As I mentioned back in this post , I never considered myself a Punk. I may have slavishly immersed myself in the music, minutia and mythology of Punk Rock, but I never sought to reinvent my own identity based upon it. I was happy with just appreciating the music and its accompanying culture. I didn't need to don the full uniform. If you wanted to debate which was the best b-side by The Stranglers or who was the best singer for Black Flag or go head-to-head on Punk Rock trivia, I was your man, but if you wanted tips on how to get your mohawk to properly stand on end, I probably couldn't help you. I was never a Punk as defined by any tonsorial or sartorial standard, so perhaps it's not my place to decry the current status of the demographic that currently call themselves Punks. Then again, I was never a member of the Ottoman Empire either, and I feel no qualms with asserting that they're all long dead too, so what's the difference?
Via the ever-excellent Vanishing New York, I was directed to this article in New York Magazine Online about the current crop of baby-faced boneheads who still flock to St. Marks Place to dutifully cavort in a manner firmly dictated by Punk Rock's lamentable stereotype, despite the fact that the fabled New York scene, the bands, the clubs and the genre itself are long gone. I've grumbled about this issue countless times before (see most recently here), but if you're 18 years old, you really need to shut up, shape up and get your own damn youth culture, because as far as Punk Rock's concerned, that ship left the dock a good decade before you were even born. You missed that boat. Moreover, if -- like "Suvy," the idiot that is the centerpiece of this article -- your concept of "being a Punk" is simply about drinking yourself stupid, pan-handling and doing dumb shit to your hair, I'm sorry but you've missed the point entirely. All you're actually doing is further reducing, further reinforcing and further dumbing-down the popular perception of Punk as a shallow cartoon and undermining its otherwise legitimate cultural significance. Nice going, kids.
This article reminded me of an anecdote I read, although I can't remember where. In any case, legendary New York Punk stalwart/architect Richard Hell and fabled Punk magazine scribe/scenemaker Legs McNeil were walking through Tompkins Square Park sometime in the 90's. Predictably, a by-the-numbers "Crustie Punk" teenager, replete with customary mohawk and cliched punk finery, approached the pair, scrounging for change. Hell strode onward without giving the "punk" so much as a glance. Legs followed afterward. Denied his small change, the young "punk" shouted after them, "yeah, have a nice day, you fucking YUPPIES!" Legs stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Yuppies?" he laughed, gesturing at Hell... still walking onward, "that guy INVENTED YOU!"
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