Punks in general

-Punk street style started in London in the mid 1970's they have been around over than three decades -It was music movement that took the name punk.

-Punk rock was a type of music really intesting fast and aggressive.Punks have been participated in many famous movies.

-There a few bands that they are really famous such as Sex Pistols.

-In 21st century punks became even more common with punk bands such as Green Day.

-The lyrics of the songs might speack to them or speak about the ideologies. -- Generally are dark persons.They use to drink a lot, get into fights,use drugs.

- They wear heavy dr. martens shoes, neck chains, basically black clothes-leathers, studs,mufti fabrics,t-shirts, animal prints. / Actually they cut up old clothes- they destroy the fabric so they can attract attention from the making garments designers. This fashion shocked a lot because it was something really unusual for those that they had never seen it before.

-They might do body piercings in other parts than the usual ones. Also the facial piercing for example eyebrows,cheeks,lips was unusual even unusual after 60's

-From where did punk succeeded as a style : Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren (Sex Pistols)

-Hair : the hairstyles that they do include sugar,water solutions,gelatine,hairsprays, gel, pva glue,soaping.- colour: pink,green,blue, -over bleaching .

-Music: rock, hard rock, punk rock (bands: the ramones, talking heads, blondie etc.)

sex pistols

sex pistols

Images of Punk- photographed by Denis O'Regan

Images of Punk- photographed by Denis O'Regan

Punk Scene

The 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1, originally called The Feldman Swing Club. This is were the Sex Pistols played at the start of the earlie gigs.
The 100 Club attained legendary status in modern British music, having played host to live music since 24 October 1942.

Acme Attractions was a London clothing store on Kings Road, Chelsea, London that in the early 1970s provided a place for many punk and reggae musicians and scensters to hang out such as the Sex Pistols.

Acme Attractions was inspired by Malcolm McLauren and Vivienne Westwood's Fifties-inspired boutique Let it Rock

Punk Attitude Documentary Part 1

Punk is a rebellion from conformity!!!.....lovin this documentary :)

Punk Rock Movie Trailer

This is Don Letts first movie.

Don Letts - Interview about PUNK: Attitude

Punk Clubs

Camden Town is big for its punk scene, and here are some of the hangouts and clubs

KOKO

Friday is called Sin City and the music played there is Metal, Emo, Punk, Harcore. Glam and various subgenres of Alternative Rock

Purple Turtle

The underworld is to be found underneath the World's End Pub. Right in the middle of camden. It is both a rock venue and nightclub.

American rock and punk Pub

Punk rock subgenres

A number of overlapping punk rock subgenres have developed since the emergence of punk rock (often shortened to punk) in the mid 1970s. Even though punk genres at times are difficult to segregate, they usually show differing characteristics in overall structures, instrumental and vocal styles, and tempo. However, sometimes a particular trait is common in several genres, and thus punk genres are normally grouped by a combination of traits and twee.

Anarcho punk

Anarcho punk is a section of the punk subculture that consists of bands, groups and individuals that support anarchism through their music. It is also used as an umbrella term to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content. It was formed in the mid-1970s in the United Kingdom. Prominent examples are Crass, Nausea, Discharge, and Chumbawamba.

Christian punk

Christian punk (or Christ punk as it is also called as a reference to crust punk) is a form of Christian alternative rock and a subgenre of punk rock with some degree of Christian lyrical content. Given the edginess of punk and some of its subgenres, such as hardcore punk, many bands have been rejected by the Christian and CCM music industry, and due to the message and nature of Christian punk, Many traditional punks ridicule it. One notable Christian punk band was The Crucified. Another was a female fronted NW band called the Clergy.

Crust punk

Crust punk (often simply crust) is one of the evolutions of anarcho-punk and hardcore punk, mixed with extreme metal guitar riffs.The style, which evolved in the mid-1980s in the UK, often had songs with dark, pessimistic lyrics, lingering on political and social issues.

Garage punk

Garage punk is a subgenre of punk rock that is heavily influenced by garage rock. Along with garage rock, it has even taken influences from 1960's soul, beat groups, surf rock, power pop, hardcore punk and1960's psychedelia Formed in the late 1980s, it is characterized by a sound and an image that is dirty, ugly, raw, sleazy, and menacing. Often, it focuses on lo-fi aesthetics over catchy melodies. New Bomb Turks, Mudhoney and The Horrors are good examples of this genre.

Glam punk

Glam punk (also called glitter punk) fuses elements of punk rock and glam rock. Iggy Pop is a good example of this genre, as were The New York Dolls.

Grunge

Grunge emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics.

Oi!

Oi! is a working class street-level subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. It had a goal of uniting punks, skinheads, and other working class youths. Notable early Oi! bands include: Cockney Rejects, Angelic Upstarts, The 4-Skins and The Business.

Riot Grrrl

Riot Grrrl is a feminist punk/indie rock genre and subculture, whose popularity peaked in the 1990s. It consists of female-centric bands, festivals and shows; group meetings, networking, collectives, and support groups; free workshopping, self-defense courses (like Home Alive), activism (often with benefit concerts), and underground fanzine culture. Bikini Kill and Bratmobile are two prominent Riot Grrrl bands.

