^^^ Yep. Perhaps we can invite some of the unqiue leftists which inhabit this forum and believe the coldwar was non-existant until punk came around to join in. That'd make for some interesting conversation, yes?

punks = nihilism
hippies = age of aquarius

Or maybe some moderate flavor to keep things on an even keel :laughing:

Generally speaking, I've always thought that golden age punk, lyrically, was more political than that of hippie music because it covered a broader range of topics. Sure the ideas may have been left-leaning but to me it seemed all the hippies ever sang about when it came to politics was how bad Vietnam was. Punk on the other hand, discussed socio-political problems like class disparity, racism, feminism, etc. I don't really understand how a straight edge movement could be bred out of a liberal movement such as the punks in the 70's and 80's but then again my name isn't Punk Connoisseur.

Typically punk politics don't fit the music. The music is antagonistic, abrasive, and made to not be popular; it is, in a word, elitist. It clashes horribly with the lyrics they purport to believe, and the reality of how punks try so very hard to exist within their own subculture instead of society at large certainly doesn't help their far left bonafides.

Really, I think typically left punk politics are just a crappy xerox of whatever is chic at a particular time in a given area; whether primitivism, social democracy, or "veganarchism"..... it's a veneer of radicalism on boring suburbanites.

You skipped a few sub-grenres that was inbetween the Hippie era and Punk: Prog Rock, Glam Rock, Pub Rock etc etc.

That's ironic - most fights start out with an exchange of words.

Good first post!

At one time it was a different approach to popular music and Punk in the beginning was on the Pop charts in the UK - in a certain sense it was popular.

original version by The Rivieras reached # 5 US Pop Charts


# 2 UK Pop Charts


Anyway I don't totally agree with the equation with "Punks = Hippies + Violence" because it wasn't always about violence and it was only certain part of Punk fan-dom that were violent. Only later did Punk become more and more hard core and thus going further underground. In the beginning it was non-elitist and back to the basics response to the acts of the music industry that were considered the musical elite.

Punk "music" especially the approach to playing guitar is more intelligent that people give it credit; what is clever about Punk music is more likely lost on the non-fan of Punk. The music itself is genius in it's simplicity. What was antagonistic and abrasive about but Punk was the lyrics and attitude of the performer but taken into consideration some Proto-Punk and Punk bands it really didn't start off that way. Yes there are some real hardcore punk music that isn't so listener-friendly but not all Punk is like that.