Моя работа "MC hummer"

MC hammer. During the past years MC hammer had been giving concerts all over the world. Now many people know his catch phrase “It’s Hammer time!” Born Stanley Kirk Burrell in Oakland, California, in 1962, MC was the youngest of seven children. As he says, “Boys fight over everything and we did our share”. He got a part – time job with his local baseball team and everyone told him how much he looked like the famous baseball player Hand Aaron. Aaron’s nickname was Hammer, so Mc Hammer took his name and has been using it ever since. After school and college, he joined the Navy but left to become a rap singer. Soon everyone in America was buying his records. They bought five million copies of his second album and he won five of the most important American music prizes.

How could people in Great Britain recognize people hippies, punks or New Age Travellers in the streets of their towns? Choose statements to write a description to match each picture.

• They wore their hair long;

• They loved extravagant dresses and hairstyles;

• They usually wore scruffy clothes;

• They used to wear lots of rings, bracelets and bells;

• They prefer to be free and not to work;

• They loved wearing long robes or dresses and flares;

• They like to wear their hair long with lots of colour threads in it;

• They wore sandals or walked barefoot;

• They pierced their noses and ears with pins;

• They wear old black denim jeans;

• They had brightly dyed hair;

• They carried flowers;

• They love wearing wooden clogs or boots;

• They show off their independence in wearing silver ear - rings or sometimes nose – rings;

• They are antifashion: they prefer wearing old clothes or making their clothes.

Bike subculture appeared in Russia with the appearance of Moscow motorbike club “Night Wolves”. Officially it was founded on May 31, 1989. But the core of it appeared in the early 80s. A Night Wolf No 1, nicknamed “The Surgeon” got his motorbike from his grandfather. The grandfather got it from the USA by lend – lease. The motorbike was produced in 1942, but it works well. The Surgeon (he is a real surgeon) together with his friends kept order at the concerts of underground musicians as “Hell’s Angels” did it. Working as guards is classical pastime of bikers. The club is so famous in Russia but also all over the world that the first Russian Bike Show which took place in 1995 attracted a lot of guests from abroad. Among them there were the representatives of subdivisions of “Hell’s Angels” in different countries. A biker in Russia prefers a heavy bike like Harley Davidson and a leather jacket. But besides a real biker has his own values and beliefs as bikers of the USA have. Some people consider bikers aggressive. But in most cases they have only threatening appearance.

The good old times for most of our hippies were the 1970s. Their ideals include love, peace, and freedom of self – expression, and nonconformity to society’s rules. Against the background of speeches , reports, slogans, which served as a smokescreen for corruption and moral crisis, hippies showed to young people an alternative to all that. Unfortunately, now the hippie community is becoming a place for really hopeless characters and those without any ideas and principles. It is not so difficult to look like a traditional hippie: a pair of worn – out blue jeans, long hair tied with bit of string and a couple of decorative chains. This is often used by drug sellers. They have noticed that if you are wearing your hair long and your jeans are old, you have a much easier time on the road. Remarkably, while in society at large the drug problem is becoming more serious; within the hippie community it has stopped growing. Today hippies are more socially active. They set up environmental groups and join charity projects. “Everything that brings people together is good; everything that draws them apart is evil. Love is the most powerful thing that brings people together”.

The Birmingham – born reggae singer moved from obscurity to the Top of the Pop stage, the global platform of MTV, in early 1993.

“It took me almost a year to find myself”, says Apache Indian, a stage name for 27 – year – old Steve Kapur. Make way for the Indian is a powerful record, featuring cooperative work of American rapper Tim Dog and reggae legends Frankle Paul and Yami Bolo. Later in the year, he also becomes a deejay with his own weekly show on Radio One. “My music is a reflection of how I grew up – the reggae from the streets, the Indian bhangra sound and language from home, and perhaps the pop from the radio”. Reggae has always been a powerful music force in Birmingham, producing acts such as Steel Pulse and UB40. Steve Kapur unlike his Asian mates in school followed the music from the age of 13. His parents couldn’t understand this. “My parents came to this country when rock and roll was popular, and they were great fans of Elvis Presley. If I had followed him, there would have been no problem, but it was harder for my parents to accept my love of Bob Marley, Burning Spear and Misty in Roots. “Asians tend to have a very negative attitude towards black people, and reggae in particular was associated with gangs. Still, I didn’t come down the stairs talking a heavy Jamaican patois. I respected my parents and respected me”. The stage name Apache Indian came from one of his Jamaican heroes, Apache Supercat. In his songs Apache uses a reggae rhythm base and mix of Hindi and Punjabi with Jamaican and English. “I was shocked when I became famous”. Apache has not forgotten about his roots. All the money from the Indian tours went to different charities such as Blind Association.

