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What is it that makes a band "PUNK"?

Discussion in 'Music, punk scene & subcultures' started by Anxiety69, Jan 11, 2010.

  1. SurgeryXdisaster

    SurgeryXdisaster Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Oct 8, 2009
     
    selling out is letting other people get rich off you that don't really give a shit about the music

    there is a difference between a lot of people liking you and selling out, its not as simple as "well if a lot of people like you why shouldn't hot topic offer your CD for the low low price of 9.95?"

    DIY motherFUCKers...
     
  2. NGNM85

    NGNM85 Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    See, I disagree. I think selling out is claiming to uphold an ethical/philosophical position, and then abandoning that position when it's convenient. Selling you're principles; not albums.
     
  3. SurgeryXdisaster

    SurgeryXdisaster Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Basically what I was getting at. To a lot of punk bands, anarcho or not, Capitalism is a major no-no. But I see your point of PERSONAL principles, for example: If a punk artist is A - political, then I can see how selling their records at hot topic wouldn't matter much to them
     
  4. Ring Of Truth

    Ring Of Truth Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Dec 28, 2009
     
    I agree with what you both are saying, but I also think that a band are "sell outs" when they change their sound and style because someone tells them to, or so that they can be more "famous". In my mind the poster example of "sell-out" is Good Charlot, who from what I understand played street punk until MTV said "hey we like you look, but if you sounded more like this...." and look at them now shit ass pop-music and they have the nerve to sing a song like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous when that is exactly what they are.... That to me is Selling Out.

    Now if a band wants to change their sound and style for personal or artistic reasons that is cool, as long as they are still true to who they are (like Chumbawamba). And as far as being on a major label, in the past I understood with it, and I could see the valid points of doing it, but with today's possibilities with file sharing and social networking it really isn't as necessary. We are living in a day that as musicians we no longer need the labels to help us.

    As far as buying albums I don't care where they are sold (just remember that with a little wit Hot Topic is easy to steal from, so do it), I don't think it is bad that a band has good distrobution. Also if you are in a band and have a few extra CDs, take them to a shitty place like Hot Topic and casually pretend to browse through their shit and place a few of your own CDs with a free sign on them... lets sneak our ideals into the apathetic youth, maybe we can free one or two of them (wishful optimistic dreaming I suppose).
     
  5. NGNM85

    NGNM85 Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    But it's essentially impossible to opt-out of capitalism. Even if it were, the artist would have to relinquish most compensation for their work. I don't think that's fair or logical. Based on my firm objection to the US occupation in the Middle East I would love to stop paying taxes to this bastard government, but that isn't how the world works. Besides, big corporations' greed is their achilles heel. I don't love Michael Moore but he had a great point when he was asked about putting his documentaries out through major entertainment companies. He said they provide resources he otherwise couldn't have and market his documentaries to a wider audience because they know it will sell. They will even sell anti-capitalism if enough people are buying. Like I said it's like the Ouroboros, the serpent which devours itself.
    I don't see a problem necessarily with selling records at Hot Topic. There's a difference between navigating within the system, and embracing it. Besides; now I can stop in the mall and pick up a cool Siouxsie shirt for like 12 bucks, which is pretty decent. I don't love it, but I don't think it's evil. As long as you recognize it for what it is. Like Anti-Flag, they signed a limited contract which they could get out of, which allowed them total creative control. THEY were using the company, not the other way around.
     
  6. SurgeryXdisaster

    SurgeryXdisaster Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Oct 8, 2009
     
    You can at least try to go DIY all the way...
    Start your own label, get friends to record for you if you don't know how,
    Find someone with a printing press if you really wanna make t-shirts for your band and sell em at shows
    getting popular is really a poor excuse to stop doing things yourself

    it is practically impossible in america (though others have achieved it before) to opt-out of capitalism
    I think that it basically comes down to choosing your battles, which seems to be a theme on this site
    Music...Art... is not something that should be whored out, at least thats my opinion

    Anti-flag may have been using the company to get their message across,
    but you can bet that company made a pretty penny doing it
     
  7. ASA

    ASA Experienced Member Experienced member Forum Member


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    Nov 2, 2009
     
    you've gotta lot to learn, history has taught us not to 'empower' the medium that controls, lest we all get sold down the river
     
  8. Sloan Skylar

    Sloan Skylar New Member New Member


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    Nov 11, 2012
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    Existential Punk:
    1) Origin:
    1590–1600; of obscure origin; the sense development is apparently “prostitute” > “catamite” > “hoodlum
    2) -“I punk therefore I dig. I dig therefore I plant. I plant therefore I sow, and therin lies the reaper. I’m a punk apparently for I dig finding new uses in “worthless” people, places and things. “We must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and the soul.”—Henry Rollins.
    3) “Punk to me was a form of free speech. It was a moment when suddenly all kinds of strange voices that no reasonable person could ever have expected to hear in public were being heard all over the place”.—Greil Marcus.
    4) A youth movement of the late 1970s, characterized by anti-Establishment slogans and outrageous clothes and hairstyles.
    5) punk (adj) cool -- particularly in an in-your-face or don't-give-a-fuck way.
    6) “When civil fury first grew high,
    And men fell out, they knew not why;
    When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
    Set folks together by the ears,
    And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
    For Dame Religion, as for punk;”--Samuel Butler. .
    7) “Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want”—Kurt Cobain.
    8) "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 a garbage can and says 'That's Punk?', and I say 'No that's trendy"
    9) When it comes down to it, punks are just hippies with a tough guy image. "Them hippies have pretty much the same belief system as me- but man they look like a bunch of sissies... I know, I'll dress up really tough and create a new movement like the hippies, but without all the flower power 'all you need is love' crap" - and thats how it happened.
    10) “Rock ‘n’ Roll doesn't necessarily mean a band. It doesn't mean a singer, and it doesn't mean a lyric, really. It's that question of trying to be immortal. The popularity of punk rock was, in effect, due to the fact that it made ugliness beautiful. Boredom that is bought and sold, where nothing will happen except that people will become more and more terrified of tomorrow, because the new continues to look old, and the old will always look cute.—Malcom McLaren.
    11) Punk is a lifestyle expressed musically as well as through many artforms. This lifestyle is oriented to a philosophy known as DIY--“Do it yourself”, supported by the corollary “If not me, who?” and certainly seems to be fueled by the theorem, “Do I want to be that guy?” This lifestyle is particularly action-oriented and its spiritual nature is to find the worth in everything and seeks music to transcend the power of suffering.—SloanSkylar and the moboman. 11.11.12
     
  9. Sloan Skylar

    Sloan Skylar New Member New Member


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    On the topic of capitalism and how it relates to being punk, fact of the matter is some artists are in it to express themselves, and many more are also into bringing it to the people and laying it down for their perusal. The more people that have the opportunity to get it, the mo bettah it be. This is my stance as an artist. People can say they dig the music, but if they dig it in a real way, is when they vote with their cash. If one does that an artist knows for sure they have reached that listener in some way or another. This is in no way to minimize the joy of audience participation, but this is the world as it is and acceptance and willingness to deal with the world as is with all its flaws I think is most punk.
     
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