AND MANY, MANY MORE!

Don Letts

Don Letts is an English born film director, DJ and musician with a Jamaican heritage and background. he is a pioneer of the original punk scene in Britain after Djing in the first punk club 'The Roxy' which only lasted 100 days however its influence and inspirations has had a great impact on the punk subculture following its closure.

Since there wasn't many punk bands and music around at the time of The Roxy club started out, Letts played Dub step and reggae inspiring a rebellious culture clash which worked through cultural differences having a release for music.

Don Letts introduced the merging of cultures through the unity of rebellion which is music.
He now works on various production projects still djing at clubs and producing a few bands whilst still hosting a regular BBC 6 music show.

i have got in touch with Don Letts about doing an interview and am currently awaiting his response.

Brief history of punk

The Foundations of Punk Rock

The beginnings of punk rock are often furiously debated. This is partially because everyone has different definition of punk rock, and partially because its foundation stones are found in several places.

"Punk Rock" was originally used to describe the garage musicians of the '60's. Bands like the Sonics were starting up and playing out with no musical or vocal instruction, and often limited skill. Because they didn't know the rules of music, they were able to break the rules.

The mid to late '60s saw the appearance of the Stooges and the MC5 in Detroit. They were raw, crude and often political. Their concerts were often violent affairs, and they were opening the eyes of the music world.

The Velvet Underground is the next piece in the puzzle. The Velvet Underground, managed by Andy Warhol, were producing music that often bordered on noise. They were expanding the definitions of music without even realizing it.

The final primary influence is found in the foundations of Glam Rock. Artists like David Bowie and the New York Dolls were dressing outrageously, living extravagantly and producing loud trashy rock and roll. Glam would end up splitting up its influence, doling out portions to hard rock, "hair metal" and punk rock.

New York: The First Punk Rock Scene

The first concrete punk rock scene appeared in the mid '70s in New York. Bands like The Ramones, Wayne County, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Blondie and the Talking Heads were playing regularly in the Bowery District, most notably at CBGB.

The bands were unified by their location, camaraderie, and shared musical influences. They would all go on to develop their own styles and many would shift away from punk rock.

While the New York scene was reaching its heyday, punk was undergoing a separate creation story in London.

Meanwhile, Across the Pond

England's punk scene had political and economic roots. The economy in the United Kingdom was in poor shape, and unemployment rates were at an all-time high. England's youth were angry, rebellious and out of work. They had strong opinions and a lot of free time.

This is where the beginnings of punk fashion as we know it emerged, and they centered out of one shop. The shop was simply called SEX, and it was owned by Malcolm McClaren.

Malcolm McClaren had recently returned to London from the U.S., where he had unsuccessfully tried to reinvent the New York Dolls to sell his clothing. He was determined to do it again, but this time looked to the youths who worked and hung out in his shop to be his next project. This project would become the Sex Pistols, and they would develop a large following very quickly.

Enter The Bromley Contingent

Among the fans of the Sex Pistols was an outrageous bunch of young punks known as the Bromley Contingent. Named after the neighborhood they all came from, they were at the first Sex Pistols shows, and quickly realized they could do it themselves.

Within a year, the Bromleys had formed a large portion of the London Punk scene, including The Clash, The Slits, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Generation X (fronted by a young Billy Idol) and X-Ray Spex. The British punk scene was now in full swing.

The Punk Rock Explosion

By the late '70s, punk had finished its beginning and had emerged as a solid musical force. With its rise in popularity, punk began to split into numerous sub-genres. New musicians embraced the DIY movement and began to create their own individual scenes with specific sounds.

HISTORY OF PUNK ROCK FROM ABOUT.COM

Punk Films

Punk Films

2009: documentary with interviews and real footage as a full tribute to band exploring their influences and inspirations

A film portraying 3 Punk Rock bands ind different parts of the world and amongst their differences the unit of Music and Punk culture unifies them

A documentary film on the Afro-Punk subculture exploring loneliness, exile, struggle of identity as racial exception.

2006 : based on a book"American Hardcore: A tribal history" documenting the undergrounf Punk years 1979-1986

1992: documentory abount live on the road with Punk bands

2002: "the unbelivablely true story of one man, one movement, the music and madness that was Manchester"

2000 : documentory on the sex pistols

2005 : a film outlining the work, trials and tribulation of the punk rock band The Ramones and how the conected with people all over the globe with their music

2007: an entier and thorough covering of Punk culture and history

The Clash

The Clash were formed in 1976 and were a mix of punk with rock 'n' roll and hints of ska and reggae. Their most famous and influential song was 'London Calling' which they released in 1979 which still gets air play now. The band led a short career with only 10 years in the music industry after members kept leaving and making rifts within the band. They were fiercely involved in politics and were dubbed "Thinking Man's Yobs" by NME and found solidarity with a number with a number of contemporary liberation movements.

