Establishment Notions of Englishness Essay Example for Free

Establishment Notions of slopeness EssayIn what ways did the iconography, the music, the lyrics and the per machinateances and demeanour of punk rock acts present a challenge to institution nonions of Englishness in 1976-77?The early roots of inflammation rock were appearing in the form of The Velvet Underground in 1965, closely followed by The Stooges and MC5 in 1969, but it wasnt until the early 1970s that punk began to globalise, hitting Australia in 1972 with The Saints. Within a year, fabled punk club CBGBs opened its doors for the first time, becoming a constant worry for the up and coming acts of the 70s, and more importantly, providing a regular crowd of punk kids to listen to them. Britain in the early 70s, according to Spicer, was filled with political frustration, surging unemployment and a gag-reflex to the patriotic froth generated by in celebration of Queen Elizabeths Silver Jubilee, giving punks raw noise a particular spice and vigour. The UK had either been in decline, recession, stagflation or worse since the end of the swinging sixties. (Spicer, 2006 3). Eight days later when the idealism of the 60s had healthy and truly faded, the strategies and rhetoric of street profess were still loss strong. So when mainstream politics wouldnt even listen to what was driving the kids insane, the Sex Pistols cry of Anarchy in the UK get windmed homogeneous a viable alternative. (Spicer, 2006 5)Punk came with a philosophy that was influenced by the anti- ecesis turmoil reverberating from the 60s. (Spicer, 2006, rascal 4), so in a time when the early dayss of Britain were so ignored and undervalued as a part of society, it seemed the like a natural outlet to make the government and the authorities stand up and take account of what they were saying. Renowned Manchester based punk journalist and singer sewer Robb stated that Punk Terrified the establishment (Robb, 2006 3), suggesting this outcry for non-conformism was having an impact and the message of challenging the government was world heard. Despite this, however, critics argon still divide nearly whether the punk phenomenon was in fact a significant cultural shift. Was it just another youth craze (with a hairstyle calculated to drive the p arents crazy), or did it darker a real challenge to theself-satisfaction of the times? A Challenge that was more than just musical and sartorial, but political as well? (Spicer, 2006 2).Hebdige stated that the punks were not only directly responding to increasing joblessness, changing moral standards, the redisco very(prenominal) of poverty, the Depression, etc., they were dramatizing what had come to be called Britains decline by constructing a language which was, in contrast to the prevailing rhetoric of the Rock Establishment, unmistakeably relevant and down to earth (hence the swearing, the references to fat hippies, the rags, the lumpen poses). The punks appropriated the rhetoric of crisis which had filled the airwa ves and the editorials throughout the period and translated it into open (and visible) terms (1991 87).A significant part of the construction of the punk rock movement in the British media was the mode of the stars, which was later emulated by the fans, with the iconic style quickly becoming a obligatory secure of being punk. According to Paul Gorman, let the cat out of the baging in Punk The livelong Story, Almost every element of punks style, attitude, politics, musical tastes and even personnel emanated from two tiny clothes shops on Chelseas Kings Road 30 years ago. (2006 84) These two shops were Acme Attractions and SEX, both in capital of the United Kingdom. Don Letts, ex-employee of Acme, and later member of Big Audio Dynamite said in Punk The Whole Story, Acme was more than a shop. It was a club, a lifestyle, a forum for talent. It reflected the way London was going it was approximately multi-culturism (2006 84). I think this really exemplifies the importance of the f ashion and self-representation of the punk movement, even at the beginning.Robb recalls, I saw photos of punk rockers in the papers, and I knew instantly what they sounded like. Never had a music and its wander been so closely associated (2006 2). Hebdige also observed, The various stylistic ensembles adopted by the punks were undoubtedly expressive of echt aggression, frustration and anxiety. But these statements, no matter how strangely constructed, were cast in a language which was in the main available a language which was current (1991 87). I feel this rings true in a big way, especially when you contrast another artist of 74 with the way, for physical exercise, the Sex Pistols presented themselves. In image star, we see the Sex Pistols wearing typical punk styleclothing, however, in image 2, The Who, another British pile making music in 1974, are seen to be sporting a much more reticent fashion, that could be classed