6th
I wrote about the rise of PUNK STUDIES in the Globe
The story’s about why punk resists scholarly analysis more than other subjects. The basic answer is: the term has been associated with a dizzying range of values/ideas/styles over the years and no one can agree on what it even is.
One thing I didn’t get to say in the piece is that this isn’t just frustrating to academics, it’s frustrating to angry 13-year-olds too. I’m convinced that every rebellious kid who became a teenager after 1980 has been bewildered to realize that not even experienced punks seem to know definitively how a punk is supposed to live/act/dress/think.
When I was 13, I wrote a hit song about this for my three-piece band, Section 69, called “Punk Mentality.” The first verse went: “What the hell does ‘DIY’ mean? / and how about a ‘zine’? / This fucking punk mentality! / All these words I’ve seen…”
It’s the only honest punk song anyone ever wrote.
Since everyone loves this game, here are some academic papers I didn’t get to mention in the story:
“No Future No Longer: Pop-Punk and the Second-Wave Legacy “
“The Raw and the Rotten: Punk Cuisine”
“Haunted by the Spirit of ’77: Punk Studies and the Persistence of Politics”
“Is it Punk to Protest? Punk Rock’s Rhetorical Features”
“Never Mind the Scholar, Here’s the Old Punk: Identity, Community, and the Aging Music Fan”
“Living the Punk Life in Green Bay, Wisconsin: Exploring Contradiction in the Music of NOFX”
“More Than Music: Notes on ‘Staying Punk’ in the Church and in Theology”
