London’s 40-Year Obsession with Punk
As I have business to do in London Monday, I took the redeye in Sunday morning, which gave me the day to read the papers and what around on what was an extraordinarily pleasant day. I also found this Mashable article on London punk.
Punk may have been brewing on both sides of the Atlantic for some time by 1976, but it was that year, and particularly in London, that it really came off the leash and snarled its way into the public consciousness forever.
A bunch of bands, labels and icons, from The Sex Pistols to The Clash, The Damned, Stiff Records, Siouxsie Sioux, Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren, came together to define an era and trample an indelible mark on popular culture.
Beyond the calling cards that have long since been reduced into cliché – the safety pin, the three chords, the vomit green mohawks – the punk spirit lives on loudly to this day. Its DIY and non-conformist mentality, its focus on empowerment and individuality, are as prevalent now as they were when Johnny Rotten spat his way across the country four decades ago.
2016 has been hailed a year of punk to mark 40 years since the scene exploded in 1976. Here’s how its influence still resonates loudly today.
