Tuesday, March 17, 2009

UP THE PUNX! by Christopher

PUNK!

Punk culture first started appearing in the late 60's, early 70's mainly in Europe to begin with. By the 1980's it had become a common subculture Europe, North America, Australia and Japan. The punk culture had distinctive influences and direction in art, philosophy, literature and music. In the beginning most punks had a very do-it-yourself attitude with most aspects of lifestyle.

The punk art took many different forms which can be directly or indirectly related to the art movements of dada, futurism, minimalism and pop art. These were very influential when it came to design of punk band logos, punk tattoo art (which highly consisted of either homemade binges and band logos), punk clothing design (which was often also homemade) and punk artists.

Literature in the punk movement often had involvement with their philosophical and moral views on society and its depiction of middle class and the role that humans play. Many writers had various effects on the punk movement and how it was then and how it is now.

Music was one of the most important influences and the path that it lead punks to move towards. A mixture of lyrical content, and short, fast and loud music defined punk. But it wasn't always those things that defined it, many bands had dissimilar approaches and are still important features in the punk sub culture. The music usually intertwined with the philosophy of the punk culture.

Punk philosophy (almost an oxymoron) was what the culture was based on. The most definable aspect in punk philosophy was anarchism. Anarchism influenced punk art, music and literature. Other philosophic values of punks included a nihilistic outlook which led to much of the satire that is experienced in punk culture now, also marxism played a role in empowerment of wanting to make a political change from the over ruling unjust leaders.

The do it yourself attitude's origin in the punk scene was due to the the economic recession the youth were experiencing whilst the punk culture began (another reason to why it started too). So whilst the youth were too poor to afford special clothes, music lessons and such has had an influence one why it is how it is.

All of these aspects led to the influence of punk tattoos. Certain things such as band logos and band lyrics, anti-establishment and anarchism tattoos were often and common tattoos amongst the punk sub-culture. 

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