Today it is fashionable to speak about teenage problems. A few years ago alcohol, fights, killings and other kinds of violence were more problems for adults than for young people. But now, as official reports admit, violence, AIDS, drugs and alcohol are more associated with youngsters. For many children from poor families’ violence, drinking problems and all that is associated with poverty becomes more real than reality. The government surveys show that every fifth teenager who was arrested for criminal actions, was younger than 14 and could not be sent to prison. Almost half of teenagers have an experience with drugs, alcohol and sex under age of 16. A lot of teenagers who have drug or alcohol addiction never believe that they are dependent. These things are often combined with family and schools problems. What has gone wrong? Some specialists explain that the changes of our society, the system of our life force young people to choose their own life style. On the one hand, our society agrees that 15 -17 – year – old people are old enough to be responsible for what they do and give them quite a lot of freedom and rights. On the other hand, most adults think that teenagers are too young to be taken seriously. This misunderstanding produces many problems. Actually, a lot of teenagers say that their parents let them do anything they want and are quite indifferent to their problems. Many teenagers get upset or depressed when they can not solve their problems. As a result, it makes them believe that there is only one way out – to stop living and commit suicide. No doubt, the teens’ problems will increase. And young people should feel that they are cared of.

AIDS – acquired immune deficiency syndrome; a serious disease that destroys the body’s immune system; and usually causes death. AIDS is passed from one person to another through body fluids, especially blood and semen.

Alcohol – drinks such as wine and beer that can make people drunk;

Biker – a motorcyclist, especially one who belongs to a group;

Beatnik – a young person in the late 1950s and early 1960s who did not accept the usual ideals and rules of society and who dressed and behaved in a different way from other people in order to emphasize them;

Cyberpunk – a person, who identifies him/herself with the characters in cyberpunk stories. These stories describe a ‘system’ which dominates the lives of most ‘ordinary’ people, be it an oppressive government, a group of large corporations, or a fundamentalist religion. These systems are enhanced by certain technologies (computers, the mass media), making the system better at keeping those within it inside it. Often this technological system extends into its human ‘components’ as well, via brain implants, genetically engineered organs, etc. Humans themselves become part of ‘the Machine’. This is the ‘cyber’ aspect of cyberpunk. However, in any cultural system, there are always those who live on ‘the Edge’: criminals, outcasts, or those who simply want freedom for its own sake. Cyberpunk literature focuses on these people, and often how they turn the system’s technological tools to their own ends. This is the ‘punk’ aspect of cyberpunk.

Culture – 1) activities involving music, literature and other arts; 2) relating to music, literature, and other arts; 3) a society that has its own set of ideas, beliefs and ways of behaving;

Drugs – an illegal substance that affects someone physically or mentally when they take it;

Dropout – someone who does not live like most people because they don’t agree with society’s values;

Dub – an electronic type of music based on reggae music;

Ecstasy – illegal drug in increasing use from the 1980s. Ecstasy was first synthesized in 1914 by the Merk pharmaceutical company in Germany, and was one of the eight psychedelics tested by the US army in 1953, but was forgotten until the mid – 1970s.

Electro – a type of African – American electronic music that developed in the 1980s and often includes rap;

Freak – a person with rather strange habits, ideas, or appearance.

Goth – someone who wears Goth fashion and listen to Goth music;

Goth – a type of modern popular music that is loud and has a strong beat;

Gangsta rap – a type of black US rap music that talks about life in the city, especially about guns, violence, and sex;

Grunge – 1) a type of rock music played on electric guitars that developed in the late 1980s. And was influenced by punk and heavy metal; 2) a dirty untidy style of clothing that is popular among people who play or like grunge music;

Hard rock – a type of rock music that is loud and has a strong beat;

Heavy metal – a type of loud rock music that developed in 1970s, played on drums and electric guitars;

Hacker – someone who uses a computer to connect to other’s people computers secretly and often illegally, so that they can find or change information;

Hippie - someone in 1960s who was opposed to war and the traditional attitudes of society, and who showed this by having long hair and wearing very informal clothes;

Hip – hop – a type of music that developed among African – American musicians using rap and samples that are repeated and combined with musical instruments;

New Age Traveller - in the UK, a member of the New Age movement who travels from one place to another in groups and lives in a vehicle;

Punk or punk rocker – 1) a type of music that developed in 1970sfrom rock and roll, consisting of simple tunes played quickly and loudly on electronic instrument and words that often expressed anger against society; 2) a young person who likes punk music and who often has brightly – colourd hair, and wears torn clothing with a lot of chains and pins; 3) a young man who has no status, breaks the law, and is often violent. This word is considered an insult.

