What is punk

The real punk music is the kind of music that has not been planned and packaged by the record industry. It is expressed by teenagers from the working class and is dissatisfied with society and protests against reality through the destruction, denial and destruction of all values. A kind of highly rebellious rock music created by means of music. The word "punk" itself is very annoying. Punk often refers to people who live aimlessly, filth, waste, garbage, staleness and all mediocre and worthless things - even prostitutes. Punk rock is naturally unflattering. Musically, punk rock is chaotic, disorderly, rough, and primitive. It was meant to negate rock music. It must deny and rebel against everything rock and roll. In the eyes of punk rockers, the record industry is a big scam.

The proliferation of commercial music in the 1970s (the most obvious example is the rise of disco music) made teenagers tired of pop music. The music they want to hear cannot be heard, and the music they don’t want to hear can be heard everywhere; on the other hand, unemployment and economic crisis were the most troublesome problems in the UK in the mid-to-late 1970s, which made a large number of teenagers suspicious of the ruling class and dissatisfied with rock music. . Doubts about capitalism make it possible for them to vent their dissatisfaction in a way. It is natural for the rock music of the 1960s to be anti-commercial, anti-capitalist, radical or purely serving the entertainment industry in a sense. It opposed old traditions and old values ??and created a new kind of values ??and values. lifestyle. But the punk movement of the 1970s only destroyed but did not build.

As punk rock became a variety on the record company's catalogue, punk rock also became the target of record dealers' speculation. In fact, rock music is like this. A kind of music is the most real and original when it is not subject to commercial control. Once it becomes commercial lubricant, it becomes a featureless commodity. This is true even for punk rock, which has horns on its head and thorns on its body. In just two or three years, the edges of punk have been worn away, and punk rock is just a spice in rock music. The popular image metamorphoses into a hipster pop sound. On the one hand, record dealers used the radical, rebellious and hateful aspects of punk rock to attract young audiences; on the other hand, they "transformed" punk rock through commercial means. "Sex Pistols" and "Crash" were the two most representative punk bands at the time. In the face of commercial manipulation, they each chose their own destiny.

The "Sex Pistols" disbanded at the height of punk's development. "Clash" lasted until the second half of the 1980s, but they were no longer punk. The term "punk rock" may be perpetuated by some rock musicians today, but the spirit of punk is gone.

Punk Music 2: Sex Pistols

This band may be the most rebellious band in the history of rock and roll. The name "Sex Pistols" is a taboo and curse. At the same time, they have enviable names. They are the epitome of the social dissatisfaction of British youth in the 1970s. No record company was willing to sign with them, and the records released by the record companies that signed with them were either banned or banned from sale. But it is precisely because they represent the frustration and despair of British youth and they criticize the capitalist system in a sharp and obscene way that they win most of their fans.

In 1977, the band recorded one and only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here` s Sex Pistols) became the most frightening record in rock history. They did not hesitate to use some of the most obscene words, but they were not simply used to shatter existing values. The main thing was that they It expresses a strong, brutal inner emotion that may be the essence of punk rock.

On May 27, 1977, their second single album "God Save the Queen" was released. The cover showed Queen Elizabeth II of England, but the queen's eyes were Their mouths were sealed with the notes "God Save the Queen" and "Sex Pistols" respectively. What is even more intolerable is their rebellious lyrics: "God save my king/Fascist dictatorship has turned you into fools/She (Queen) ) is not a thing/Britain has no future...There is no future/You have no future." It is incredible that after the release of this record, it skyrocketed in the charts, and at this time the whole country of Britain was celebrating. On the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, in the festive and joyful atmosphere, the discordant notes of "Sex Pistols" were "out of tune" to the extreme - it topped the BBC charts. This is simply a huge insult to the British royal family. For this reason, the BBC had to put their song in the runner-up position in order to save some face for the royal family. People didn't want to say anything anymore. What awaited the "Sex Pistols" was to be attacked by the police, threatened and besieged in the streets, until they fled the UK.

The Sex Pistols played their last show in San Francisco, with Rotten acting like a Quasimodo snatched from a chimney and Jones playing like a guitar factory. Not a guitar. The reason why the "Sex Pistols" disbanded is very simple. When they shattered the rock myth, it seemed like they were back to the beginning. They could not really smash the scams created by the record industry that formed the development of human beings into capitalist society; they could remind a generation People are not immune to this deception, but they cannot stop this record industry from continuing to create sin. There was no point in continuing the Sex Pistols.