as smart/casual, due to the tailored trousers, tucke d in shirts and sports jackets, and even be called patriotic, with the front of a conglutination flag jacket.In contrast, while the Sex Pistols are also wearing union flag attire, however, it seems to be done so in a satirical, ironic way. The flag is cut into and is cover in holes, which could suggest the way that the punk youth saw the state of the government, or at least what they thought of it. Similarly, there is also a sports jacket being worn, however, it is teamed with a punk print T-shirt, which could slow be seen as a rebellion against the notion of looking presentable and dressing in your sunshine best.Ruth Adams dissertatees Hebdiges notion of punk fashion being a bricolage, and states Bits and pieces of both officially authorise and popular English culture, of politics and record were brought together in a chaotic, uneasy admixture to form a new culture (2008). I feel this accurately describes the way punk took what it wanted from English culture and used it as a w ay to challenge the established notions of Englishness.Icons such as swastikas were very much wore as a fashion statement , however, for punks like Siouxsie and Sid Vicious it became just one more fraction in the imagery of offence not devoid of meaning, but mainly a way of acquiring up the noses of the straight and the narrow (Spicer, 2006 4). You can imagine that this explicit and in your face approach to fashion and iconography would starkly contrast with the dreary fashion of the 70s. Spicer states that as the decade that saw beige, brown, orange and luxurious recommended as a desirable colour scheme for the home, the 70s had little going for it stylistically either (2006 3). I feel that this contrast in style would have made punks even harder to ignore, insuring that person was always looking at them and listening to what they had to say.Punk rock lyrics are typically frank and anticipateational compared to the lyrics of other popular music genres, they frequently comment on social and political issues (Laing, 1985 27). An obvious example of this would be God salve The Queen by the Sex Pistols (1977, Sex Pistols). At the time ofrelease, the shout was highly controversial, mainly for the fact it was explicitly anti-monarchy, implying that the Queen was a part of a fascist regime, as shown by the lyrics God save the queen, the fascist regime, and also for quite blatantly piece England off as being bleak and without any hope, shown in the lyrics There is no hope in Englands dreaming and Theres no future, no future, no future for you.This contrasted significantly with the jingoistic ideals that were being put forward in the wake of the Queens silver jubilee. Savage stated, God Save the Queen was the only serious anti-Jubilee protest, the only rallying call for those who didnt agree with the Jubilee because they resented being steamrollered by such sickening hype, by a view of England which had not the remotest bearing on their everyday bed (2001 35 2-353). Laing speculated that Punk was a total cultural revolt. It was a hardcore confrontation with the black side of history and culture, right-wing imagery, sexual taboos, a delving into it that had never been done before by any generation in such a thorough way (1985 27). I feel this really sums up the political orientation at play with God Save The Queen, as it was a total revolt of the dominant ideology at the time it was released.Punk rock is not known for its musical ingenuity, its creativity, or even its skill. John Robb described punks as The DIY brigade fumbling with musical instruments, trying to make sense of the world with third chords learned last week on second hand guitars (2006, Page 3). I feel this expresses the rebelling of the establishment in a way that goes above lyrics or fashion. here we can see that punk was not about pleasing pot or making everyone happy, it was about doing what you wanted because you could, and not caring if people liked it or not. Th is directly challenged the English ideology of the 1970s, which was predominantly all about keeping a stiff upper lip, being polite, and being, for lack of a better word, nice.Rock journalist Caroline nigger wrote about the Sex Pistols live performances, stating that participation is the operative word. The audience revels in the idea that any one of them could get up on stage and do just as well, if not better than the bands already up there (1982 98). This again draws on the angry, challenging, do-it-yourself attitude attached to the punk genre.Machin describes the discourse of the job of God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols in a way that epitomises the ideology of the genre. Here image 3 we can see that much of the melody remains on the first note. There is therefore very little outward giving of emotion or positive energy. This means that there is something very contained about the way