Psychedelic rock – music, having intensely vivid sound like those experienced while hallucinating, usually involves advanced electronic equipment;

Phreak - someone, who breaks into the telephone system of other people or companies and does clever things with the phone network;

Rocker – someone who plays or likes;

Rap – music style which appeared in black disco clubs in New York in the middle 1970s. A way of talking using rhythm and rhyme, usually over a strong musical beat;

Reggae – a type of music that developed in Jamaica in the 1960s with songs about social and political subjects and heavy bass sounds;

Rock and roll – a type of music that was popular in the 1950sand combined simple blues structures played on guitars with strong regular beats;

Raver – someone who likes to go to raves;

Subculture – a group of people whose beliefs and ways of behaving make them different from the rest of society;

Skinhead – a young man whose hair is cut off completely, especially one who is part of a violent right – wing group;

Swastika – an ancient symbol in the form of a cross with its ends bent at right angles, used in the 20^th century as a Nazi emblem;

Trance - a type of dance music with fast regular beats and electronic sounds that developed from techno in the early 1990s.

Techno – a type of dance music that developed in 1980s, consisting of hard repeated beats, heavy drum sounds, and funk influences;

Teenager – a young person between the ages of 13 and 19;

Chuck Berry – ‘rhythm and blues’ black musician. His energy, guitar style and humour were all of important influence on later rock ‘n’ rolls stars;

Chemical Brothers, the – a British popular group. Music style is techno;

Clash – on of the most popular British punk music, groups formed in the 1970s whose success continued even when punk went out of fashion;

Holly Baddy - the stage name of Charles Hardin Holley. A US popular music singer, guitarist, and song writer, born in Lubbock, Texas. Holley had a distinctive, hiccupping vocal style and was an early experimenter with recording techniques. Many of his hits with his band, the Crickets, such as That’s Be the Day (1957), Peggy Sue (19570, and Maybe Baby (1958), have become classics. He died in a plane crash;

Little Richard – stage name of Richard Penniman. Us rock singer and pianist. He was one of the creators of rock ‘n’ roll with his wildly uninhibited renditions of Tutti Fruitti (1956), Good Golly Miss Molly;

Bob Marley – a Jamaican singer and songwriter who, with the group the Wailers, made reggae music popular in many countries of the world. He was an exciting performer and his music often carried a social and political message. He was a Rastafarian;

Nirvana – rock group that appeared in 1988 in the USA. The music style of the group is grunge rock. The members are Kurt Cobain (died in 1994), Chris Novoselic, and David Grohl;

Pearl Jam – a popular group (established in 1989 in San Diego, the USA), playing grunge rock. The roots are in such groups as Green River, Mother Love Bone;

Pink Floyd – a British rock music group which appeared in 1965 in London. The musicians were the first to use light effects, slide projectors at their performances. The group was the favourite of London underground. Their performances were great shows with gigantic screens, light effects, taking off planes and the like;

Prodigy – the British group playing techno music, taking the top places in many charts.

Sex Pistols – one of Britain’s first and most important punk bands. They exploded onto the mid – 1970s pop scene with a series of totally original hit singles. Angry, rude, loud, anti – social… they started revolutions in both music and fashion;

