Punk Directory
Punk Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Not Feeling Very Well
Review by Emma Wright
Some time in the early months of 2007, a group of people got together to try to redefine the youth with the Mohawk and covered in leather. The kid on the street corner smoking and spitting, waving a middle finger in the air. Yeah, that wonderful image of a ‘punk’. And let me tell you, they weren’t all too successful.
A disjointed group of artists, musicians and writers (all struggling) came together in a collision of ideas and random firing neurons that formed itself into a two week show and a book about what punk is, was and will be. The innermost thoughts and ramblings of some wannabes, usedtobes and just plain neverwillbes. So… was it any good?
Hell yeah! Whilst the original movement may have died out along with Sid and Nancy and most of the punks today not even having been born when this happened, punk is still a living breathing screaming thing. Its just slightly hoarser that it was a few years ago. So, naturally, a show about punk has to be awesome by definition. Even if it does feature a random portrait of a monkey.
The show itself is not important right now as it has been over for way over a year. However the book is still alive and kicking, available on Amazon and possibly one of the best reads you can buy. Filled to the brim [and by brim I mean 89 pages’ worth] of inane ramblings, deep analysis, odd poetry, bizarre photos and even a page of swearing from yours truly. An eclectic read that contradicts itself all over the place, summing itself up with the simple phrase ‘I thought I would do something conceptual but I got confused’. Well that’s punk for you.
The whole point of this thing is that it shows you can’t define punk. It’s too diverse, too obscure, too adaptable to define. It’s the ultimate chameleon, only recognisable by its nose ring and trashed nail varnish. To define something is to limit it – and why should we limit ourselves? So sure, punk may be dead, but punk may also be stronger and fitter than ever before. It’s up to you guys to decide.
I’ll leave you lovely people with one final word: what has eight arms and kills its girlfriend? Squid Vicious!
