Establishment Notions of Englishness Essay

In what managements did the iconography, the melody, the oral communications and the surgical processs and behaviour of lubber argument acts present a challenge to establishment impressions of sideness in 1976-77?The primal grow of brassy rock were appearing in the form of The Velvet tube in 1965, closely followed by The Stooges and MC5 in 1969, precisely it wasnt until the archean 1970s that sleazy began to globalise, hitting Australia in 1972 with The Saints. Within a year, fabled inflammation club CBGBs opened its doors for the first era, becoming a constant dwelling for the up and coming acts of the 70s, and to a greater extent(prenominal) importantly, providing a regular crowd of punk rock 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 foam generated by in celebration of magnate Elizabeths Silver Jubilee, giving punks raw noise a particular sp iciness and vigour. The UK had either been in mitigate, recession, stagflation or worse since the end of the swinging sixties. (Spicer, 2006 3). eighter from Decatur years later when the idealism of the 60s had well and truly faded, the strategies and ornateness of way protest were in time going strong. So when mainstream politics wouldnt as yet listen to what was driving the kids insane, the get off Pistols cry of Anarchy in the UK designmed the likes of a viable alternative. (Spicer, 2006 5)Punk came with a philosophy that was influenced by the anti-establishment upheaval reverberating from the 60s. (Spicer, 2006, rogue 4), so in a time when the jejunenesss of Britain were so ignored and undervalued as a part of society, it seemed like a natural outlet to make the government and the authorities stand up and take nonice of what they were saying. Renowned Manchester based punk journalist and utterer tin Robb stated that Punk Terrified the establishment (Robb, 2006 3), su ggesting this outcry for non-conformism was having an stir and the message of challenging the government was universe heard. Despite this, withal, critics ar still divided about whether the punk phenomenon was in fact a material cultural shift. Was it just another youth craze (with a hair elan calculated to drive the parents crazy), or did it offer a original challenge to the  complacence of the times? A Challenge that was more than just tuneful and sartorial, entirely political as well? (Spicer, 2006 2).Hebdige stated that the punks were not nevertheless today responding to increasing joblessness, changing moral standards, the rediscovery of poverty, the Depression, etc., they were dramatizing what had come to be called Britains decline by constructing a language which was, in argumentation to the prevailing rhetoric of the Rock Establishment, unmistakeably germane(predicate) and down to earth (hence the swearing, the references to fat hippies, the rags, the un wa rmth poses). The punks appropriated the rhetoric of crisis which had filled the airwaves and the editorials throughout the period and translated it into tangible (and visible) terms (1991 87).A signifi piece of tailt part of the construction of the punk rock movement in the British media was the fashion of the stars, which was later emulated by the fans, with the iconic style apace becoming a obligatory staple of organism punk. fit in to Paul Gorman, speaking in Punk The Whole Story, Almost each element of punks style, attitude, politics, musical tastes and even personnel emanated from cardinal tiny clothes shops on Chelseas Kings lane 30 years ago. (2006 84) These two shops were Acme Attractions and SEX, both in London. move into 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 about multi-culturism (2006 84) . I conceptualise this really exemplifies the importance of the fashion 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 straight what they sounded like. Never had a music and its threads been so closely associated (2006 2). Hebdige in like manner observed, The various stylistic ensembles adopted by the punks were undoubtedly expressive of bona fide aggression, frustration and anxiety. But these parameters, no matter how strangely constructed, were cast in a language which was generally available a language which was menstruum (1991 87). I looking at this rings true in a fine-looking way, especially when you contrast another artist of 74 with the way, for example, the Sex Pistols presented themselves. In image unmatched, we see the Sex Pistols wearing typical punk style clothing, however, in image 2, The Who, another British band making music in 1974, are seen to be sporting a much more reserved fashion, that could be classed as smart/casual, due to the tailored trousers, enclose in shirts and sports jackets, and even be called patriotic, with the presence of a center let up 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 covered in holes, which could suggest the way that the punk youth saw the state of the government, or at least what they estimate of it. Similarly, there is also a sports jacket world worn, however, it is teamed with a punk print T-shirt, which could easily be seen as a rebellion against the notion of looking presentable and dressing in your Sunday best.Ruth Adams discusses Hebdiges notion of punk fashion being a bricolage, and states Bits and pieces of both formally sanctioned and popular English polish, of politics and history were brought together in a chaotic, uneasy admixture to form a new culture (2008). I determ ine this accurately describes the way punk took what it wanted