PUNK'S NOT DEAD....exactly (CONTEXTUAL ART STUDY)
louderthanwar.com/bbc-tv-series-to-celebrate-the-annivers...
A somewhat hyped phrase or slogan used frequently since the early 80's.
The myth is mostly brought about by Punk falling from fever pitch in 1978 - 79, which coincided with the split of The Sex Pistols and subsequent deaths of Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious. At a rough guess Punk finally fell from it's heights around the same time Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.
It is of course no more dead than La Cosa Nostra in New York or The Catholic Church in Ireland, yet all are clearly depleted/less prominent than before, but still influence Cinema, literature or other arts. In reality Punk didn't die as much as became absorbed into a wider culture.
"Escape From New York" " "Fight Club" and Joker from "The Dark Knight" are three examples of cinema which have punk elements littered all over them, especially the latter two which revives the anarchistic feel and sentiment. The earlier installment, Batman Returns, was a throwback to the original punk ethos with Selina Kyle's entirely home-made costume. As for Anime/Manga in Japan the number of examples is endless! Yet here it is seen as being more typical of Japanese culture. Even though spiked hair was a feature of Manga as early as Astro Boy, Punk cannot be dismissed as influencing the style in later years.
Fashion wise Punk paved the way for Post-Punk, later dubbed "Gothic" in the UK, and EMO in the US, during the early 80's. This was loosely a hybrid form of darker punk and psychedelic rock music; ironic as the two were considered oil and water previously. More ironically still, a number of punks revived psychedelia resembling The Doors or Velvet Underground, both not unknown to inspire Goths either. Yet hippy psychedelia/rock music was considered repugnant by prominent punk singer John Lydon who regarded it as "everything that went wrong".
Key influences on the Goth style were: Arthur Brown, Jim Morrisson, David Bowie. Siouxsie Sioux/David Vanian, (early punks) and Joy Division/The Sisters Of Mercy (Post-Punk); although non were regarded as "goths" beforehand or by themselves. New Romanticism had a big stake in it's style development too. While psychedelia, punk and post-punk imagery influenced goth, music wise it was devoid of the rage and anger, focusing more on mystical elements.
Today Goths are vast web of past influences ranging from Medieval, Victorian, Jazz Age, American B Movies, 60's/70's rock, Punk and beyond that!. The confusion here comes from a number who dub elements "Gothic" and lump them all together.
One way of deciphering this puzzle is the following: Victorian Gothic influenced Jazz Age Horror Cinema; Jazz Age Horror Cinema influences 60's comedy including Munsters, Addams Family, Wacky Races and Scooby Doo; The Rocky Horror Show, David Vanian, Gothabilly and early Tim Burton movies revive/re-live them and THE GOTHS LATER ADOPT "ALL" AND CLAIM THEM AS PART OF THEIR CULTURE. In astronomical terms it is the same as looking at the Orion constellation and seeing it as all part of the same thing. Yet in reality, they are light years apart! David Vanian, mentioned earlier, can be seen today resembling Gomez Addams in pin stripe suits. A character who in truth was more a retro Jazz Age gentleman in spiff dress than Gothic. To add to the whole confusion, bizarre statements are coined such as "GOTHS ARE INFLUENCED HUGELY BY THE RENAISSANCE . In present day terms that equates to "Neo-Modernists stem from Flower Power"
Realistically speaking, many styles from the past gained huge popularity, declined, and became absorbed into a wider global culture toward the end of the 20th Century. With regards to Post-Modern trends, it always fell on the latter half of a decade. 1966 (Pet Sounds/Psychedelia) 1976 - 1978/9 (Punk, Post-Punk, Two-Tone, SKA, British Reggae, Mod, Electro Pop/New Romanticism/Disco) The late seventies by far being the more linked and overlapping jumble.
The Dawn Of Post-Modernism can be roughly marked with Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys in 1966 or slightly earlier artworks championed by Robert Rauschenberg. The juxtapositions which were revolutionary then are not surprising or even taken for granted now. One popular juxtaposition during the mid 60's was combining dark gothic imagery with squeaky clean/Bubblegum Americanisms. An early example of this was The Great Race by Blake Edwards; a movie which ironically went on to inspire animated legends bigger than itself; Wacky Races the most famous. The more famous animated series outside this, arguably was Scooby Doo which made comedy out of combing young clean cut white Americans in opposition to older persons masquerading as mythical creatures in dark surroundings. This formula was repeated, in principal, with The Rocky Horrow Picture Show in 1975. Frank N Furter's make up combined with leather jackets, studs, badges and kimonos going against a young clean-cut American couple a classic example; the which especially were prominent in Post Punk Fashion years later. By the late 70's and into the 80's these juxtapositions grew even greater. The Scooby Doo Series mentioned earlier would go to combine Gothic Horror, Disco and Comedy; the music culture, in particular Pete Burns/Dead Or Alive took them all including the fashion examples quoted above.