Bad religion

Bad religion was one of the most influential bands to come out of the 80s Southern California hardcore punk scene founded in 1979. They were an inspirational band to teenagers who started their own bands and create a scene in the area. Throughout the 32 years they have been around Bad Religion have gone through several line up changes although three of it's founding members are still performing with the band. They are predominantly known for their lyrics relating to matters of social responsibility.

JIM CARROLL

James Dennis "Jim" Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.

Carroll was born to a working-class family of Irish descent, and grew up on New York's Lower East Side, and when he was fifteen the family moved uptown to Inwood He attended Roman Catholic grammar schools from 1955 to 1963. In fall 1963, he entered public school, but was soon awarded a scholarship to the elite Trinity School. He attended Trinity from 1964-1968.

Apart from being interested in writing, Carroll was an all-star basketball player throughout his grade school and high school career. He entered the "Biddy League" at age 13 and participated in the National High School All Star Game in 1966. During this time, Carroll was living a double life as a heroin addict who prostituted himself to afford his habit but he was also writing poems and attending poetry workshops at St. Mark's Poetry Project.

He briefly attended Wagner College and Columbia University.

While still in high school, Carroll published his first collection of poems, Organic Trains. Already attracting the attention of the local literati, his work began appearing in the Poetry Project's magazine The World in 1967. Soon his work was being published in elite literary magazines like Paris Review in 1968, [2] and Poetry the following year. In 1970, his second collection of poems, 4 Ups and 1 Down was published, and he started working for Andy Warhol. At first, he was writing film dialogue and inventing character names; later on, Carroll worked as the co-manager of Warhol's Theater. Carroll's first publication by a mainstream publisher (Grossman Publishers), the poetry collection Living At The Movies, was published in 1973.

In 1978, Carroll published The Basketball Diaries, an autobiographical book concerning his life as a teenager in New York City's hard drug culture. Diaries is an edited collection of the diaries he kept between the ages of twelve and sixteen, detailing his sexual experiences, high school basketball career, and his addiction to heroin, which began when he was 13.

In 1978, after he moved to California to get a fresh start since kicking his heroin addiction, Carroll formed The Jim Carroll Band, a New Wave/punk rock group, with encouragement from Patti Smith, with whom he once shared an apartment in New York City along with Robert Mapplethorpe. The band was formerly called Amsterdam, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Valentine by Jim Carroll

PATTI SMITH

Patti Smith, Rio de Janeiro, 2006

Patti Smith, also known as the Godmother Of Punk. She started out as a poet in a underground environment in New York. Her album Horses is very central for the punk-movement in 1975, and she quickly became a highly influential component for New York City. She also had a strong religious upbringing, in Jehovah's Witness, but left organized religion when she became a teenager. She later wrote the famous line " Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine"

Smith moved from New Jersey to New York City, and met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. They had an intense romantic relationship. Later when Smith wrote the book "Just Kids" she refers to Mapplethorpe as "the artist of my life", and he's the one who took the cover photographs for the Patti Smith Group LP record.

Picture of Patti Smith by Robert Mapplethorpe

In 1969 she moved to Paris and started busking and doing performance art, and when she moved back to New York, she appeared in a play. As a member of the St. Marks Poetry Project, she spent the early 70's painting, writing and performing.

In the Patti Smith Group where several of the members people from different environments, for example Ivan Kral (which she wrote lot of lyrics with later on)

Their music was often about how they were raised and how the society had influenced them in regards of feelings, change and rights. Lots of the lyrics could be called political criticisms, though they're rather filled with a different perspective than the government or society had.

Their first album Horses fused punk rock and spoken poetry, where lot's of the lyrics are inspired from her earlier poetry. The group got popular, and they released Radio Ethopia with a rawer sound, considerably less accessible than Horses, Radio Ethopia initially received poor reviews, however these are the two albums that has influenced the punk movement the most, and Smith regularly performs them in her concerts.

The Patti Smith Group, 1978

Example of poetry from the Patti Smith Group

Elegie

I just don't know what to do tonight,

My head is aching as I drink and breathe

Memory falls like cream in my bones, moving on my own.

There must be something I can dream tonight,

The air is filled with the moves of you,

All the fire is frozen yet still I have the will, ooh, ah.

Trumpets, violins, I hear them in the distance

And my skin emits a ray, but I think it's sad, it's much too bad

That our friends can't be with us today.

Chiklets

last night i awoke up from a dream came face to face with my face facing the

tombstone teeth of a man called chiklets he came down through the ages with

the desperate beauty of a middleweight boxer came beating the force field

with elegant grace trying to get a perfect grip there was no absolute grip

he was in a sail boat a glass bottom boat the bottom of a boat he was coming

down through the ages sea molten sea spilling down the tube the spiny eye of

the village the spinal eye of the victim the spiny eye like a question mark

hovering over him what do you want what do you want from him down on a dream

too much unexplained what do you think do you think there was an actual

connection i can't imagine a connection going down there i can't imagine any

connection at all a boxing ring with gold ropes soft desperate karat top

spinning and coming down through the ages forty one BC