Punk

Punk rock is by far one of my favorite genres of music. I love the way it sounds, I love the sense of youthful rebellion that is so strongly associated with it, and I love the history of it. From what I know, the genre of punk rock traces its roots back to the mid seventies throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It stemmed from garage rock and other types of music that are now known as "proto punk". Throughout its history, punk developed into so much more than simply a genre of music. It developed its own unique culture made up of varying ideologies, fashion, art, and of course the musical aspect of it. These days it seems like there are new offshoots of punk springing up every day. It's constantly growing and evolving, and finding new niches of people who relate to the new subdivisions. Punk has a long history that's definitely worth unpacking and looking at. Lets go over some of my favorite bands. When it comes to early punk, I very much enjoy the music of the Ramones, the Clash, the Addicts, as well as, of course, Billy Idol. Many people say that a lot of the early punk bands have a similar sound, but to me, each one brings something unique to the table. I know that I listed some pretty generic and well known early punk bands, but I feel that the most well known ones are the only ones that whoever may be reading this would recognize. Going along with the same theme of naming more well known bands, some of my favorite eighties punk bands would have to include; the Dead Kennedy's, the Misfits, and of course, Bad Religion. I feel like the 80's were a formative time for punk rock. It was when the genre and the culture further developed and it began to emerge from the counter culture scene into music that was more popular on the mainstream stage. Now to go into the 90's. I've always felt a particularly sentimental attachment to 90's punk because it was the first generation of the genre that I experienced first hand in my lifetime. Bands such as Green Day, the Offspring, NOFX, Blink 182, and Sublime (I know many consider them more of a ska/surf rock band, but they do have many punk songs so that's why I'm listing them) I'm particularly fond of because they are intrinsically tied to my childhood and the youthful sense of rebellion that I, like many other kids and teenagers, related to. I was still interested in punk rock in the 00's, but there was a noticeable shift towards the "pop punk" subdivision that I've got mixed feelings about. I feel that in some ways the advent of pop punk fundamentally changed the genre, and whether it was for the better or worse, is still debatable to this day. Still, it can't be denied that pop punk was and still is strongly associated with the early and mid 00's. Punk is just such a fun genre to listen to. It embodies youthful rebellion, freedom, and going against the current which is why I believe that it will always have it's niche with people who find themselves drawn towards those concepts. I still listen to punk and probably always will. What will become of the genre now? How will it change? What will it retain of it's original elements? It's impossible to say, but never the less, I'll definitely have my finger on the pulse of this iconic genre.