Every artistic movements found its source and emerged from the most difficult historical period eras/events or crisis. Creativity unearths its most marvelous discoveries and masterpieces through pain, anger, sadness & suffering.
The Punk rock world is sadly not an exception.
I am not just obsessed with their signature boots, the infamous Dr. Martens or fangirling over their unique and provocative way of dressing, that goes indeed waaaay beyond that.
The Punk rock movement is also a political and subversive movement born in Peru in the mid-60s, thanks to the garage rock group named Los Saicos . Their famous track 'Demolición', became a Peruvian anthem for the anti-governement protesters.
That brand new artistic movement filled with a sense of justice and feelings of anger and exhaustion, naturally paralelled a few years later when the oil crisis striked within the Western countries, and more specifically with the United Kingdom, that was economically and socially hit the most. Indeed, the punk movement took over massively the country. The Sex Pistols , legendary punk group from London funded in 1975 right during the economical crisis, became particularly famous with their political stance against the Monarchy and the Establishment in place at the time.
Many of these british rock bands fought the power through their arts that unequivocally energized the citizens who felt unprotected and abused by the Thatcher restrictive measures. The british rock bands gave the citizens, the courage to strike back against Thatcher targeted politics. Margareth Thatcher Prime Minister at the time, launched an offensive politic against miners and workers in order to face the economical blow that the UK had to deal with. Her strategy was focused on closing whole industries that were perishing, decrease company taxes, and decrease public services expenses such as social services, education and health system. Consequently, thousands of workers were laid off and had to live without a job and subsequently without any social security, that would have helped them bouncing back into the job market. Her politics highly drenched into her conservative values, created unprecedented social chaos leading to historical strikes and riots accross the whole country. It became so anarchic, that the Queen Elizabeth II herself who is constitutionally unallowed to take any political stance and has to remain neutral, had to distance herself from the PM for the first time ever, by nudging her to resign in 1990.
Punk members, rock musical bands, writers, painters, laid-off workers, tmarginalized groups and the forgotten part of the society, demographics viewed as the pariah and opponents by the highest social strat, finally found their voices to express their anger and disarray against the unfair treatment received by the "Iron Lady" and her government.
The Punk movement is easily recognizible,
•by their music: energetic up-beat tempo, screaming chorus filled with powerful and provocative messages, unique melodies led by lively electric guitar riffs.
•by their art: provocative paintings, street wall tags mocking political figures
•and also by their distinguishable attires: By dressing ostentatively, with pinky spicky hair challengig gravity or veryyyy long hair, with metallic chains all over their torn-up pants, wearing huge metallic boots platforms, piercings all over the face and ears, skull tattoes, eye makeup, nail polish, horizontally red and black stripped t-shirts. The Punks' maximalist fashion senses, manage to show how different, subversive and anti-conformist they are, in comparison with the rest of the society.
The Conservative "Tory" governement, the Establishment, and the British Monarchy, in opposite, have always been represented as a monolith system frozen in time that refuses to embrace any shape of modernity and that does not intent to socially advance in sync with its society. Contrarily of the Punks, the Tories are configured to conform and stay in line without making any fuss. They respect strong & rigid rules in grey boring suits. The values that they defend are in fact exactly what the punk members are fighting against.
By going out protesting, by screaming through strongly meaningful anti-Tory songs, by dressing with bold clothes pieces, they made sure to demonstrate their miscontentment throughout the country and beyond borders. Fueled with pain and anger, punk rock music bands have echoed silenced and oppressed voices and made sure that THIS time, 10th Downing Street and Buckingham Palace WILL hear them.
The merciless thatcherist & reaganist politics have resulted to the creation of the BEST rock bands in history.
Art is that powerful expression outlet that can move millions and millions of people, for decades and decades, and all over the world. A spatiotemporal expression outlet that can change the future of a country by sparking that fire inside of any of us and diametrically shift the history course of oppressively, unfairly ruled nations.
The Punks are not only a true source of inspiration fashionably speaking, they are my Heroes. ❤️❤️❤️