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was one of twin sons born to Vernon and Gladys Presley; his brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was stillborn. The Presley family was not a wealthy one; Elvis was born in a two – room shack in a not particularly good neighborhood of Memphis. But although there was never a lot of money, the young Elvis’ life was not one of grinding poverty: his mother always made sure he had enough, both of necessities like food and drink, and of little luxuries. Elvis had been singing since he was a child. He had won a talent contest at a fair when he was ten, and also took first prize in his high school talent show in his senior class. For several months after graduation Presley was a truck driver, until one fateful day in 1953 he passed a recording studio with the sign “make your own records - $2 for 4 songs”. Sam Phillips, the owner of the studio, overhead Elvis and knew he was on to something – he had been searching for a white performer who could sings “Negro” music and Elvis fit the bill. He continued to make records all his life, but through the first years of the 1960s, at Parker’s behest, Elvis concentrated on making movies. Elvis continued to amiably assume the role of cowboy, soldier, roustabout or race car driver, while letting his recording career languish. By this point, Elvis had begun the slide into irrelevance. The reason he was famous on the first place, his music, had been neglected; no one could call any of his films masterpieces. But the early sixties he literally had more many than he knew what to do with. He closeted himself with a bunch of friends from the early days, the ‘Memphis Mafia’, and enjoyed the role of beneficent ruler and patron. He grew indulgent and fatter, fond of drugs and sweet things. In 1969 Elvis began to play shows in Las Vegas; eventually he would be able to earn $200,000 for a single night’s work. He took to touring and playing Vegas more and more, and recording less and less. The ‘Memphis Mafia’ got Elvis girls, they got him drugs, and they kept the frightening, wide world away from him. He put on weight and became increasingly dependent on drugs, mostly pills. He took pills to wake him up, pills to calm him down, pills to give him energy and pills to make him sleep. Most of the drugs were procured for him by his personal physician. On august 16, 1977 Elvis was having trouble sleeping after he tried to go to bed at 9 a.m. he took some pills and went into the bathroom; it was there that he was found five hours later, dead.

The group he formed, the Beatles, changed pop music forever. From their first single, “Love me do” (a Lennon – McCartney composition), in 1962, people recognized something different in their music than the usual pop songs at the time. Their songs seemed more tuneful, more exciting than what most artists were recording at the time. The Beatles were also more attractive than many other performers. Many more people began to listen to pop music than before. Soon, the group’s following was like nothing anyone had ever seen: a hysteria that the newspapers called “Beatlemania” swept Britain and soon, America. Their second single “Please, Please Me” reached number one in March 1963. When the media focused on the new group, it soon became clear that Lennon was not like other pop stars. His answers to reporters’ questions showed unusual intelligence and sense of humour. His character soon shone out: he always behaved in a completely different way than other people and hated artificiality. He was never quite comfortable with the Beatles’ “nice” image. In fact, it was Lennon who began to break away from this image and change the public image of the Beatles. His and McCartney’s music changed and became more “psychedelic”. The Beatles were no longer those four clean – cut young men that even parents liked. In 1966, Lennon met Japanese artist Yoko Ono. She was clever and eccentric, like Lennon, and the soon fell in love. He loved listening to her views on art and politics and admired her independent spirit. She brought something new to his life, and soon he found there was more he wanted to do on his own, or with Yoko, than he wanted to do with the Beatles. In 1968, he told the other Beatles of his decision to leave, although the real split did not come until 1971, when Paul McCartney also decided their partnership should end. Lennon married Yoko Ono in 1969. Of all former Beatles, Lennon made the most promising start as a solo artist. In 1971, he recorded the song by which most people remember him today, “Imagine”. But in 1975 he stopped making records. For a while he and Yoko, separated, partly because of the problems he was having with drugs and alcohol, but eventually he settled down with her again in New York. He also spent time trying to become American citizen, something which was not easy because of his drug convictions and unpopularity with the government for his outspoken political and social views. In 1980, a new, positive phase both in his private life and his musical career seemed to begin. But that soon came to an end on the street outside of his home one night in December 1980.

The English ROCK MUSIC group The Beatles gave the 1960s it’s characteristic musical flavor and had a profound influence on the course of popular music, equaled by few performers. The guitarists John Winston Lennon, Oct. 9, 1940; James Paul McCartney, June 18, 1942; and George Harrison, Feb. 25, 1943; and the drummer Ringo Starr, Richard Starkey, July 7, 1940, were all born and raised in Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney had played together in a group called The Quarrymen. With Harrison, they formed their own group, The Silver Beatles, in 1959, and Starr joined them in 1962. As The Beatles, they developed a local following in Liverpool clubs, and their first recordings, "Love Me Do" (1962) and "Please Please Me" (1963), quickly made them Britain's top rock group. Their early music was influenced by the American rock singers Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, but they infused a hackneyed musical form with freshness, vitality, and wit. The release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1964 marked the beginning of the phenomenon known as "Beatlemania" in the United States. The Beatles' first U.S. tour aroused universal mob adulation. Their concerts were scenes of mass worship, and their records sold in the millions. Their first film, the innovative A Hard Day's Night (1964), was received enthusiastically by a wide audience that included many who had never before listened to rock music. Composing their own material (Lennon and McCartney were the major creative forces); The Beatles established the precedent for other rock groups to play their own music. Experimenting with new musical forms, they produced an extraordinary variety of songs: the childishly simple "Yellow Submarine"; the bitter social commentary of "Eleanor Rigby"; parodies of earlier pop styles; new electronic sounds; and compositions that were scored for cellos, violins, trumpets, and sitars, as well as for conventional guitars and drums. Some enthusiasts cite the albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) as the apex of Beatle art, although Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), perhaps the first rock album designed thematically as a single musical entity, is more generally considered their triumph. The group disbanded in 1970, after the release of their final album, Let It Be, to pursue individual careers. On Dec. 8, 1980, John Lennon was fatally shot in New York City. In 1991, Paul McCartney's classical composition Liverpool Oratorio was performed to some acclaim in Britain and the United States.