it is sung. In fact, the vocalist sings the rime generally at a high pitch which conveys e motional intensity. Yet in this intensity there is no emotional outpouring or pleasure. There are only short sharp occasional outbursts on the 4th note. This is fitting of the punk discourse of nihilistic delusion and cynicism. (Machin, 2010 105)Philip Auslander proclaimed that we may not usually think of musical performance, apart from opera and musical theatre, as entailing characterisation in the conventional dramatic sense. Nevertheless, we must be suspicious of any supposition that musicians are simply being themselves on stage (2004 6). Auslander goes on to quote Frith, who states that musicians are involved in a process of double enactment they enact both a star look-alikelity (their image) and a song personality, the role that each lyric requires, and the pop stars art is to keep both acts in play at once(2004 6). I feel that this observation directly applies to the punk rock era, as it exemplifies the explicit and hyperbolic style of the genre. This can be exemplified by S ex Pistols front man, John Lydon (aka greyback malodourous).In the public eye he is an anarchist punk rebel who is not scared to speak his mind and does not care who he offends, however in real life he is a man who was bullied as a boy for having an English accent while at his grandparents home in Cork, Ireland. This performance persona is a prime example of the way that punk challenged the notion of Englishness, as everything about Johnny Rotten was anti-establishment. This is typified with the quote from Rotten himself, stating Id listen to rock n roll, but I had no respect for it. It was redundant and had nothing to do with anything relevant. Here, he is dismissing everything that already exists in England as not being relevant or influencing him in any way, suggesting that he was the change that England needed.Auslander later goes on to discuss that both the line between real personand performance persona and the line between persona and character may be blurry and indistinct, especially in the case of pop music performers whose pasture is heavily autobiographical (2004 7). Again, I think this is extremely relevant to the analysis of the performance of John Lydon as Johnny Rotten, as punks felt this allegiance with him through his work as he was them while he was on stage. He was also a working class, angry young person with no money who resented the royal family and the government. Al Spicer asked the question, was it just another youth craze (with a hairstyle calculated to drive the parents crazy), or did it offer real challenge to the complacency of the times? (2006 2) and I think the answer to this would have to be that they really did challenge the system, in every possible way.Punk as a movement intend to shock and defy the norm of 1970s England, to rebel against the complacent and austere ideals of the time and radically confront the patriotic notions of Englishness put forward by the royal Jubilee, and I think that they succeeded. Instead of mer ely writing protest songs, punk bands were a protest. Every fibre of their existence protested, whether it was scandalous lyrics, deplorable fashion choices or unrestrained, extroverted stage personas who would say what they thought, and never care about the repercussions. Punk was one vast protest across England and the notion of English ideals.BibliographyMachin, David. (2010) Analysing Popular Music Image, Sound, Text, London Sage.Spicer, Al. (2006) A Rough Guide To Punk, London Rough Guides.Blake, Mark (Editor) (2006) Punk The Whole Story, London Dorling Kindersley.Sabin, Roger (Editor) (1999) Punk Rock, So What?, London Routledge.Robb, John (2006) Punk Rock An Oral History, London Elbury Press.Adams, Ruth (2008) The Englishness of English Punk Sex Pistols, Subculturesand Nostalgia.Popular Music and Society, 31.4, P. 469488.Hebdige, instrument (1991) Subculture The Meaning of Style. London Routledge.Savage, Jon (2001) Englands Dreaming Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, London Faber F aber.Laing, Dave (1985) One chord wonders great power and meaning in punk rock, Milton Keynes Open University.Auslander, Philip (2004) Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 14, London Routledge.Boyd, Brian (2010), The Making of a Rotten Public Image, The Irish Times 08 Aug 2010 Issue.Coon, Caroline (1982) The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, London autobus Press.IMAGE 1 http//static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/12/30/1230675664257/Sex-Pistols-in-1978-001.jpgIMAGE 2 httphttps://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9OedlJSnXoRllVDFupK1AWXeDckvCSFh1ZErxrBM27ZReEVdDjhjfDKtyPxP4tOHmxunlJ1_CPjh05_wWdYh4mFOPL8ImkM5y6n94GppTvCoNeMOywRnM40hE1tkPzZD5w6Eg5gqa4us/s1600/The+Who.jpgIMAGE 3 Machin, David. (2010) Analysing Popular Music Image, Sound, Text, London Sage. Page 104.