There's only one definition for punk music in the dictionary: loud, boisterious, angry music. It cannot be more true. Ever heard a soft, melodious, calming punk song? If so, it can't quite be considered punk music..by punks maybe, but not truly punk.
Punk music is derived from the emotions of the band members, from the rage that encompasses them. If you can't go smash the government building or burn down your girlfriend's house after she dumped you really bad, then go pick up a guitar or a mic and scream it out. It's expression, and punk is a lot about expression. It's much healthier than burning stuff too. I read in a book once that the Minutemen's D.Boon thought it a good idea that there should be a punkrock band in every street. That the kids would be better off screaming out their anger instead of going out and drugging themselves to take away the pain and anger. But D.Boon wasn't thinking properly, if there was a punkrock band in every street, he would be throwing away the essence of the punk lifestyle - which is what makes the music. He wasn't thinking about punk being an individual act in itself.
Punk music these days comes in many styles - skapunk, hardcore punk, old punk, punkrock (aka surfpunk) and once I heard of emo-punk. Just informing the person who made up that term emo-punk, ALL PUNKS ARE EMO! In many different ways. Punk is all about emotions.
They classify things to make bands easier to recognize but now there's so many classifications that makes everything confusing. For those who don't know which is which I could give you some examples. Skapunk bands like Link 80, Stinkaholic, Operation Ivy, Hi-Standard, Voodoo Glow Skulls, RX Bandits, etc. Hardcore punk bands are Eight Bucks Experiment, AFI, AAA, Anti-Flag, Black Flag, Bloodjinn, Good Riddance, The Distillers, etc. Punk rock, of course Blink 182 made it known on MTV, MXPX, Millencolin, The Vandals, Lagwagon, Face To Face, etc. The old time punk bands (the mostly influential ones) are The Exploited, Dead Kennedys, The Clash, The Ramones, Generation X, and so forth.
I haven't seen many truly good punk bands. My personal favorite punk band is Eight Bucks Experiment who unfortunately (or purposely) is not much heard of here. They have a harsh sound and no one can express the rage I feel in myself better than their vocalist Evan O'Meara. Talented, true and absolutely insane. I appreciate many bands though, there really is too many to mention. But where there's a rise, there's a fall - and many bands these days do things for money. They look past the attitude, the life and see only money. But that is natural human behavior, and unfortunately that will bring the image of punk to commercial hell.
Major punk festivals are issues to think about. The bands that usually perform festivals are of surfpunk genre, or poppunk. However bands such as Rancid play in Loolapalooza and once (for the worse of everything), the Sex Pistols came back on stage in Messina, Finland. The skatepunk festivals bring about the good and bad. For one, they usually display extreme sports as well. And the bring about unity of those who enjoy the music in one gathering - although majority of the fans are below 18 years old. The bad thing is that it is very commercial and it pressures a lot on being cool and wearing the right thing.
Written by Farida Mazlan - 2002 - Do not fucking take this without my permission! Cheers.