Punk’s not dead… But it’s not where you think it is.

You see, what, what sounds to you like a big load of trashy old noise... is in fact... the brilliant music of a genius... myself. And that music is so powerful, that it's quite beyond my control. And, ah... when I'm in the grips of it, I don't feel pleasure and I don't feel pain, either physically or emotionally. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Have you ever, have you ever felt like that? When you just, when you just, you couldn't feel anything, and you didn't want to either.

Iggy Pop to Peter Gzowski on CBS,  1977.

I was having a discussion with a friend about what punk rock is, where it’s been hiding, and about whether anyone today can really claim to be “punk”, whatever that really is, anyway.
There’s clearly something seductive about the image of punk. It’s counter culture, it’s looking visibly different (and wearing lots of black, always a good thing), and it’s a green light to having an attitude that just says eff you, and yours.

So why is it that when I see kids all dressed in their punk gear, my heart kinda sinks? Well, for starters, being beholden to a fashion and style of music that’s thirty years old is decidedly not what punk was about. Sure, there was a lot attitude there, but it was more than that. At its core, it was a rejection of the premise that the old ways of doing things are the best way of doing things. That it was possible, in fact, as Iggy Pop says, vital, that you went out and did something on your own terms, that was urgent, that was fresh, that was, above all, yours. Spiking up your Mohawk and banging out the same four chords just isn’t that, any more. Can you imagine if the Clash had decided that, yeah, after all, they should cover some Stones songs?

But even what the Clash did or didn’t do, shouldn’t come into it.

After all, they were relevant musically, and artistically, about a generation ago – what should it matter now? Ok. That’s a slightly spurious argument. There’s no reason why what they said in 1977 should still be relevant today. But I think what is important is that spirit of adventure, of self sustaining vitality, of shocking, not just for the sake of it, but because you’re ahead of the curve, pushing the boundaries, leading the pack.

I think the most punk thing I’ve seen in the mainstream in the last couple of years was the film Brokeback Mountain. An Oscar nominated film that still manages to garner complaints and boycotts from conservative groups? That’s about as punk as you can get. Whilst we’re on the subject, too; there’s nothing punk about releasing tracks on cassettes because you think it’s cool – punk’s about going out there, and changing minds, about influencing people and amazing them with your brilliance. Or, at the very least, your enthusiasm.

Go out there, then, be inspired, and sock it to them. Oh, and tell us here what the most punk thing is you’ve seen recently…