The late 80's with Pump Up The Volume championed a new age in dance music. Curiously though, following this period, other chapters akin in influence failed to emerge.
It would be quite safe to say Post-Modernism had ended by circa 1992 . From this stage onward things merely built up on themselves slowly. By the late 00's the only thing resembling previous landmarks in post-modern imagery was Amy Winehouse's revival of music akin to The Specials and her chaotic marriage resembling Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen's. Her drunken behaviour and the constant media coverage was also latter-date of the slow decline of George Best following 1968.
Today the cultural implosion is at saturation point with music channels playing rap/dance videos featuring punk or gothic female dancers. An earlier champion of this, arguably, was Cypress Hill who combined Gangsta Rap with Gothic Imagery after adopting the name of a famous NYC cemetery. Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, Pink are just three famous examples whose dress style resembles punk, early post-punk and the late Nancy Spungen, yet musically there is little resemblance at all.
In brief, today's cultural implosion is the result of Victorian ideas up to those of the early 90's. The arts culture now has no choice but to go back in on itself: the result being schisms/variations in style at an unprecedented level.
The key difference though is technological development. Here the 90's spawned sattelite/cable tv, internet culture, where widely unknowns can gain greater chance of recognition for various talents and eccentricities. While it remains the best period ever to be seen, it is the worst for making an impact. The number of talents now visible and resembling each other is a flood the world over, making them far less remarkable.
Future generations may deem us "the globalists" due to our ethos of "anything and everything is acceptable" while the late 60's/70's and 80's paved the way for the countless variations we have today. The truth is "PUNK'S NOT DEAD" - but fashion is!
KEY INFLUENCES OF PRESENT DAY CULTURE
VICTORIAN/GOTHIC - JAZZ AGE- POST-WAR - HIGH MODERN (50'S - MID 60'S) - POST MODERN (1966 - CIRCA EARLY 90'S) - CONTEMPORARY GLOBALISM (CIRCA EARLY-90'S - )
PUNK'S NOT DEAD....exactly (CONTEXTUAL ART STUDY)
louderthanwar.com/bbc-tv-series-to-celebrate-the-annivers...
A somewhat hyped phrase or slogan used frequently since the early 80's.
The myth is mostly brought about by Punk falling from fever pitch in 1978 - 79, which coincided with the split of The Sex Pistols and subsequent deaths of Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious. At a rough guess Punk finally fell from it's heights around the same time Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.
It is of course no more dead than La Cosa Nostra in New York or The Catholic Church in Ireland, yet all are clearly depleted/less prominent than before, but still influence Cinema, literature or other arts. In reality Punk didn't die as much as became absorbed into a wider culture.
"Escape From New York" " "Fight Club" and Joker from "The Dark Knight" are three examples of cinema which have punk elements littered all over them, especially the latter two which revives the anarchistic feel and sentiment. The earlier installment, Batman Returns, was a throwback to the original punk ethos with Selina Kyle's entirely home-made costume. As for Anime/Manga in Japan the number of examples is endless! Yet here it is seen as being more typical of Japanese culture. Even though spiked hair was a feature of Manga as early as Astro Boy, Punk cannot be dismissed as influencing the style in later years.
Fashion wise Punk paved the way for Post-Punk, later dubbed "Gothic" in the UK, and EMO in the US, during the early 80's. This was loosely a hybrid form of darker punk and psychedelic rock music; ironic as the two were considered oil and water previously. More ironically still, a number of punks revived psychedelia resembling The Doors or Velvet Underground, both not unknown to inspire Goths either. Yet hippy psychedelia/rock music was considered repugnant by prominent punk singer John Lydon who regarded it as "everything that went wrong".
Key influences on the Goth style were: Arthur Brown, Jim Morrisson, David Bowie. Siouxsie Sioux/David Vanian, (early punks) and Joy Division/The Sisters Of Mercy (Post-Punk); although non were regarded as "goths" beforehand or by themselves. New Romanticism had a big stake in it's style development too. While psychedelia, punk and post-punk imagery influenced goth, music wise it was devoid of the rage and anger, focusing more on mystical elements.
Today Goths are vast web of past influences ranging from Medieval, Victorian, Jazz Age, American B Movies, 60's/70's rock, Punk and beyond that!. The confusion here comes from a number who dub elements "Gothic" and lump them all together.
