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“punk is musical freedom. it’s saying, doing and playing what you want. in webster’s terms, ‘nirvana’ means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of punk rock.”
-kurt cobain
punk rock is not only just a music but an expression in and of itself.
a guy walks up to me and asks ‘what’s punk?’.
so i kick over a garbage can and say ‘that’s punk!’. so he kicks over the garbage can and says ‘that’s punk?’, and i say ‘no that’s trendy!
not a style, but a way of life, the music
punk rock is not dead.
a kick -ss genre of music corrupted by sh-tty bands like good charlotte.
good charlotte sucks serious -ss!
a genre of music that died around 1996, contrary to what any blue haired fifteen yr old will tell you.

punk rock originally had a three chord sound. everyone knew that the music was not important as the message. sid vicious was never known as the best player of the 70s or of any era, but everyone knew who the s-x pistols were.

true punk rock bands include (but are not limited to): s-x pistols, black flag, ramones, youth brigade, bad brains, dk (pre-1987), descendents, minor threat, fugazi, 7 seconds, bad religion, sub society, and teen idols.

examples of “punk” rock, only by record label cl-ssification: good charlotte, blink 182, simple plan, avril lavigne, no doubt (yes, i once had someone tell me they are punk. yes, you may laugh too), 311, and the all american rejects.
kid1: dude, i am so punk because i wear a good charlotte hoodie, a mesh trucker hat that i bought at the mall and have every blink 182 cd, including the bootlegs.
kid2: no, that makes you a f-cking tool.
kid1: but i want to be punk. how can i be punk?
kid2: in the words of jello: “punk ain’t no religious cult,punk means thinking for yourself. you ain’t hardcore cause you spike your hair, when a jock still lives inside your head.”

to paraphrase: mall punks, mall punks, mall punks…..f-ck off!
punk rock never died, yet it’s often spoiled by n-z- boneheads such as gg allin (gotta say he’s one hardcore motherf-cker though) who claim to be punk but really don’t know sh-t cause punk started off fighting for peace not hate. to be “punk” all you have to do is…nothing. you don’t take orders from “the man”. “punks” have many different beliefs and are very open minded…that’s why n-z-s don’t count. punks don’t judge before they listen. contrary to popular beliefs, punks care. punks aren’t the lazy, careless sods society leads you to believe they are. punks take action…may it be for animal liberation, anti-war, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, or all of them together.
cr-ss (listen to working cl-ss rip off if you’re a gg fan), subhumans, the dead kennedys, oi polloi, rudimentary peni, conflict, citizen fish, true sounds of liberty (t.s.o.l.), the germs, the exploited, reagan youth, aus-rotten, keep fighting, etc.
music which, contrary to popular belief, does not need to be loud, nor fast to fit under the said moniker. rooted in the avant-garde of the velvet underground, who despite drawing influences from free jazz and swing– elements that would later be thrown out of the mix when “punk” came to full rise– laid the blueprint for the aesthetic of what is now considered the “punk” mentality; defying rock conventions and creating music that was messy, unpolished, and primitive. vu’s experimentalism carried into their live performances, in which they would commonly improvise songs (an art predocessors, and fellow new yorkers television would incorperate into live shows), as well as create feedback and distortion noises.

after vu, the stooges, a michigan-based proto-punk band, formed and followed the same philosophy. led by the infamous iggy pop, the stooges may have “rocked” far harder than vu, but nontheless had vu’s flare for being controversial; not only did they follow in vu’s footsteps by writing lyrics that blatantly reference drugs and s-x, but putting on bizarre live shows, in which pop would perform shirtless and cut himself, as well as cover his body in peanut b-tter. while vu managed to gain slight acclaim with their ties to artist andy warhol, at the time of their existence, the stooges enjoyed virtually no success, and barely sold any records at all.

shortly after the stooges, the new york dolls formed, not only adding to the blueprint for what would shortly thereafter become punk rock, but doing the same for “glam” rock; dressing in drag, drawing influence from the likes of david bowie, and playing ‘stones-inspired songs that would eventually influence the likes of motley crue and poison. however, like vu and the stooges before them, they never broke through to the mainstream audience, and disbanded in the early seventies.

now the year was 1974; bands like the ramones, talking heads, and television began to form. the ramones, whose music was influenced by bubble gum and girl pop as much as it was by the likes of the rolling stones, played fast, catchy, simplistic three-chord rock songs, and became the first punk band to play regularly at cbgb’s. talking heads, whose music was more diverse and pop-sounding, soon followed suit, as did television, whose music was more complex and jazzy, as well as having featured revolutionary, dueling guitars. richard h-ll & the voidoids were also key players in what is now considered the cbgb’s new york punk scene.

while the ramones and talking heads would enjoy lasting careers, and, in the case of talking heads, critical acclaim and mainstream success, television self-destructed after two studio alb-ms, including the cl-ssic “marquee moon.” while similar fate struck many other new york punk bands, their influence nontheless managed to stretch across the pond, hitting england. bands like the buzzc-cks, the clash, evlis costello & the attractions, and the s-x pistols began sprouting up, and the punk rock scene reached it’s height between 1977 and 1978.

while the clash and elvis costello both managed successful careers well into the eighties, the death of sid vicious essentially marked the end of punk, and as bands like joy division, and echo & the bunnymen began what would become the post-punk movement.

so when you kids are trashing the strokes for being overhyped and trendy, despite taking a page from the likes of vu and television, who had more to do with punk rock than operation ivy ever did, and when you’re calling new found glory “too soft,” when talking heads seldom used distortion, just remember– none of the bullsh-t you listen to is punk rock, so it doesn’t matter!
i hate you all.
not a style, not the music, not att-tude but a way of life. punk is anti-establishment, and always stands up for what it believes.

no-one is more punk than anyone else, if you turn it into a punkness compet-tion then you aren’t punk, plain and f-cking simple, you’re just a d-cktard.

punk bands: the clash, the buzzc-cks, the s-x pistols, stiff little fingers, the circle jerks, generation x, iggy & the stooges… many more. look for it and listen.
d-cktard #1: oh i’m so much more punk than you, i’m wearing a spiked belt!

d-cktard #2: no you’re not, cos im wearing a spiked belt and i have red hair!

real punk: f-ck you, you stupid sh-ts. punk is about expression and idividuality and creativity, not being ‘punker than thou’. -ssholes.