F E AT U R E S
64
D&M MAGAZINE 2014
UP THE
PUNX WO R DS M a e ve Wa l k e r P H OTOS B o n n i e S a p o re t t i
You’re crammed in a basement that smells like sweat, cigarettes
P H I L LY P U N K F O R E V E R
and beer. Everyone is pushing you and music is pounding loudly in your ear. It’s so hot that you’re sweating, even though it’s December. Yet, you’re exactly where you want to be: a punk basement show in West Philadelphia. The year could be anywhere from 1970 until today, but the feeling is still the same. Places may come and go, names and bands rotate constantly, but what has not changed is the ethos and message that punk has to offer to Philadelphians. Punk emerged at a time when peace, love and ballads by boys with long hair just weren’t cutting it anymore. Vietnam was taking teens into a war they didn’t believe in. The Watergate scandal rocked our country. Overall, the government was doing things that teens and college students didn’t want to put up with anymore. Young people wanted to rebel against how things were being run, and they took a stance. “Punk is a rejection of mass culture and what is going on in the world,” says Anne Cecil, Program Director of Design & Merchandising at Drexel University. Cecil has first-hand knowledge of the Philadelphia punk scene from its earliest days, and she is now the area chair of the Popular Culture Association’s Punk Chapter. Punk is an ideology and lifestyle not defined by music or fashion. Cecil says that punks are “like-minded people who have a very specific world view and try hard to live their life creating the world they want to live in.” In Philadelphia, the first wave of punk appeared around 1976, and the second-wave came around 1980, bringing with it New Wave. Once 1984 hit, hardcore and straight edge lifestyles became very popular. Hardcore music is a heavier version of punk, involving angrier, younger kids who were fed up with current punk music. This spawned the straight edge scene, which came from a Minor Threat song about moving away from the excess of the punk rock scene. Being straight edge involves refraining from using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. In the extreme, it can also involve a vegan or vegetarian diet, a strict abstinence from promiscuous sex and a refusal to use caffeine. Each city has its own unique and highly localized punk experience. Philadelphia has been described as a very race-inclusive punk scene, even incorporating many international members.
C R O W D S U R F I N G AT A H O U S E S H O W