Punk's not dead yet! it's dead .......................................................................................................................................... NOW!

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So if you was a punk, and you did the hair/jacket/attitude, and you aren't now..

When / why did you disrobe? was it gradual? did external forces make you do it? or did you one day say enough? did you pass through other subgenres? Are you wearing neutral clothes far from any danger zone, thesedays?

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 10:09 (twenty-two years ago)

It is way cheaper not to be a punk! Leather jackets are expensive dude.

Lil' Won Jilliams (ex machina), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 10:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess I did most of it at one time or another but generally I like to think that I tried to distance myself from each the worst punk archetypes / stereotypes (safety pins, zips, bondage straps, bleached / dyed hair, tartan, brothel creepers, bum-flaps, big spikes / mohicans....) as soon as I became conscious of them becoming too commonplace / cliched.

I generally kept my hair short (after that alarming day in 1977 when it suddently went from being 8" long at the back with a nice center parting to being 1/2" all over), and usually wore DM boots, leather jackets (usually with either "Damned" or "Killing Joke" on the back and different badges all over the lapels), narrow-legged jeans (frequently with holes in the knees) and band t-shirts 'though - as much because it was practical as anything.

I must admit that between '80 and '83 I did wear altogether far too much black (in fact for 2 or 3 years I don't think I owned an article of clothing that wasn't black) which is obviously something of a stereotype; although I still don't think anyone would have been able put me neatly label me and slot me into either the "punk", "anarcho-punk", or "goth" pigeon holes.

There was an extremely conscious decision to STOP wearing ANY black at all early in '84, as a very deliberate signal that I had moved on from certain.... people, activities and relationships.

These days I keep my hair short, usually wear DM boots or shoes (I do prefer the boots but it's so difficult to drive in them, isn't it?), leather jackets (nothing written on the back 'though, and just the one rather smart-looking Damned badge on the lapel of one of them), narrow legged jeans (generally without the holes in the knees 'though) and t-shirts (sometimes with band names on but usually not) and I regularly wear all black.

Oh and the attitude?

Those who know me best will tell you that's still very definitely punk.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Fashion is for people without brains.

John 2, Thursday, 1 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I stopped wearing secondhand flannel shirts and jeans with ripped-out knees sometime around 1996. This was mostly due to my expanding musical interests -- more hip-hop, more old-school funk, more techno/breakbeat.

Er... grunge is kind of like punk, right?

Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 1 April 2004 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

i guess i just stopped dressing to impress cause the only people that would be impressed would be other lame guys, around 86 or 87.
I continued to have long hair till about 1999 but then shaved it all off. I generally still wear a lot of black and dark colors but they are mostly jeans and polo's I wear for work.


hector (hector), Thursday, 1 April 2004 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Where is Alex in NYC for this thread?

hector (hector), Thursday, 1 April 2004 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not your performing monkey.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 1 April 2004 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

aww c'mon

You are punk rock

hector (hector), Thursday, 1 April 2004 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Punk's not just dead, it's been cremated and the ashes sprinkled in my grandma's lasagna.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 1 April 2004 05:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I am feeling incredibly "stoopid" tonight.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 1 April 2004 05:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I missed punk, but I went from being 100% grunge to not full stop one day in 12th grade. I got my greasy, straggly hair cut and needed new clothes that didn't have disgusting greasy stains on the shoulders and back from my greasy, straggly hair. I think mostly I'd forgotten where to get grunge clothes, or perhaps they weren't being sold anymore, so I went all euroslut instead.

minolta (minolta), Thursday, 1 April 2004 06:48 (twenty-two years ago)

punk-as-fashion is/was really lame.

Orbit (Orbit), Thursday, 1 April 2004 07:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Yawn.

I love how identipunk, one little splinter, is always confused with the whole tree and all of its branches.

Whatever.

jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 1 April 2004 07:24 (twenty-two years ago)

People often fail to see the whole tree and all of it's branches because they don't realise that they're actually sitting on one of those branches....