The origins of Punk in the mid-1970s lay in the realities of disaffected working-class urban youth with little hope of employment, housing, and a meaningful future. Its visual expression in clothing, as cultural sociologist Dick Hebdige remarked at the time, was ‘the sartorial equivalent of swearwords’ and was opposed to conventional fashion, with bondage trousers and ripped clothing, often made from unconventional materials such as fake leopard skin or plastic binliners. Hairstyles were unnatural, dyed, and often spiked, with personal decoration in the form of safety pins, body piercing, and dangling chains, heavy high-laced Doc Marten's boots, all of which were associated with forms of social ‘deviancy’. At the outset punk graphics were also immediate and required, like punk music, little skill to produce in the conventional sense; they were characterized by the emergence of a range of low-tech fanzines such as Sniffin Glue, which began publication in 1976. Crudely designed pages, often with handwritten, graffiti-like insertions and typographic errors, as well as letters torn out from other sources, characterized the style. Such ideas gained wider currency in the Punk music scene with record covers for companies like Factory Records and Stiff Records and the emergence of designers like Jamie Reid, who designed the controversial sleeve for the Punk band the Sex Pistols' single God Save the Queen of 1977, showing the defaced head of Queen Elizabeth II. Entrepreneur Malcolm McClaren and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood generated the Sex Pistols in 1974 in their Sex boutique on the King's Road. Graphic designers such as Reid, Malcolm Garrett, and Peter Saville, all closely associated with Punk music graphics, had all attended art school and, with others such as Neville Brody, revitalized graphic design through harnessing the vitality and iconoclasm of Punk to graphic skills and an awareness of Postmodern eclecticism. However, like many radical challenges to conventional lifestyles any threat was removed by the commercialization of the style, as had been the case with hippies and Psychedelia in the previous decade. The punk subculture is a subculture that is based around punk rock music. Since emerging from the larger rock 'n' roll scene in the mid-to-late-1970s in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Today the punk movement has spread around the globe and developed into a number of different forms. Punk culture encompasses distinct styles of music, ideology, and fashion, as well as visual art, dance, literature, and film. Punk also lays claim to a lifestyle and community.[1] The punk scene is composed of an assortment of smaller subcultures, such as hardcore punk, Oi! And pop punk. These subcultures distinguish themselves through unique expressions of punk culture. Several subcultures have developed out of punk to become distinct in their own right, including goth and psychobilly. The punk movement has had a tumultuous relationship with popular culture and struggles to resist commercialization and appropriation.

History

The punk subculture emerged in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia in the mid-to-late-1970s, and has since undergone several developments. The punk subculture originated from a number of antecedents and influences. Various philosophical and artistic movements influenced and preceded to the punk movement. In particular, several strains of modern art anticipated and affected punk. Various writers, books, and literary movements were important to the formation of the punk aesthetic. Punk rock has a variety of musical origins in the rock and roll genre. Previous youth subcultures also had major influences on punk. The earliest form of punk, retroactively named protopunk, arose in the north-eastern United States in the early-to-mid-1970s. The first ongoing music scene that was assigned the punk label appeared in New York City between 1974 and 1976. Around that same time, a punk scene developed in London. Soon after, Los Angeles became home to the third major punk scene. These three cities formed the backbone of the burgeoning movement, but there were also other scenes in cities such as Brisbane, and Boston. Starting in 1977, the subculture diversified, and factions such as 2 tone and Passi-punk came into their own. As the punk movement began to lose steam, Pop-punk, new wave, and No Wave gained the media's attention. Sometime around the early 1980s, punk underwent a renaissance in the form of the hardcore punk subculture. Hardcore proved fertile in much the same way as the original punk subculture, producing several new groups. These subcultures stand alongside the older subcultures under the punk banner. The underground punk movement in the United States in the 1980s produced scenes that either evolved from punk or claimed to apply its spirit and DIY ethics to a completely different music, securing punk's legacy in the alternative rock and indie scenes. The commercial success of alternative rock gave way to another style that the mainstream media dubbed pop punk. A new movement in America became visible in the early and mid-1990s, claiming to be a revival of punk.