One way of deciphering this puzzle is the following: Victorian Gothic influenced Jazz Age Horror Cinema; Jazz Age Horror Cinema influences 60's comedy including Munsters, Addams Family, Wacky Races and Scooby Doo; The Rocky Horror Show, David Vanian, Gothabilly and early Tim Burton movies revive/re-live them and THE GOTHS LATER ADOPT "ALL" AND CLAIM THEM AS PART OF THEIR CULTURE. In astronomical terms it is the same as looking at the Orion constellation and seeing it as all part of the same thing. Yet in reality, they are light years apart! David Vanian, mentioned earlier, can be seen today resembling Gomez Addams in pin stripe suits. A character who in truth was more a retro Jazz Age gentleman in spiff dress than Gothic. To add to the whole confusion, bizarre statements are coined such as "GOTHS ARE INFLUENCED HUGELY BY THE RENAISSANCE . In present day terms that equates to "Neo-Modernists stem from Flower Power"
Realistically speaking, many styles from the past gained huge popularity, declined, and became absorbed into a wider global culture toward the end of the 20th Century. With regards to Post-Modern trends, it always fell on the latter half of a decade. 1966 (Pet Sounds/Psychedelia) 1976 - 1978/9 (Punk, Post-Punk, Two-Tone, SKA, British Reggae, Mod, Electro Pop/New Romanticism/Disco) The late seventies by far being the more linked and overlapping jumble.
The Dawn Of Post-Modernism can be roughly marked with Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys in 1966 or slightly earlier artworks championed by Robert Rauschenberg. The juxtapositions which were revolutionary then are not surprising or even taken for granted now. One popular juxtaposition during the mid 60's was combining dark gothic imagery with squeaky clean/Bubblegum Americanisms. An early example of this was The Great Race by Blake Edwards; a movie which ironically went on to inspire animated legends bigger than itself; Wacky Races the most famous. The more famous animated series outside this, arguably was Scooby Doo which made comedy out of combing young clean cut white Americans in opposition to older persons masquerading as mythical creatures in dark surroundings. This formula was repeated, in principal, with The Rocky Horrow Picture Show in 1975. Frank N Furter's make up combined with leather jackets, studs, badges and kimonos going against a young clean-cut American couple a classic example; the which especially were prominent in Post Punk Fashion years later. By the late 70's and into the 80's these juxtapositions grew even greater. The Scooby Doo Series mentioned earlier would go to combine Gothic Horror, Disco and Comedy; the music culture, in particular Pete Burns/Dead Or Alive took them all including the fashion examples quoted above.
The late 80's with Pump Up The Volume championed a new age in dance music. Curiously though, following this period, other chapters akin in influence failed to emerge.
It would be quite safe to say Post-Modernism had ended by circa 1992 . From this stage onward things merely built up on themselves slowly. By the late 00's the only thing resembling previous landmarks in post-modern imagery was Amy Winehouse's revival of music akin to The Specials and her chaotic marriage resembling Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen's. Her drunken behaviour and the constant media coverage was also latter-date of the slow decline of George Best following 1968.
Today the cultural implosion is at saturation point with music channels playing rap/dance videos featuring punk or gothic female dancers. An earlier champion of this, arguably, was Cypress Hill who combined Gangsta Rap with Gothic Imagery after adopting the name of a famous NYC cemetery. Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, Pink are just three famous examples whose dress style resembles punk, early post-punk and the late Nancy Spungen, yet musically there is little resemblance at all.
In brief, today's cultural implosion is the result of Victorian ideas up to those of the early 90's. The arts culture now has no choice but to go back in on itself: the result being schisms/variations in style at an unprecedented level.
The key difference though is technological development. Here the 90's spawned sattelite/cable tv, internet culture, where widely unknowns can gain greater chance of recognition for various talents and eccentricities. While it remains the best period ever to be seen, it is the worst for making an impact. The number of talents now visible and resembling each other is a flood the world over, making them far less remarkable.
Future generations may deem us "the globalists" due to our ethos of "anything and everything is acceptable" while the late 60's/70's and 80's paved the way for the countless variations we have today. The truth is "PUNK'S NOT DEAD" - but fashion is!
KEY INFLUENCES OF PRESENT DAY CULTURE
VICTORIAN/GOTHIC - JAZZ AGE- POST-WAR - HIGH MODERN (50'S - MID 60'S) - POST MODERN (1966 - CIRCA EARLY 90'S) - CONTEMPORARY GLOBALISM (CIRCA EARLY-90'S - )