[PREV - GOTHIC] [TOP]
June 18, 1992
These were the superficial trappings of punk:
Fast, noisy, music, ripped t-shirts, safety pins, Richard Hell
sometimes worn as crude self-destructive piercings. says that the
A nasty, rude, obnoxious attitude. idea was it was
supposed to be
NEOPUNK cheap, a game
anyone could play.
A freind of mine described As opposed to
one her boyfriends as the expensive
being a "real Punk". He outfits sported
refused to say "hello" to at 70s Discos.
anyone, "Because he
thought it was bullshit." By this
logic,
you could
argue
But what's the essence of the punk esthetic? that
leather
A big part of There's an The punk jackets
punk is being early Melody factions of the are not
willing to Maker Patti Havering seem punk.
look closely Smith to think that
at the things interview a crucial FASHION
that other where she element is
people think argues that political and Not that
are ugly and technical social this is any
turn away virtuosity is commentary, as news to todays
from as irrelevant in compared to the flannel suited
quickly as the face of endless, vapid grunge punks.
possible. true passion. pop songs about
"relationships". But back in
the early 80s
people
associated
black leather
and black
stuff in
general with
punks.
There wasn't
any separate
"gothic"
subculture yet,
nor was there
much like an
S&M chic.
A complaint I heard:
"Punk just seems
like an excuse for WORD
ugly people to look
ugly." PLEASE_KILL_ME
I would say: It's about people
who have been condemned as
being ugly, refusing to crawl
into a corner and hide.
MONSTERS
One punk I Once, in
knew used (We all called the streets
to hang him "Existential of Manhattan,
around the Death and I saw a guy
student Decay", I dunno in standard
union what he called black punk garb
listening himself. Ask walking with
to the the Birdman an extremely
static sometime if you obese woman
between see him.) dressed in
stations a tight,
on his white leotard.
box: "It's You could see
the best every little
thing on." quiver of her
fat as she
moved.
So by a
certain Certainly not
logic, pretty... but
maybe fascinating:
annoying how could you
TV commecial not look?
jingles A punk => kitsch
have a connection?
certain
punk
quality.
(Feb 2009)
"I think the history of art is
simply the history of getting
rid of the ugly by entering
into it and using it."
-- John Cage, 1977,
interviewed by
Richard Kostelanetz,
"Conversations With Cage"
(1987)
--------
[NEXT - BEAUTIFUL_GOODS]