Written and Designed by Eden Harvey

British punk emerged in 1976, the tribe began to merge around the Sex Pistols and began to spread like wildfire. Originally, it was born from a shop Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood established called SEX and was then first spread by Sex Pistols, who were topping UK singles charts, and further groups they inspired. Punk drew a line in cultures and rebooted youth as a site of provocative fun, protest and imagination and was presented as a denial of basically everything. 

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McLaren and Westwood assisted in forging an aesthetic of rips, fractures and tensions, which perfectly captured the darkening mood of the 1970s. Fetishwear became fashionwear; clashing political symbols confused and provoked people; art school practise was filtered through urban iconography; creativity generated DIY politics; to act took precedence over receiving/ consuming. Punk informed everything from music, design, fashion, artwork, writing and performance. Ultimately, the culture dissipated into the 1980’s after evolving into an array of post-punk styles, some still being maintained till today. 

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Punk was diverse and meant different things and held different meanings for different people. The culture was something that was enabling, empowering, contradictory, and something that was felt. Music wise, Punk came to be when music had become less accessible and less relatable to the next generation. At this time, the youth saw their future as fairly bleak. Unlike ‘prog’ and ‘glam’ rock before it, punk was anti-establishment, anti-mainstream and anti- commercial. Lyrics were often antagonistic, challenging society's ‘norms’. Punk songs gave voices to the young generation that was feeling suppressed by its own country. 

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A huge part of punk culture which I appreciate and respect is the morality of ‘anyone can do it’. Most scenes in the 1970s were male dominated, in contrast, discrimination didn’t exist in the punk scene due to the anarchic, counter-cultural mindset which encouraged women to participate. This participation played a role in the historical development of punk music. The popular image of young punk women being focused on the fashion aspects was completely stereotypical, most women punks were more interested in the ideology and socio-political implications. The anti-establishment stance of punk opened the space for women who were treated like outsiders in a male dominated industry, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon stated, ‘I think women are natural anarchists, because you’re always operating in a male framework’. 

 

I used to only know of the fashion the punk scene brought around, but really, punk was a massive movement back in a time when young people were trying to find their feet in a country that didn’t give them a voice. Punk arose and gave the youth a tribe and a voice, being inclusive and supportive when the government wasn’t.