About Michelle Keomany Expertise I can answer questions about `new school` punk bands and what they imply for the future of punk as a genre. I specialise in Australian bands and the new sub-genres of punk/rock, punk/pop, ska/punk etc. I also review cd`s for a number of different publications (including my own online zine)
Experience I present my own weekly punk radio show and i write reviews and interviews freelance for various online and printed music zines/magazines.
Question i am doing a research paper on the origins of punk music, its trends and how its changed over time. please answer these questions before friday if possible. if there is anything you would like to add, feel free to do so. thank you.
1. how would you describe punk music?
2. what are the things a song must have in order to be considered punk music?
3. what are some punk fashion trends and how and where did they start?
4. how would you compare bands like blink 182 to bands like the ramones?
5. what would you say to someone who said "new punk music does not measure up to the older bands of punk music, like the sex pistols"?
Answer hey jiana,
i don't know if you're using my answers as quotes in the essay or if you're skimping on doing research (which is cool, i do the same thing) so where i've thought that books are better than me, i've recommended some.
1. I think everyone is entitled to their own opinions about what is and isn't punk these days, debates can go on forever about it. but to me punk music has aggression, an edge, it's raw - it doesn't shy away from expressing itself fully, it makes you excited.
2. Well, if you go back and research about the beginnings of ska music and the fundamentals of the instrumentation, you can actually get rhythmic descriptions of how the rhythm guitar and drums create a ska beat (like which ones are accentuated and syncopated etc.) and how it began when the jamaican mento sound was altered. i'm afraid i don't know of anything as concrete as that about punk music. Although the actual sound was born when the kids realised that glam didn't cater for everyone and the pub rock thing needed to be vamped up. Punk music fundamentals lie in the instruments, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums. Include about 3 chords, a changing (but fast) tempo and good strong vocals. the song usually doesn't excede 3mins.
3. in this case i recommend you check out text books for this question. it's not really an opinion thing, there's concrete facts. and there's no point asking someone about it when you can get it from a book, here's some good ones:
-Hebdige D, 1979, Subculture the meaning of style, Methuen, London
-Keenan W.J.F, 2001, Dressed to impress - Looking the part, Berg, Oxford
For new age dress trends i don't really know many books but there are some good websites. this is a good one for emo dress - www.fourfa.com
and www.bodypunks.com is just a mail order place for punk accessories, but you can get a good overview.
4. I don't know if you can really compare bands like that, mainly because their cultural contexts are different. i mean blink 182 are a bunch of men trying to pretend they are teenagers in order to sell records. whereas the ramones mastered the art of the short punk song in only 3 chords and pioneered the trend of 'i wanna' lyrics. Granted, blink 182 have played big role in pop/punk and bringing it to the masses which i don't think is a bad thing. It all comes down to changing social trends.
5. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and in ways it is kind of true, there's no way today's punk music has the same edge as it did when punk began back in the late 70's. but that can be said about anything. You only have to look at the different social factors around today and what was happening in england in 77 to see why people claim that it doesn't measure up. its not like you can't listen to older punk music just because its old, if you don't like new stuff, don't listen to it - simple. Though, in the end its the innate qualities of punk that really matter, fuck the rest.
Hope that's what you're after. Check out your library though, there's some really interesting books about punk and its inception.
Though you might need some proper info. about me if you need to reference:
name: michelle keomany
occupation: host of punk radio show, music journalist and punk dj
