Punk Rock 101

Punk began in the 70s with the Sex Pistols and the Ramones and continued into the 80s through the Clash. Then as the 90s came around, Green Day and Rancid entered the punk scene.
But more recently punk has gotten washed away by fame seeking and trend following bands that have a false sense of what punk truly is.
Deryck Whibley, lead singer of Sum 41, copies every movement of Billie Joe Armstrong, the leading singer/songwriter for Green Day. Just check out Green Day’s Minority video and one of Sum 41’s. Then there’s Avril Lavigne who portrays a punk image while singing about how she wants to be this other guy’s girlfriend when in reality, she’s married (to the lead singer of Sum 41 nonetheless.)
Punk is not about fitting into what the media wants to see through a camera lens or following a trend. It’s not about acting a certain way or dressing in a particular fashion. Any true punk would know that.
For example-Green Day. They started as suburban punx wanting to get out. After the indie record label could no longer keep up with the high demand, Green Day signed a major record deal knowing that they would get 86ed from their local scene. But playing music was all they knew and all they wanted to do. Now, after 18 years as a band, Green Day is playing stadium shows with Billie Joe still rocking out on his first guitar.
That is a punk attitude right there: no caring what anyone else thinks and doing what you want to do.
So what if the style and sound of some of their songs has changed? Any band would change too if they played the same material every day for over a year.
It’s not just the music though that is misunderstood. What punks wear is also taken the wrong way. The studded belts and bracelets that are so-called “emo” or “goth” were actually started in London, were picked up in the metal scene, and then worn by the early punx. Hot Topic is also a prime example.
The early punk style was also safety pins, paper clips, and studs on jackets to whatever else they felt like. There wasn’t a “punk trend” that people were trying to follow. It was about being an individual and not conforming. Many of these punx couldn’t afford what Hot Topic sells now.
Mad Magazine recently mocked what Hot Topic has become. Almost everything they showed was what punk was and an over exaggeration of what it has become. They showed a box of safety pins selling for $8. That’s not what punk is. It’s also not about having and entirely black wardrobe in which most of the clothes don’t fit.
Society’s view of punk has become completely distorted. Punk is not about wearing the current fashions or following the latest trend. It’s and attitude, a way of life. It’s about being an individual in a world of conformity. It’s about being different and saying what needs to be said, no matter what everyone else thinks.
Its staying punk through all the accusations, judgments, and ridicule that undoubtedly occur.

*86 is a Green Day song in which they tackle the issue of the rejection from Gilman Street, their original fan base
*Punx is slang for punks among the punks.