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Lest there be any miunderstanding, the above comment should not be construed as being (solely) a reference to monkeys, either performing or otherwise.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

ha - the only shoes I've owned since I was 14 (1976) are DMs, but not the same pair. You can't beat them. At the height of punk we wore home-made, customized t-shirts, suitably ripped and torn, along with narrow jeans/denim jacket. There was never a uniform and anyone who *thought* too much about what they looked like was usually a bit dodgy. I have always had v.short hair since then, I used to dye it purple, green etc sometimes, but not for years and years. (although I'm toying with dying it for my gig on Sat.)By the time I got to Univ (1980) i'd become more 'Factory' than punXOR - long overcoat etc but never all-black! That was for Sisters of Mercy fans! these days I reckon i'm more pub-rock than punk-rock. eagle-eyed ILXers may have seen my authentic 1980 A Certain Ratio shorts at summer FAPs as a throwback to the old days. I'm sure those shorts should have a FAC number all of their own.

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 April 2004 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

During the last 27 years I think I've actually purchased three pairs of shoes that weren't DM's - and I've eventually ended up throwing every single one of them away having hardly been worn.

The Doc is absolutely OTM - punk was never supposed to be about looking and acting the same as everyone else; it was supposed to be about being yourself.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I reckon DMs are so broad they make yr feet go flat and wide. my wife inisted that I bought a pair of 'other shoes' to get married in. I discarded them in agony at the reception. Hey - come to the gig on Sat. Stew!

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 April 2004 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I think my feet were flat and wide enough to begin with.

I'd love to Doc but I'm off down to Portland for a week's hols starting tomorrow.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, since I started this, I should add my nought pence worth.

I never was a punk, fashionwise. I drifted towards 'post-mod' in the early to mid eighties, but spent too much money on records...

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 1 April 2004 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Did you wear DM's though Mark?

I think it goes without saying that we've all spent far too much money on records!

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

i think the time is right for M.Grout, S. Osborne and myself to start an 'I Love Old Punk Nostalgia' forum of our own. sub-branches : I Love Doc Martens, I Love Thames Valley Punk and I Love The Damned. Oh...and can I have 'I Love Slaughter and The Dogs'? Really, I insist.

m. sinker could wander in occasionally and tell us we're not really punXOR, or something....

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 April 2004 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you remember a Reading punk band called The Clergy, Dr. C?

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

No! Sorry

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 April 2004 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Arfa, Chris Williams, Dave Daly and Colin.... (Maycock?); great guys, played with Sub-@active a few times.

I think you'd have liked them - they regularly used to cover Cranked Up Really High, Boston Babies and You're A Bore.

Oh and I think I'm right in saying that they all wore DM's too.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 1 April 2004 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...
I wore so much black in the 80's that my mom once refused to buy me a dress stating that I dress like an Italian widow. Never wor the DM, my arches are too high. Still have a pair of monkey boots though. Punk as a fashion statement...hmm. To me, punk is about challenging norms about beauty and fashion (and to some degree gender roles). Of course, it doesn't take long for the main-stream to co-opt the "look", and when you start seeing designer jeans sold already torn and Macy's has pantyhose that look torn, leather jackets at the mall or whatever, then the "anti-norms" have become the norm. I agree with the above that "punk's about being yourself" There's that weird gray area between wearing styles that identify you with a certain group, and wearing a uniform. Anyway found this thread by searching for "monkey hair jacket" just thought I'd throw in my 2 pense.

liabear, Sunday, 25 April 2004 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

re: upthread:
what is identipunk and where did the monkeys come from???!!!!

Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 25 April 2004 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Rudimentary Peni rule.

uh, Sunday, 25 April 2004 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

No they don't.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 26 April 2004 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I truly think this is the most classic thread I've read so far on this board. Thanks all ye who have posted therein.

bimble (bimble), Monday, 26 April 2004 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)


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