Punk in Switzerland

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Punk exists in Switzerland as a music, political and youth culture. As a Swiss punk is punk scene in Switzerland called that developed from the mid-1970s. It had its heyday between 1976 and 1981.

Beginnings

When a punk scene emerged in New York in the mid-1970s and subsequently in London , it also reached Switzerland. Local scenes quickly developed in individual cities, above all in Zurich . In 1977 there was a hard core of around 50 young people in Zurich who had a decisive influence on the Swiss punk and new wave movement. Their first meeting points were the newly opened Booster clothing store with punk outfits and the Hey club with the first punk discos. In October 1977 the first German-language fanzine 'No Fun' was released and in November 1977 the first punk single 'Hot Love' was released by the 'Nasal Boys', a band which was founded in December 1976 and which became the commercial one in 1978 as 'Expo' Sought success. Other bands were the internationally successful Swiss wave bands Kleenex / Liliput and Yello , as well as Mother's Ruin and TNT.

Local scenes were also created in Geneva (Jack & the Rippers, Bastards), Bern (Glueams, Sozz) as well as Lucerne (Crazy, IV-Sex, Johnny Bordelli & Co., MAD) and Basel (Volcan, Vorwärts and Negativ). Typical features of these individual, well-networked, local scenes were their own bands and fanzines, as well as clubs / bars for punk discos and concerts. At the beginning of November 1979 , 'Swiss Punk Now' took place in the Gersag Center in Emmenbrücke , a suburb of Lucerne. 14 bands and a few hundred punks presented themselves over two days. The list of performing bands also gives a good insight into the Swiss punk scene of that time. Friday, November 2, 1979: Technicolor, Mistery Action, Sperma, Sozz, Hexan 5. Saturday, November 3, 1979: Chaos ( Vorarlberg ), Freshcolor, Glueams, Liars, IV Sex, Crazy, Kraft durch Freude, Sick, TNT.

The connection between punk and new wave remained close, at least in the beginning. The term Swiss Wave was often used for the Swiss punk and new wave scene . The split into different partial scenes took place in the early 1980s, parallel to the increasing commercialization of the movement. In the following years, Swiss Punk became one of the many sub-scenes of the until then relatively homogeneous Swiss Punk & Wave scene.

From 1980, individual actors began to fight for spaces for alternative cultural activities. After the youth unrest in Switzerland subsided (around 1982) the politicized punk scene was stripped of its soil and the 1980s were musically different styles.

Recent developments

A new generation of punk rock was growing up in Switzerland before the turn of the millennium, and even more so since. One can differentiate between two trends:

Punk as a political culture

In the environment of various autonomous networks such as the Reithalle Bern or when squatting , for example in Winterthur , one often finds highly politicized punks. They often see themselves as a countermovement to a right-wing trend in Switzerland. The music of these circles is often based on German punk . What many punks in Switzerland have in common, however, is that they fundamentally reject the established politics. This rejection sometimes extends to extra-parliamentary politics (see also Oi! Attitude).

Punk as a fashion trend

In many cities (and increasingly also in rural areas) the fan communities of regionally known punk rock bands are growing, who - fans and musicians - are often based on international models such as NOFX or Green Day . These sometimes loosely bound scenes take punk as a youth culture defined by music and are accordingly less politicized. Its emergence can be seen as a counter-movement to the hip-hop culture that dominates school, media and fashion . Musically they often prefer California punk or skate punk.

The two currents have certain points of contact. They are addressed to a certain extent as target groups at alternative open air events and in specific concert halls. The transitions between the two types of scenes are fluid in some places, but there are reservations on both sides that cannot be overlooked. The often younger “fashion punks” are considered “commercial” by the older “political punks”. On the other hand, the latter are often suspected by the former in the area of ​​“marginalized to drug addicts”.

Musically

Musically, punk in Switzerland was initially just a copy of the English pioneer bands. In the modern age of Swiss punk, styles multiplied. Nevertheless, there is no typical Swiss punk (see above). There are dialect punk bands, but they can easily be assigned to the sub-genres of punk rock.

Swiss punk bands

1977 to 1981

Younger punk bands

literature

Fanzines 1977-1981

  • Shit, 8 issues from June 1978 to September 1979 with an edition of 100 to 300 copies. Smallest fanzine in A6 format. Editor: Arnold Meyer
  • Black & White, 4 issues with an edition of 250 to 300 copies. Editors: Hanspeter Süess, Renato Käppeli, René Gratl.
  • Drop Dead, 6 issues from September 1978 to January 1980 with an edition of 100 copies. Editors: Peter Jegen, Ingar Milnes.
  • No Fun, 18 issues from October 1977 to June 1980 with a circulation of approx. 1000 copies. First German-language fanzine. Editors: Urs Steiger, Peter Preissle, Iggie Wiederkehr.
  • Pin-Up, 19 issues from February 1978 with an edition of 100 to 240 copies. Editors: Arnold Steiner, Robert Fischer.
  • Punk Rules, 7 issues from December 1977 to November 1979 with a print run of 500 to 700 copies. Editors: Paul Ott, Marco Repetto ( gray area ).
  • Rofä, 4 issues from autumn 1978 to summer 1980 with an edition of 100 to 300 copies. Editor: Tom Rippoff, Lurker Krieg / Grand.
  • Special issue, 4 issues from February 1980 to February 1981 with an edition of 250 to 400 copies. Editors: Paul Ott, Marco Repetto ( gray area ), Bruno Waser ( lunch iron ).

Fanzines Today

  • ROMP, 33 issues since 1989.
  • New tick zine, so far one edition.

Books

  • Paul Ott / Hollow Skai (ed.): We were HEROES for a day. from German-language fanzines 1977–1981 . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, Reinbek near Hamburg, January 1983. ISBN 3-499-17682-3
  • Lurker Grand (Ed.): Hot Love - Swiss Punk & Wave 1976–1980 . Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich 2006. ISBN 3-905509-62-8

Web links

Individual evidence