from English culture and used it as a way to challenge the found notions of Englishness.Icons much(prenominal) as swastikas were often wore as a fashion statement , however, for punks like Siouxsie and Sid Vicious it became just one more ingredient in the imagery of offence not devoid of meaning, but mainly a way of getting up the noses of the straight and the narrow (Spicer, 2006 4). You can cypher 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, orangish and gold recommended as a desirable colour scheme for the phratry, the 70s had little going for it stylistically either (2006 3). I feel that this contrast in style would submit made punks even harder to ignore, insuring that soul was always looking at them and listening to what they had to say.Punk rock lyrics are typically frank and bideational compared to the lyrics of other popular music genres, they much comment on social and political issues (Laing, 1985 27). An obvious example of this would be deity bring through The Queen by the Sex Pistols (1977, Sex Pistols). At the time of release, the song 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 of writing England off as being bleak and without any hope, shown in the lyrics at that place 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 smooth 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 be ing steamrollered by such sickening hype, by a view of England which had not the remotest bearing on their everyday experience (2001 352-353). 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, cozy taboos, a delving into it that had never been done before by any genesis 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 unskilled with musical instruments, trying to make sense of the world with three plays intimate 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 lov able people or making everyone happy, it was about doing what you wanted because you could, and not caring if people liked it or not. This flat challenged the English ideology of the 1970s, which was preponderantly all about keeping a stiff upper lip, being polite, and being, for lack of a better word, nice.Rock journalist Caroline cacomixle wrote about the Sex Pistols live performances, stating that participation is the opera housetive word. The audience revels in the idea that any one of them could get up on dress 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 melody 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 whence very little outward giving of emotion or domineering energy. This me ans that there is something very contained about the way it is sung. In fact, the utterer sings the song generally at a high pitch which conveys randy intensity. Yet in this intensity there is no emotional dismission or pleasure. There are only short sharp occasional(a) outbursts on the 4th note. This is fitting of the punk discourse of nihilism and cynicism. (Machin, 2010 105)Philip Auslander entitle 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 moldiness be suspicious of any supposition that musicians are simply being themselves on stage (2004 6). Auslander goes on to reference Frith, who states that musicians are involved in a process of double enactment they enact both a star personality (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 obse rvation directly applies to the punk rock era, as it exemplifies the explicit and hyperbolic style of the genre. This can be exemplified by Sex Pistols front man, John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).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 germane(predicate). 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 person and performance persona and the line between persona and character may be blurry and indistinct, especially in the case of pop music performers whose cogitation is heavily autobiographical (2004 7). Again, I think this is extremely relevant to the depth psychology of the performance of John Lydon as Johnny Rotten, as punks felt this trueness 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 intended to shock and defy the average of 1970s England, to rebel against the complacent and auste re 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 merely writing protest songs, punk bands were a protest. all(prenominal) fibre of their existence protested, whether it was scandalous lyrics, deplorable fashion choices or unrestrained, extravertive 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 melody Image, Sound, Text, London Sage.Spicer, Al. (2006) A Rough Guide To Punk, London Rough Guides.Blake, set (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 Soci ety, 31.4, P. 469488.Hebdige, Dick (1991) Subculture The Meaning of Style. London Routledge.Savage, Jon (2001) Englands Dreaming Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, London Faber & Faber.Laing, Dave (1985) One chord wonders power and meaning in punk rock, Milton Keynes Open University.Auslander, Philip (2004) Contemporary plain Review, Vol. 14, London Routledge.Boyd, Brian (2010), The Making of a Rotten Public Image, The Irish propagation 08 Aug 2010 Issue.Coon, Caroline (1982) The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, London manager Press. go out 1 http//static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/12/30/1230675664257/Sex-Pistols-in-1978-001.jpgIMAGE 2 http//3.bp.blogspot.com/-GGKJf0MAI7k/UGBnnd-F1pI/AAAAAAAAAL4/YcGOn0sIe8E/s1600/The+Who.jpgIMAGE 3 Machin, David. (2010) Analysing Popular Music Image, Sound, Text, London Sage. Page 104.