F

Flavorwire

punk

Pop Culture

9 Weird Subcultural Holidays You Didn’t Know Existed

By Victoria McNally on

Friday is May 25th, which the geeks of the world know as Geek Pride Day! They aren’t the only subculture to have their own yearly celebration, however — and no, we don’t mean the infamous Talk Like A Pirate Day (who does that?). There’s a lot of cool festivities to be had for those in the know, and a lot of them involve dressing up all fancy and walking around in public wearing petticoats and the like. Awesome, right? OK, maybe not, but we know you’re intrigued. Get your calendars ready and check out all the unofficial holidays we have to tell you about after the jump. … Read More

Pop Culture

Watch a ’90s ‘Punk’ Compilation Ad Featuring Incredibly Un-Punk Bands

By Judy Berman on

Did you know that Huey Lewis and the News were a punk band? Well, according to the ad below for a ’90s compilation called Punk, those clean-cut fellows who wrote “Hip to Be Square” were basically the Sex Pistols. Other “punk” bands on the CD include Crowded House, The Knack, Toni Basil, A Flock of Seagulls, and Culture Club. But it isn’t just the tracklist that elevates this commercial to potential camp classic status — it’s the pair of hosts in Party City wigs, one of which appears to have been plucked from a Slash costume, addressing the kids at home in a slacker sub-dialect of Valspeak. Among other things, we can be thankful to this commercial for revealing what punks are truly angry about: “wasting money on CDs with only one or two good songs.” Mystery solved! … Read More

Photography

Photos of Fashionable, Belligerent Punk Rockers in Late '70s California

By Marina Galperina on

Jim Jocoy’s photographs of the late ’70s punk scene in Los Angeles and San Francisco aren’t that different from the loads of morning-after shots flooding party photography sites every weekend in 2012, but then again, yes they are. Since the punk-rock scene exploded in New York and London and ricocheted to the West Coast, relatively toothless versions of this red sweater, black tights, swinging bottle of Jack look have popped up on the runway and in the streets every few years. What’s missing is that original, “anti-hippie, anti-disco, anti-parent and anti-’nice’” feeling, as documented in We’re Desperate: The Punk Rock Photography of Jim Jocoy, SF/LA 1978-1980. Here are a few choice shots of these kids, as ambushed by Jim Jocoy and spotted by American Suburb X. Get nostalgic for the days when studded cuffs really meant something as you count the polka dots and bloody noses. … Read More

Photography

Candid Photos of UK Punk Pioneers as Kids

By Marina Galperina on

Over the course of fourteen months spanning 1976 and 1977, punk changed everything, thrust forward with all the unbridled rage and authenticity of youth. Wait, these punks? Meet the group of angry young’uns dubbed the Bromley Contingent, ”the original punks” clustering around the Sex Pistols fandom and the fashions of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood – Siouxsie Sioux, Jordan, Poly Styrene in all of their severity. These candid shots captured by their social accomplice Simon Barker, spotted by Dangerous Minds, show Siouxsie sans her decades-long mystique, slathering on make-up. A fresh-faced Billy Idol looks about twelve, strolling through the Vortex club, his iconic scowl replaced with a tentative little smile. Today, pictures like these would be on Facebook. Back then, they were the markers of cultural history. And then it hits you. These are just kids.  … Read More

Pop Culture

What We're Missing Out On: A Conversation About Beats, Hippies, and Punks

By Paul Hiebert on

If you want to talk to an authority on American subcultures, you should talk to Dr. Bruce Conforth. The man has a PhD in Folklore, Ethnomusicology, and American Studies. He was the founding curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. He was born in 1950, grew up in New York City and has been playing in bands for years and years and years. He is currently teaching a class at the University of Michigan called, “Post WWII American Subcultural Groups: Beats, Hippies and Punks.” It’s quite popular with students. Sometimes too popular.

We originally contacted Dr. Conforth for our roundup of expert opinions on what will come after the hipster in American subcultural history but were so fascinated with what he had to say that we called him up to talk more about common misconceptions of past subcultures, the politics of new aesthetics, and what the youth of today are missing out on. … Read More

Music

Listen to Previously Unheard Recordings of Punk Pioneers Television

By Tom Hawking on

If you have even the remotest interest in 1970s NYC punk, you’ll have a copy of Television’s Marquee Moon somewhere in your record collection. But you mightn’t have heard a whole lot by the band’s founding line-up, which featured Richard Hell on bass alongside guitarists Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, along with drummer Billy Ficca.… Read More

Design

‘Teenage Wasteland’: Niklas Coskan’s Punk-Rock Gang Illustrations

By Judy Berman on

Could your day use an extra dose of punk rock? (Note: The answer to this question is always “yes.”) If so, you’ll want to check out Teenage Wasteland, Berlin-based designer/illustrator Niklas Coskan’s fun collection of teen-outlaw character drawings. Each image features a cigarette-smoking, occasionally weapon-wielding juvenile delinquent uttering classic punk lyrics, from the Runaways fan singing, “Hey boy, you’re my good time” to the Bowie T-shirt-clad gent surrounded by Iggy Pop’s immortal words, “No fun.” Check out Teenage Wasteland after the jump, and then visit Coskan’s website to see more of his work. … Read More

Art

Chris Bors’ Hardcore Punk Pseudo-Propaganda Posters

By Judy Berman on

It’s fitting that Chris Bors is both an artist and an art critic; his most recent set of paintings display both a broad knowledge of cultural history and the rare ability to synthesize those various influences into a compelling and coherent whole. Appropriating the kind of hardcore punk band logos you might have scribbled on your notebooks back in high school, Bors adds images that range from children’s cartoon characters to dystopic, sci-fi illustrations and finishes off his posters with the colored drips of mid-century abstraction. “The juxtaposition of these elements resembles the compositions of and mimics the tactics used in political messaging,” Bors writes. “The work also plays on the confrontation of violence and solidarity as expressed in a music genre that has roots based on a struggle for social justice.” See some of our favorite Bors pieces after the jump, and then visit his website to check out more of his work. … Read More

Music

Video of the Day: A Personal Documentary about British Punk

By Judy Berman on

It seems there have been countless documentaries about punk, from the earliest days in New York and England to contemporary scenes around the world. What distinguishes 1-2 FU, an hour-long 2004 BBC production we discovered thanks to Dangerous Minds, is its intentionally personal bent. Although the film definitely provides a history of punk, it views the movement through the eyes of a true punk fanatic — British radio and TV host Jonathan Ross. The doc, which includes interviews with everyone from Vivienne Westwood to OG punk zinesters, makes perfect lunch-hour viewing. You can watch it after the jump. … Read More

Design

Gallery: Punk and Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82

By Judy Berman on

The punk and post-punk movements of the late ’70s and early ’80s were times of great experimentation — and the revolution reverberated beyond music to the visual arts and design, too. Just as the hippie sounds of the ’60s spawned psychedelic gig posters, bands like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Blondie, and Joy Division ushered in a new era for graphic design. From a cold, gridded, red-and-black Joy Division poster to a Buzzcocks ad featuring a woman with an iron for a head and mouths for nipples, Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82 showcases the wild, witty, and sometimes even beautiful art of underground music. The exhibition is on view at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York through August 19th. Click through for a gallery of our favorite pieces, then visit the gallery’s website to see more. … Read More