

As a kid in the ’70s/’80s I never felt like I belonged anywhere. I was tragically unhip, a dork and pretty much NOT an athlete.

When I discovered the punk realm, it all seemed magical to me. Going to see bands in small hole-in-the-wall clubs and having them right in your face. The real deal. Married to my pursuit of skateboarding and later my own bands.

If I’m being forthright, I’ll tell anyone that’ll listen that even within this so-called “tolerant” and “open-minded” scene I still felt like an outcast. I felt totally uncool and alone even among friends, 

but overall the “scene” made more sense than anything else I’d been exposed to in my short lifetime (being 14/15 at the time).

So anyway, I took cues from many of my musical inspirations like The Who, Black Flag, Minutemen, Fugazi and Husker Du.

I forged my own path and did the work that made sense to me. 40 years on I’m still doing that work. Living by my own rules and existing on the fringe of what the punk scene always was and continues to be …

A microcosm of society at large and subject to all the same problems that people deal with when interacting with one another.

I couldn’t have imagined all the places I’d go, all the adventures I’d find and all the solid friends I’d make when I immersed myself in punk. That said, I’ve had just as many let downs …

So what does it mean to me? It’s hard to put into words, but I’ll try

Everything and nothing at the same time.

Skye Langenhahn- Santa Rosa, Ca

For me, punk rock was my first real teacher, it taught me about the world and what is really important in life. It taught me about compassion and to question everything. It taught me about family and community, and showed me where I truly belonged. Punk rock is the one thing that finally made the world make sense, and it saved my life. 

X

Daniel Ruiz-Seattle, Washington 

I heard the Ramones for the 1st time in late 1976. I lived in the Los Angeles area and became part of the original LA punk scene. The music and the scene felt like a community. We looked out for each other because we were looked upon as freaks or weird. 

100 punks rule.

Mudd Hamapple- Long Beach CA

Over the years I have heard a lot of older punks intellectualize their youth and their attraction to “punk.”    I hear the revisionist history of their decision to get into the “scene.”  Often this is by musicians who crave the attention “punk” brought them, and their need to continue to have that.   Fair enough I still enjoy creating music and the comradery of playing in a band, but I did I actually make a conscious decision to become a “punk?”   Did I contemplate my actions and request membership in the “movement.”   No, what asshole 15 year-old does that?   I was an adrenaline junky, surfer/skateboarder lurking outside the societal sandbox at school.   I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.   It was 100% unconscious attraction to the chaos.  I saw the visceral contempt of the stoners, and the Kiss/ACDC/Led Zepplin/Deep Purple sycophants had for punk.  They truly believed punk rock was a threat to their rock n’ roll sensibilities.  The jocks and the “popular” girls needed to pick on those below their caste in order to remain on their rung of the latter or ascend to the next level.   If punk rock pissed off those people, then cool I’m in. There were also the Calvery Chapel surfers who were led by Joey Burran. It was not just a religious movement, but was part of the whole movement in surfing to take the sport more serious and competitive, to mainstream it.  The Calvery Chapel guys were all part of the National Scholastic Surfing Association.    So subconsciously I heard no sex, drugs, and the guy with the most gyrating surf style is the winner. The punk scene was the knee jerk reaction to Calvery Chapel in the lineup and the mainstream peaking order at school with the rockers and the popular kids. My bad attitude, budding experimental drug use, and fascination in the opposite of what was popular had found a temporary home.   Punk rock encouraged participation.  So soon after slipping into the scene, me and some other friends created a band. At first there were few rules, and experimenting in fashion, art and music was encouraged by the older artistic punks.   As long as you were part of the counterculture you could participate. But like the Beat Generation and the hippies before punk, corporations cannot resist tapping into the market.   Liberation against social mores and styles often ends up with constraints and convention of its own. A dress code and easily identifiable music styles.   Human nature is human nature, and I’m sure that kids will always find a place outside of the sandbox.

Jerry Henegar-Orlando, FL

Punk to me is being out of the normal/mainstream beating we alI endure daily. I try and find interesting things in music, art, and life in general. “Seek and, ye shall find.”

Moe Cash- New York.

To me, punk means first and foremost being true to oneself. Not afraid to self-express, questioning social norms, the establishment, against injustice and the mainstream culture. Punk also has a DIY mentality. From releasing independent music to homemade fanzines, corporate sponsors never fit into the equation. Anyone can dress and say they are punk, but it’s one’s individual attitude that is punk. 

I was lost 

No friends in sight 

I heard the sound

That changed my life

Youth Brigade & Guttermouth 

Minor threat getting out

In the pit I felt right

Once again it changed my life

With local punx I was home

No matter where I might roam 

In this world 

were all the same

No matter where

Our heads are laid

Play it loud

Play it fast

Hold on tight

Cuz it won’t last

Writing by: Ian Manning