Music

Music is the most important aspect of the punk subculture. Punk music is called punk rock, sometimes shortened to punk. Most punk rock is performed in a specific style of rock music, although punk musicians sometimes incorporate elements from other genres. Different punk subcultures often distinguish themselves by having a unique style of punk rock, although not every style of punk rock has its own associated subculture. Most punk rock songs are short, have simple arrangements and feature lyrics that express punk values. Punk rock is usually played in bands instead of by solo artists.

Ideology

Punk ideology is concerned with the individual's intrinsic right to freedom, and a less restricted lifestyle. Punk ethics espouse the role of personal choice in the development of, and pursuit of, greater freedom. Common punk ethics include a radical rejection of conformity, the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic, direct action for political change, and not selling out to mainstream interests for personal gain. Punk politics cover the entire political spectrum, although most punks find themselves categorized into left-wing or progressive views. Punks often participate in political protests for local, national or global change. Some common trends in recent punk politics include anarchism, anti-authoritarianism, anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-nationalism, anti-homophobia, environmentalism, vegetarianism, veganism, and animal rights. Some individuals within the subculture hold right-wing views (see Conservative punk) or other political views conflicting with the aforementioned, though these comprise a minority. Well-known punks with conservative values include Michale Graves and Johnny Ramone.

Fashion

Punks seek to outrage propriety with the highly theatrical use of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, tattoos, jewelry and body modification. Early punk fashion adapted existing objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing is held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing is customized by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint; a black bin liner becomes a dress, shirt or skirt; safety pins and razor blades are used as jewelry. Leather, rubber, and vinyl clothing are also popular, possibly due in part to the fact that the general public associates it with transgressive sexual practices like bondage and S&M. Punks also sometimes wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, T-shirts with risqué images, rocker jackets (which are often decorated by painting on band logos, adorning the lapels and pocket flaps with pins and buttons, and covering sections of the jacket, especially the back and sleeves of the jacket, in large numbers of carefully placed studs or spikes), and footwear such as Converse sneakers, skate shoes, brothel creepers, or Dr. Martens boots. Some punks style their hair to stand in spikes, cut it into Mohawks or other dramatic shapes, often coloring it with vibrant, unnatural hues. Punks tend to adorn their favorite jacket or vest with pin-back buttons and patches of bands they love and ideas they believe in, telling the world around them a little bit about who they are. They sometimes flaunt taboo symbols such as the Iron Cross. Some early punks occasionally wore clothes displaying a Nazi swastika for shock-value, but most modern punks are staunchly anti-racist and are more likely to wear a crossed-out swastika symbol. In contrast to punks who believe the fashion is a central part of the punk subculture, there are some punks who are decidedly "anti-fashion," arguing that music and/or ideology should define punk, not fashion. This is most common in hardcore punk.

Visual art

Punk aesthetics determine the type of art punks enjoy, usually with underground, minimalistic, iconoclastic and satirical sensibilities. Punk artwork graces album covers, flyers for concerts, and punk zines. Usually straightforward with clear messages, punk art is often concerned with political issues such as social injustice and economic disparity. The use of images of suffering to shock and create feelings of empathy in the viewer is common. Alternatively, punk artwork may contain images of selfishness, stupidity, or apathy to provoke contempt in the viewer. Much of the earlier artwork was in black and white, because it was distributed in zines reproduced at copy shops. Punk art also uses the mass production aesthetic of Andy Warhol's Factory studio. Punk played a hand in the revival of stencil art, spearheaded by Crass. The Situationists also influenced the look of punk art, particularity that of the Sex Pistols. Punk art often utilizes collage, exemplified by the art of Crass, Jamie Reid, and Winston Smith. John Holmstrom was a punk cartoonist who created work for the Ramones and Punk Magazine. The Stuckism art movement had its origin in punk, and titled its first major show The Stuckists Punk Victorian at the Walker Art Gallery during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. Charles Thomson, co-founder of the group, described punk as "a major breakthrough" in his art.