This band, which has only released one album and only existed for 9 months, has caused a shock in the rock music world. It is unprecedented and unprecedented. The Sex Pistols made great music, but they denied their own music. Rotten's last words at the band's final concert were: "Do you ever feel cheated?" The Sex Pistols disappeared, erasing themselves from rock history, and many other bands continued on. , but no one raised the issue defined by the "Sex Pistols" again. In fact, silence about it - in fact, this is no longer rock music, but a loud pop music similar to rock music: standardized, clichéd, safe and devoid of anything new.

Punk Music Three: Crash

The "Clash" band is another eye-catching focus of the punk movement besides the "Sex Pistols". They can explain it with a reasonable attitude The ethos of punk and interpreting it in his own way. They were more influenced by "Reggie" than any other band, and blended Jamaican rhythms into the punk maelstrom, creating a dense, complex, hateful sound that, like their name, created a big " collision".

From a musical point of view, the music of the "Sex Pistols" is chaotic, and they want to destroy everything with their maximum roar; while the music of "Crash" makes people feel like they want you to rush out of the room. Door. "The Sex Pistols" presented themselves as a destroyer and the music was symbolic, while "Clash"'s music was eloquent.

"The Clash" is more "political" than the "Sex Pistols". People who have listened to the music of the "Sex Pistols" may immediately form a punk band, while those who have listened to the music of "The Clash" Maybe go to college to study political science. If the basic theory of the Sex Pistols is to destroy rock music, then the Clash hopes to change it. As radical, honest, and experimental students, they are aware of the contradictions in their own attitudes. And be interested in being one step ahead and trying to find the niche and stick with it. "The Crash" have always had a way of stopping themselves from the precipice of the true punk movement, which has allowed them to survive and also shown their limitations.

Punk Music Four: Musical Composition

In terms of the use and equipment of instruments, except for guitar, bass and drums, all other instruments are regarded by them as declining careerism and skill idols equipment has been cancelled. This sound is perfect for expressing anger, frustration, chaos, and a variety of emotions at the end of the world.

The guitarist uses violent chords to match the singer's hysterical singing, while the rhythm section makes the first two seem depressing, which is a reaction to the cold totalitarianism of the modern world.

Many punk bands like to adopt the style of "Reggie" music, because there are many similarities between "Punk - Reggie": 1. They are both waif cultures; 2. , for those who are willing to create or live in their own fortified and special world; 3. for those who are incompatible with society; 4. for those who think that they are not suitable for this society.

But from the perspective of its ideology that opposes fame, professionalism and "art", there is a very prominent contradiction in the link between "Punk-Reggie": "Reggie" music is Punk was music sung in Jamaican English, color-blind, age-free, and punk was pure white youth music sung in ordinary English; punk music was always trying to destroy rock and roll. From the beginning, punk was the subject of public scandal and the focus of "the next thing" in rock criticism, but even the most extreme punk bands still managed to gain large audiences and money, and the most important punk bands were associated with A contract signed by a famous record company, but the "Reggie" music singer is not so lucky. In this way, the stronger the forward trend of punk, the more truly and inevitably it will have a wide audience, promoting the rights of waifs and homeless people, no longer expressing rebellion, but replacing it with expressing the contradictions behind rebellion.

In the past, the relationship between rock music and youth rebellion has always been that music fans used it as a weapon, or further, as a weapon of self-proof-that is, self-conquest. This suggests that rather than explaining issues of justice, identity, repression, freedom, and aesthetics, everything rock and roll does and says leaves youth lost in them. Thus, the Sex Pistols accused rock music of being a rotting corpse - a monster caused by the effects of money, a corrupted emotion oppressed by a false sense of self-exploitation. Because they have no other weapons, and because they themselves are music fans, they also play rock music. But the speed, vocals, fury and frenzied choruses they produced were something no band had ever touched before. They used rock music as an anti-rock weapon.

If punk was memorable for anything, it was that it shattered the deified status of established rock musicians of the era and showed young people that anyone could pick up an instrument. Take the stage and make a valuable voice. This alone broke a lot of musical barriers and pointed out another path for the subsequent development of rock music, but unfortunately no one followed this path.