Did Punk Sell Out Commodification of Popular Music - Essay Example

Did Punk Sell Out? Commodification of Popular Music Understanding punk visuals and noises amounts to a historic study of an ideology that was formed out of working class youth mentality on resistance and change and punk rock, may be considered a chief medium with which to channel the content and comprehension of this ideology. Unlike pop culture which concentrates on romantic themes, the songs and rendition of punk execute around the nature of sexuality, moral, and political concerns. When the barrier broke between pop and rock, being an oppositional character, in Britain and U.S. during the mid-to-late 1970s there came a point of fusion among art, pop, and rock, signifying the birth of punk rock. B. Longhurst pointed out that the decline of rock ideals and the activities of some rock stars in the 1960s proceeded for them to be perceived under a capitalist commercial venture which hardly gave followers anymore positive attraction toward rock. This then became a remarkable opportunity for punk to help resolve the crisis by its unique existence with the attempt to renew the belief of an active political force present in rock culture [Longhurst]. Despite how the punk subculture has had diversification out of authentic roots, no serious claim can afford denying that it has uniquely lain foundation about itself and beyond. As a major challenge to the embodiment of other groups as in the rock genre with varied influences that mostly ran counter to its pursuit the punk, for one according to D. Hebdige, sustains the white translation of black ethnicity, an equivalent which to the latter’s advantage had contoured identity and significance of reggae [Hebdige]. The privilege further extends to molding the distinct coexistence of the black’s rhythm and blues, soul, and ska. Such may be said to owe occurrences to the punk’s struggle as it underwent alienation to forms which may well justify values it has come to be associated with as sacrilegious, being altogether an explicit symbolism to ‘anarchy, surrender, and decline.’ The means, however, by which punk communicated style to uphold its essence among the wretched, feeblish white youth patrons through irony with glam rock, constituted in chains, filthy outfit, deviant hairdos, and patois, or an alleged consequence of the Black West Indian style which implicitly sparked enthusiasm for Rastafarianism to acquire the ‘dread’ that nearly standardized the look (in hair locks) of reggae. With this picture of punk history, punk evolution did not just fade into something which ceased from selling out any further, instead the patterns had become pronounced in some aspects of other subcultures, as they answered to the demands of punk intricacies, on setting elaborate trends to redress and account for the cause of its fate through self-imposed alienation from the mainstream. The avant-garde rebellion presented in the punk aesthetics’ form may not be ignored totally judging based on the society’s established criterion for glitter or pop culture. In the manner of punk which sought involvement after an outrageous approach toward dominance as characterized by rough behavior, ripped-off clothing, metallic accessories, and junkie DIY gestures, which effected literary appeal to a certain degree, may be found reflections of Carnivalesque. More than mere display of an entertaining treat, M. Bakhtin’s proposition of this idea on carnival which took origins from the medieval Feast of Fools was argued to be a powerful creative event. Upon substantial examination, one may imagine the intellect of portraying a popular culture in Carnivalesque where ‘opposites are mingled’ and metaphorically convey the essential components behind life’s truths on social values and classes [Carnivalesque]. Within the carnival structure, there emerges a cause that often catches attention at depth, one that encompasses the bulk of human desires and anxieties made to be felt in the satires or humor of every show which is apparently in consistent harmony with all the others under the common system. Hence, the carnival as examined by Bakhtin, can be seen as a collective response to challenge power such as capitalism, bureaucracy or gender issues [Giroux]. Similarly, punk moods and attitude mean to impress upon itself a drawing of interest and perception that leads frequently to reactions at what punks suppose as illogical confinement of a widely embraced legit norm, defying with rules all their own to override another so as to allow peculiar rights to freedom of self-expression, as breaking of a critical humdrum apart with something enormously wild and hardcore. The punk youth’s action which may often appear brusque and nasty, as to assume an atmosphere of superiority, underlies a deep political struggle that alludes the necessity for this youth to be reached out with proper education and sincere concern for several aspects of living, in a community that has standards which the punk, in general, find much difficulty coping with. To Bakhtin the carnival theory, just like punk, contains such elements that are by nature more literary, with artful embellishments to enhance its objective of resisting authority, concealed in a common statement, uniquely crafted by each carnival character. Carnival plays serve to illustrate punk’s way of shaping response from its followers. Likewise, it is headed to encourage a philosophy which advocates a sense of fashion, music or unconventional style that rather summons either cultural or political revolution. In his book England’s Dreaming, John Savage highlighted – ‘punk thrust itself into politics and politics came back to claim it, whether resolving into the far right, the left (Rock against Racism), anarchy (Crass), or a wider form of autonomy which stressed cultural and social independence.’[Savage] Because the aforementioned ‘mingling of opposites’ becomes possible in carnivalization, the idea of promoting equality between the rich and the poor manifests in punk subculture’s terms as punk rock utilized glam rock’s language but with its own version of glitter in chains, piercings, and overall sharp raggedness in style, not to mention which between the two glam factions (as classified by Hebdige) was normally preferred. Owing to the classic thoughts and performances by the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash for instance, punk was popularized by the band’s consideration of improvising with vocal pitch, genius instrumentation, and strength of lyrical content which varied to coincide with appropriate beat or tempo. There were differences between the bands in the ways in which they developed their material, but they had similar notions of creativity and originality. In part, according to Hebdige, this stemmed from a post-punk ethos of creativity, to be developed outside what the bands themselves saw as the established sounds of a mass culture [Longhurst]. Embedded with punk were principles which bore long-term effect at the initial height of commodification. There nevertheless were