Political punk

Politpunk ( English political punk ) describes that part of the punk scene that sees punk as a protest movement and tries to draw attention to social grievances and to fight them. Music is the most important medium with which this attitude is conveyed; But it is also communicated through fanzines , books, websites, discussion and information events and direct campaigns .

Political content

Crass live in Birmingham, 1981

Political punk is often wrongly equated with anarcho-punk ; in fact, anarcho-punk is just an (albeit important) sub-genre of political punk. Although many political punk bands have an explicitly anarchist attitude ( Crass , Conflict , Aus-Rotten ), others see themselves more as socialists ( The Clash , Billy Bragg , Anti-Flag ) or even as communists ( Attila the Stockbroker , Crisis , Angelic Upstarts ). Some bands also represent an unspecified left-wing stance that moves between reformism ( bad religion ) and radicalism ( slime ). Finally, with the Riot-Grrrl- Movement ( Bikini Kill , Le Tigre , Sleater Kinney ) there is also an explicitly feminist current within the political point, as well as Queercore ( Pansy Division , Team Dresch ), a current that is particularly committed to the rights of homosexuals .

What most political punks have in common is a left , anti-authoritarian and anti-fascist attitude in the broadest sense . Conservatism , economic liberalism , religious fundamentalism, nationalism , patriotism , racism , sexism and homophobia are generally rejected . Due to these tendencies in political orientation, there are certain overlaps with the autonomous movement, especially in Germany . This is also reflected in the fact that self-organization or the “ do-it-yourself ” idea plays an important role in the political point scene. The labor movement , the women's movement , the lesbian and gay movement , the environmental movement , the animal rights movement , the anti-war or anti-militarist movement, and the movement critical of globalization form important points of contact, without it being possible to construct a completely uniform ideological stance.

music

Musically, the bands assigned to political punk belong to the most diverse sub-genres of punk , post-punk and hardcore ; So there is a wide range of musical forms of expression. Politpunk is more defined by an attitude than by a precisely defined musical style. This is also expressed in the motto “It's more than just music”.

Political punk in the USA

The Detroit garage rock formation MC5 , whose members were active in the anarchist White Panther Party , are considered to be an important political group that is regarded as the main inspiration of the early US punk scene . Of the members of the first punk generation, Patti Smith is considered the most politically active. The real founders of the American political punk scene, however, are early hardcore punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys , Bad Religion and MDC . Jello Biafra , singer and lyricist of the Dead Kennedys, later also influenced US political punk events with solo projects and label activities and as an active politician of the Green Party . In the 1990s, the band SFA created the radical left-wing hardcore sub-genre Hatecore in New York (which later, however, was largely taken over by right-wing extremists); in Olympia / WA around bands like Bikini Kill with the riot grrrl movement, the feminist branch of the political point. The Pittsburgh band Aus-Rotten is considered to be the most important anarcho-punk group in the USA in the 1990s . Towards the end of the 1990s , the Anti-Flag, also from Pittsburgh , gained a great reputation. They have been considered one of the leading bands in the US political punk movement ever since.

Political punk in Great Britain

Conflict live in Leeds, 1986

While the Sex Pistols appeared as nihilistic provocateurs in the mid-1970s , their friends The Clash established themselves as offensive advocates of socialist ideas and can be considered the most influential band of all for the political punk movement. Other groups such as the Trotskyist formation Crisis or the Angelic Upstarts , which flirted with Leninism, followed suit. The group Crass , with which the anarcho-punk movement began and which served as models for many other bands such as Conflict , Flux of Pink Indians and Oi Polloi , was also founded at that time . In the 1980s, the heavily anarchist sub-genres Crust ( Amebix , Extreme Noise Terror ) and D-Beat ( Discharge , The Varukers ) emerged in Great Britain within UK hardcore, which led to political hardcore punk well into the early 1990s shaped. The more folk- inspired socialist punk songwriters such as Billy Bragg or Attila the Stockbroker went other ways . The main English anarcho-punk groups of the 1990s were the Stratford Mercenaries and Cress .

Political punk in Germany

As a forerunner of the German-speaking political punk scene, the Berlin squatters band Ton Steine Scherben , which are also classified as proto-punk , is often mentioned. Early German representatives of political punk are Beton Combo , Ätztussis , Katapult and Stromsperre . The Hamburg formations Slime and Razzia were considered prototypes of the German left-wing autonomous punk in the 1980s . In the GDR , where punk turned against “ real existing socialism ” from the start , groups like Schleimkeim or L'Attentat were much more radical and anarchist oriented. In the mid-1980s, many political punks in Germany turned to the hardcore scene and the straight edge idea and began to distance themselves from the German punk scene with crossover influences and English-language texts. New supply, however, got the German-speaking political punk movement of the early 90s, when as a result of arson attacks and violence of the extreme right-wing of the German punk scene began to politicize big scene in Germany Share and German punk began to be seen as anti-fascist response to the right-wing offensive. In addition to Slime and the Doctors , WIZO as well as newer groups such as 1. May 87 , But Alive , Amen 81 , Rawside , ZSK and Recharge belong to this time .

Well-known bands of the genre

literature

Artificial Tribes. Adolescent tribal cultures in Germany by Klaus Farin, Thomas Tilsner Verlag (January 2002), ISBN 3-933773-11-3
England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, 1991, Faber and Faber, UK, ISBN 0-312-06963-4
Music & rebellion. Youth cultures between commerce and politics by Klaus Farin, Thomas Tilsner Verlag (May 1998), ISBN 3-910079-41-5
The Philosophy of Punk. The Story of a Cultural Revolt by Craig O'Hara, Ventil (October 2001), ISBN 3-930559-72-2
We always want to be good by Ronald Galenza, Heinz Havemeister, Verlag: Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin, ISBN 3-89602-637-2

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Various artists: Punk Rock BRD . Weird System , 2003, CD 1, pp. 33 .

[brd44-1] Various artists: Punk Rock BRD . Weird System , 2003, CD 1, pp. 33 .