What is Punk Rock?

By Dave Hyde

Is it the music or the individual that defines Punk Rock? The easy answer is both. Is that true though?

Let’s start with the individual. The makeup of a punk rock person seems obvious at the surface. Someone who believes in being themselves regardless of what others think. A healthy amount of extremism to set yourself visually apart from the rest with the way you dress or the way you style your hair. Someone willing to speak up or even lash out against anything that disagrees with their personal beliefs. I could go on and on with these fairly typical surface traits of the average punk rock individual. We know it’s more than that. We know it can also be less than that. So it isn’t really about blue liberty spiked hair, a Ramones t-shirt, a rebellious attitude, or screaming in the face of an authority figure just because you can. It’s deeper than that.

So what is it that makes a person a punk? I think it is all about self-awareness at its roots. Knowing yourself, and who you areeven if the outside world hasn’t a fucking clue of who you are. You can know who you are and be very outwardly truthful to the point that everyone knows exactly who you are. You can also be very secluded, living inside yourself, unwilling or maybe even unable to really let it all out. Anywhere in between, which is where most people reside. No matter where you are on that spectrum, the one thing that seems consistent in a punk is the person they know they are is pure. When you have that internal awareness, it fuels something. Sometimes it’s because you are completely uncomfortable or confused by it. Sometimes it’s because you just know exactly what you need to know. Either way, it creates a feeling unlike anything. It creates energy in every fiber of your being. All that, in my opinion, is what makes a person what tends to outwardly be perceived as a punk. Not that surface look, though that can very well be a big part of it. It is in the way a person carries themselves and the vibe they give off like radiation. Punk rock individuals are nowhere close to limited to the surface punk I described earlier. Not anymore. Maybe in the few moments of the Pistols and Ramones, and maybe again in the days of Black Flag and the Germs and maybe again in the Green Day/NoFX era. These moments are big, but these moments only heighten the look like the first few moments after you strike a match. Then the truth settles back in.

Now some may read that and think I am criticizing the punk rock look. I am not. I’ve been all in on the most stereotypical punk rock looks over the years and love it all. I just think the surface is more a way to show it, show it off, a badge of honor, putting it out there to find more of our own, etc..

With all of that said, let’s look at a couple of musicians who aren’t typically considered punk rock that absolutely meet the requirements in my book. Jim Morrison of The Doors. Not a punk band or look, but man what that guy put into the world was pure punk rock energy. How about legendary Jazz musician/saxophone master John Zorn? Zorn is punk for sure. I could name loads of folks but at this point I am beating this drum to death and honestly most likely lost readers about 2 paragraphs ago. So be it.

Moving on to Punk Rock Music. What is it? Is it the fast BPM’s? The 3 chords and an attitude? Being aggressive, offensive, or crude? Is it low quality or big production? Talent or just banging out what you can on instruments?

Punk music has an impossible amount of subgenera’s that you almost can’t define Punk Rock by the music. It can be anything musically can it not? Purists would eat my soul raw if they had the chance right now, but come on. Pussy Riot is easily as punk rock as Screeching Weasel. Not by sound, but by individuals, their motives, their content, their actions.

If you define a specific sound with punk music, does it have to be loud guitars and screaming vocals at a breakneck pace? I bet your answer is no. That is such a limiting definition of the music. Is it performance? Being fairly loose and care free with the level of talent, ability to perform or record, etc.? There is purity in imperfection of performance that I think is best within punk music, sure, but does it define it? Not a chicken dicks chance in Hell. There have been plenty of amazing punk bands who were more talented than well-schooled musicians just as there have been shit loads of sloppy bands that are as far from punk music as possible.

What makes it punk rock music then? I think musically a lot of it is the willingness to push boundaries instrumentally, in production, with song writing and of course lyrical content. Lyrical content is the low hanging fruit when it comes to punk rock music. Anti-this, fuck you that. Not always that way but usually. Even if said in a more thoughtful or deep way, it’s still the same at its core. I am personally guilty of, and have a tremendous love for the shallow fuck yous.

All this being said, and the more I have left unsaid, I think this exercise has clearly brought me to the conclusion that it is 98% the individual and 2% the music.