Screaming for Change: Articulating a Unifying Philosophy of Punk Rock

Lars J. Kristiansen; Joseph R. Blaney; Philip J. Chidester; Brent K. Simonds

doi:10.5771/9780739142769

Summary

Screaming for Change advances an understanding of punk rock by going beyond description of punk as a musical, political, social, and cultural genre of communication. Previous scholarship about punk rock has primarily dealt with those boundaries of genre. Previous scholars neglected to examine the ideology of punk across the decades and continents. That ideology, in a word, is deviance. Through Gramscian textual analysis, this book uncovers this ideology of deviance with some surprises along the way. Students and scholars of punk rock will value the book's attention to both well known and more esoteric punk artists. Punk is arguable the most studied "subculture" to ever launch itself onto the larger social agenda as a possible counterbalance to the mainstream cultural hegemony. During the late 1970s, punk scenes sprouted up in large numbers all over the globe, and it appears that deep feelings of discontent towards the inherent alienation present in the capitalist system were the motivational seed that facilitated their growth. Unconvinced that the historical accounts have been successful in adequately describing and proficiently capturing the essence of punk, this study examines the phenomenon in slightly different terms. This study proposes that punk should be understood as a way of seeing the world, as a way of reasoning, or, essentially, as a philosophy on its own terms.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2012
Copyright Year: 2012
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-4274-5
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7391-4276-9
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 163
Product Type: Monograph

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
1. A Brief Introduction to the Problem-A Theoretical Rationale No access
2. Punk History No access
3. Punk Rock-A Definitional Nightmare No access
4. Musical Roots-Garage Rock, Proto-Punk, Punk Rock, and Beyond No access
5. Two Waves of Punk No access
1. Punk's Not Dead- "Rumors of Its Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated" No access
2. Punk as Subculture-Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies No access
3. Postmodern Accounts-Punk as an Authentic Cultural Expression No access
4. Punk as a Musical Genre No access
5. Some Additional Problems with Traditional Approaches No access
6. Punk as a Philosophical System No access
7. Ideology-An Introduction and Definition No access
1. Ideological Framework No access
2. Artifacts-Punk Texts from Different Historical Periods No access
3. Procedure-Analyzing the Artifacts No access
4. Lyrics and Music-A Problematic Relationship No access
1. Never Mind the Bollocks-Here's the Sex Pistols No access
2. Bad Religion-Suffer No access
3. Refused-The Shape of Punk to Come No access
4. NOFX-Wolves in Wolves' Clothing No access
5. Comparison No access
6. Some Final Thoughts No access
1. A Unifying Philosophy of Deviance No access
2. Significance and Limitations No access
3. The Future Course of Punk Scholarship No access
4. Contribution to Communication Theory No access
Appendix: List of Songs Analyzed in this Study No access Pages 151 - 154
Bibliography No access Pages 155 - 163