Dance

The punk subculture has developed a variety of dancing styles, some which appear chaotic and violent. This has led some punk concerts to look like small-scale riots. The dance styles most associated with punk rock are pogo dancing (allegedly invented by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols) and moshing (known earlier as slam dancing). Stage diving and crowd surfing were originally associated with protopunk bands such as The Stooges, and have appeared at punk, metal and rock concerts. Ska punk promoted an updated version of skanking and Hardcore dancing is a later development influenced by all of these styles.

Literature

Punk has generated a considerable amount of poetry and prose. Punk has its own underground press in the form of punk zines, which feature news, gossip, cultural criticism, and interviews. Some zines take the form of perzines. Important punk zines include Maximum Rock n Roll, Punk Planet, Comet bus, and Search & Destroy. Several novels, biographies, autobiographies, and comic books have been written about punk. Love and Rockets is a notable comic with a plot involving the Los Angeles punk scene. Examples of punk poets include: Jim Carroll, Patti Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Seething Wells and Attila the Stockbroker. The Medway Poets performance group included punk musician Billy Childish and had an influence on Tracey Emin. Jim Carroll's autobiographical works are among the first known examples of punk literature. The punk subculture has inspired the cyberpunk and steam punk literature genres.

Film

Many punk films have been made, and punk rock music videos and punk skate videos are common. The use of stock footage typifies punk film. Several famous groups have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High School and the Sex Pistols in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Some well-known punks have even had biopics made about them, such as Sid and Nancy, which tells the story of Sid Vicious (portrayed by Gary Oldman) and Nancy Spungen (portrayed by Chloe Webb). Original footage of punk bands is also often used in music documentaries. The seminal punk documentary is The Filth and the Fury, detailing the rise of the Sex Pistols. In addition to the members of that band and its affiliates (Malcolm McLaren, Vivienne Westwood, Nancy Spungen, etc.) it also features archival footage of Billy Idol, Sting, Shane McGowan, and a young teenaged girl who would grow up to be Siouxsie Sioux, among others. One of the highlights of the movie is footage of the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen" on a barge in the middle of the Thames during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, and their subsequent arrest. The No Wave Cinema movement owes much too punk aesthetics. Derek Jarman and Don Letts are notable punk filmmakers. Many other films are associated with punk, such as 24 Hour Party People, which presents the evolution of punk rock into new wave and Madchester, and Threat, which focuses on militant Straight edge punks in the New York hardcore scene.

Lifestyle

Punks can come from any and all walks of life and economic classes. The subculture is predominantly male, with the exception of the riot grrrl movement. Compared to some alternative cultures, punk is much closer to being gender equalist in terms of its ideology.[9] Although the punk subculture is mostly anti-racist, it is vastly white (at least in predominantly-white countries). However, members of other groups (such as Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Cambodians)have also contributed to the development of the subculture.[citation needed] Substance abuse has sometimes been a part of the punk scene, with the notable exception of the straight edge movement. Violence has also sometime appeared in the punk subculture, but has been opposed by some subsets of the subculture, such as the pacifist strain of anarcho-punk.

Community

Punks often form a local scene, which can have as few as half a dozen, or as many as thousands of members. A local scene usually has a small group of dedicated punks surrounded by a more casual periphery. A typical punk scene is made up of bands, fans, zine publishers, visual artists, clothing makers, and those who work at music venues or independent record labels.[1] Squatting plays a role in some punk communities, providing shelter and other forms of support. Squats and punk houses sometimes provide bands a place to stay while on tour. There are some punk communes, such as the Dial House. The Internet has been playing an increasingly larger role in punk, specifically in the form of virtual communities and file sharing programs.

Subcultures within punk

The punk subculture is made up of a diverse assortment of subgroups that distinguish themselves from one another through different attitudes, music, and clothing styles. Some of these groups are antagonistic towards one another, and there is widespread disagreement within punk whether or not some are even part of the larger subculture. An individual punk may identify with several of these factions or none in particular.

Subcultures influenced by punk

Several subcultures started out closely related to the punk subculture but broke away, becoming distinct and separate cultures. Some of these groups have retained friendly and cooperative relations with punks, but others have developed a feeling of mutual animosity.