bands that wanted nothing more than getting into the scene with the sole aim to boast off just how much arrogance there is in style, getting the sound to depart form the real substance, unaware of the outcome that such deed would indicate neglect of the main purpose. Even if most would find identification with punk principles hard to outgrow, there had been followers who sought after fresh atmosphere of music and so managed to find melodic relief from punk dissonance on shifting to the mode of reggae. Market had gradually slipped off the punk upon discovery of Ethiopian themes which consist in reggae and where audiences gain more maturity at being able to assess a subculture type that represents style with emphatic sensible cause and profound meaning within its own patois working, enhanced by the black artist’s choice of instruments. During the early 1980s though, Britain bore witness to the integration of punk and reggae in the 2 Tone movement which updated 1960s Jamaican ska with a punk framework and the development of new pop as represented initially by the groups labeled as the ‘New Romantics’ [Longhurst]. Keith Negus had further brought exposition of punk rock mythologies to address the issue of punk’s commodification on promoting various products of industrialization, thereby debilitating the cause to preserve the punk culture’s original significance. Negus then likely criticized commercialization of popular art attached with the punk as one problem source, much similar to the fate of rock in the 60s. At this point, he found a chance to challenge the connection between youth culture and popular music, arguing that popular music is listened to and performed by an ageing demographic and that popular music used to be inherently rebellious . According to Theodor Adorno, a German-born international musicologist, the pop music that was being distributed by the music industries as ‘mass culture’ required simplest imaginable task from the listener, claiming that this caused ‘de-concentrated’ listening in which the audience unconsciously reject anything unfamiliar. Such type of listening is regressive, making only rare attempt to grasp the sensible meaning of the piece, but concentrating mostly on the obvious melodic fragments. The inherent ignorance of the listener, Negus claimed, is not the main issue but the way by which recording and publishing industries make music appear and heard in the public based on the current set standards and effective marketing regardless of the values the commodity is known for. Since the meaning of punk largely comes from the activity of its audience making the subculture as proposed by Hebdige, the sounds and images of punk have been transformed to adjust to this appeal by the listeners in response to the re-appropriation by many musicians. This is why most recording industries would strategize to sell pop music, whether having punk content or not, with the public youth as the potential target, knowing that the youth of modern days barely conform to the original definition of a subculture and would often buy into ideas or materials using their instincts corresponding as well to the influence of a broader dominant culture, instead of a mere dictate of the music’s essence. Green Day and The Offspring, as an exception though, are among the contemporary pop (or commodified) punk bands that reflect much passion and authenticity designed to have their themes easily register in memory without having to deal with much listening effort. While such ground holds evidence in history, another reason for abandonment of punk principles is the inconsistent level of commitment with which the idealists serve the followers. There were those who had been found to fall into extremes as drug addiction, obscenities or other related acts which defile the modest traits of punk principles, rendering them incapable of negotiating respect for the real flesh of the subculture. Besides this and the behavior of economy towards music industry, problem may also arise with lack of variation and reluctance to explore avenues for punk revolution to appropriately respond to the youth’s specific needs at present time. Thus, punk resonates the negative side of commodification within itself and bands like Bad Religion and NOFX make concrete examples. The latest album which Bad Religion came up with for instance, sends off the same message dealt with for twenty five years of their existence and such case extends to that of NOFX whose trademark had spoken well of its identity yet may at anytime be thrown to the excesses of a repetitive trend that gradually loses significance [Kehres]. On the other hand, it was put on record that many post-punk rock bands (particularly in Britain) showcases some modification in their adherence to commodity status with the old tradition by being detached or cynical about themes that were inclined to free market beliefs that had been religiously promoted by respected political figures. John Lydon for one, after the last performance of Sex Pistols, confessed not having understood his genre and pursued a corporate career, doing real estate trade in the U.S. Members of the Human League band, in the similar manner, founded the British Electric Foundation and got deeply engaged in corporate affairs, which is imaginably at the farthest end of anything punk [Negus]. To the most general viewpoint, one may stand with the argument that punk had apparently lost its power or given over to wasteful transformation somewhere. Through the course of history, it was seen to have evolved out of a declining genre, blended with elements of another subculture, disappeared, and regenerated in the process of consumerism. To this point, nobody can ever conclude whether its fate is heading towards demise or something else since punk aesthetics has not failed to reappear both in the world of music and of fashion. So then it is sufficiently reasonable to answer the main question that punk did sell out in several ways. Additionally, for the artists who became famous and are continuously acclaimed for pioneering its idea, punk was bought into for them to realize new goals in the real world and so break different grounds at confronting and understanding more of reality this time, where they have access to better knowledge that would enable them to distinguish between the limits of punk idealism and other favorable considerations apart from its perspective. Works Cited Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge, 1979. Longhurst, Brian. Popular Music and Society. Polity, 1995. Negus, Keith. Popular Music in Theory. London: Arnold, 1992. Savage, John. England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond. St. Martin’s Griffin, 1992. “Carnivalesque.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivalesque. 21 May 2010. Web. 19 Aug. 2010. Giroux, Alexandra. “Bakhtin’s Carnival Applied to Contemporary Culture.” http://www.alexandragiroux.net/hello-world/. 2010. Web. 19 Aug. 2010. Kehres, Mark. “The Problem with Punk.” http://www.angelfire.com. 2010. Web. 19 Aug. 2010. Read More