Interactions with other subcultures

The late-1960s skinhead subculture had largely died out by 1972 but was revived in the late 1970s, partly because of the influence of punk rock. This led to the development of punk-skinheads and the working class-based Oi! movement. Conversely,soul, ska and reggae music, popular among traditionalist skinheads, has had an influence on punk music. Punks and skinheads have had both antagonistic and friendly relationships; depending on the social circumstances, time period and geographic location. Punk and hip hop emerged around the same time in New York City, and there has been some interaction between the two subcultures. Some of the first hip hop MCs called themselves punk rockers, and some punk fashions have found their way into hip hop dress. Malcolm McLaren played roles in introducing both punk and hip hop to the United Kingdom. More recently, hip hop has influenced some punk and hardcore bands, such as Blaggers I.T.A., Biohazard, The Transplants and Refused. The punk and the heavy metal subcultures have shared similarities since punk's inception, and the early 1970s metal scene was instrumental in the development of protopunk. Glam rockers The New York Dolls were massively influential on early punk fashion and also influenced the look of glam metal. Alice Cooper was a forerunner of the fashion and music of both the punk and metal subcultures. Motörhead, since their first album release in 1977, have had continued popularity in the punk scene, and singer Lemmy is a fan of punk rock. Punk subgenres such as metalcore, grindcore, punk metal and crossover thrash were greatly influenced by heavy metal. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal influenced the UK 82 style, and hardcore punk was a primary influence on thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Slayer; and by proxy, was an influence on death metal and black metal. The grunge subculture resulted in large part from the fusion of punk and metal styles in the late 1980s. However, there have long been tensions between the two groups. In particular, metal's mainstream incarnations have proven anathema to punk. Hardcore and grunge developed in part as reactions against the metal music popular during the 1980s. The industrial subculture also has several ties to punk, in terms of music, fashion and attitude. In punk's heyday, punks faced harassment and violent attacks from the general public and from members of other subcultures. It has been reported that in the UK, punks were involved in brawls with Teddy Boys, greasers and bikers. There was also considerable enmity between positive punks and the New Romantics. In the United States, punks sometimes faced abuse from rednecks and other right-wing groups such as white power skinheads. In Sweden, the raggare have sometimes attacked punks.

Interactions with popular culture

In the years following the birth of punk, elements of the subculture have become more socially acceptable (at least in Western-style democratic countries). It many cases, punk was looked at as merely a youthful fashion statement. Some maintain that the punk scene has lost the very heart of its former nature as one of explosive creativity, rebellion, anger, and individualism, and that it has become a mere caricature of what once was. Bryn Chamberlain writes, "By the mid 1980s, the punk became publicly acceptable. The punk became intelligent, artistic and fun. This became the constructed punk: a sterilized figure, a shadow of his mindless adolescent ancestor. Punk has influenced, and has been influenced by, popular culture in a number of ways. Since the beginning of the subculture, major label record labels, haute couture, and the mass media have attempted to use punk for profit. For the most part, punk has met this cultural appropriation with resistance, because of the punk ethic of musical integrity.

‘Top of the Pops’ is the UK’s longest running pop music show. Keith Richards of the ‘Rolling Stones’ who played on the first show in 1964 said in a recent interview that “The real fun of ‘Top of the Pops’ was not doing the show. It was backstage that was really funny”. It is hard to imagine today, but real dramas did take place backstage. For many years at the BBC every production of ‘Top of the Pops’ represented a conflict between the men of the Establishment and the young rock’n’ rollers. “We often used to get chased down the corridors by BBC staff telling us off for our bad behaviour”, says Suggs, who is the lead singer of the Eighties band ‘Madness’. In 1971 The Who were invited to perform on the 500^th edition of the show, and – typical of their live act at the time – they ended their performance by smashing up their guitars and drum kit. BBC bosses considered the instrument smashing too violent for family viewing, and the song was faded out before Keith Moon and Pete Townsend really got started. Moon was later banned from the BBC for ‘unpredictable behaviour’. These days there are strict guidelines for behaviour on the show, including what body parts and which activities can and cannot be referred to. And record companies and artists are usually happy to record a ‘clean’ version of their hit song. Although over 250 people complained about Robbie Williams who dropped his trousers on the show in 2000. As the division between the old and the young continues, we can look forward to another 40 years of ‘Top of the Pops’ style rebellion for all the family!