# Where is Punk going? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800 "2016-09-12T22:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joseph\_king](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@Joseph\_king](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joseph_king)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/1 "2016-09-12T22:44:01Z")
I asked this question on 4chan but that turned out to be a bad idea since at the very beginning they started getting all political and nowhere near a straight answer from what I was asking. That’s what i get for asking serious questions on 4chan’s /mu/. This seems a better place to ask this, Do you think in the later future punk music will still maintain some sort of relevance due to the drastic and overwhelming change music as a whole is going trough? Will the same principles and practices live on or is it doomed to die out eventually? Or in the words of Jello Biafra, is the death of punk rock a better option in order to start anew? Also recommend me some of your best Punk bands/albums ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/2 "2016-09-13T11:01:00Z")
Is punk still a thing? I was pretty young at the time, but I remember the heyday. There was some great stuff put out in the 70s and early 80s. But punk morphed into anti-music by the late 80s; three-chord crap with no effort toward musicianship. Punk became all about “attitude” and the music became an afterthought. Hence the death of punk music. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/3 "2016-09-13T11:05:50Z")
Woah, woah, hold up. Punk is still a thing? I thought the fad burnt out in (or even before) my early teens. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/4 "2016-09-13T11:14:08Z")
It lives on as different brands of punk-whatever and whatever-punk. Or so the classifications for songs in my playlists tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/5 "2016-09-13T11:16:47Z")
> [@Joseph\_king](#): > > recommend me some of your best Punk bands/albums My first thought was The Ramones. But I’ve always questioned the labeling of them as “punk music.” I’m not sure how to label them. But I don’t think of them as punk for some reason. My all-time favorite punk band is **The Crucifucks**. I’ve probably listened to [their first album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucifucks_(album)) over 500 times. The album is just… _ **insane** _. The singer has the craziest fucking voice ever put down on vinyl. Even now when I listen to it, I am still in awe at how incredibly good the drumming is (thanks to [Steve Shelley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shelley)). The quality of the recording is top-notch. The lyrics are over-the-top obscene (beware!). I love it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/6 "2016-09-13T11:19:06Z")
Probably back to WWE, considering how badly he got his ass beat in the octagon on Saturday night. …Wait, we’re not talking about the same thing, are we? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/7 "2016-09-13T11:49:55Z")
How can punk be relevant when there are grandparents around today who listened to it? Punk is part of the establishment now. The punk attitude of disrespect for authority will be (or has already been) taken up by some other style, and I assure you that folks who listened to punk will hate whatever noise these damn kids are listening to now. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/8 "2016-09-13T11:50:31Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Is punk still a thing? > > I was pretty young at the time, but I remember the heyday. There was some great stuff put out in the 70s and early 80s. But punk morphed into anti-music by the late 80s; three-chord crap with no effort toward musicianship. Punk became all about “attitude” and the music became an afterthought. Hence the death of punk music. Morphed into? I’d say it was always anti-music consisting of three-chord crap with no effort toward musicianship. Sure, there are exceptions, but it was always about the attitude. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; just saying I’ve never met a true punk who would deny it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/9 "2016-09-13T11:56:43Z")
I think simply making rock anymore is a sign of rebellion, since rock music seems to be fading. So it’s a self-correcting problem to a degree. Rock and roll seemed fresh and new and daring in the 50s, which is what punk was trying to capture in the 70s, and making new rock music today will recapture some of that energy since there will always be people who want to rock out and have fun but don’t feel that the current pop music speaks to them and their subculture. > [@Nava](#): > > It lives on as different brands of punk-whatever and whatever-punk. Or so the classifications for songs in my playlists tell me. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard anything described as simply “punk” in a long time. The main divisions are Pop Punk and Hardcore which, at their extremes, are like a rockier version of New Wave and a less melodic death metal, respectively, but there are all sorts of variants in between. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-punk-going/765800/10 "2016-09-13T14:59:23Z")
Well, it kind of depends on what you think Punk is. If you think it’s a specific musical style or trend, it probably died or got stale within a few years of its inception. If you think that is centered around an attitude of “I’m gonna do my music on my on terms, to please me. Good luck, everybody!”, then it’s still going strong. I’m in a band that I consider a blend of Punk/Psych/Doom Metal. We play often, with like-minded bands. Some of the folks we play with are synth bands, some are extremely complex math rock, there’s still a few glam punk bands running around. If I wanted to, I could go see some variety of a Punk show every night in DFW. Where’s it going? Just about everywhere, I think. In the last few years, I’ve seen a few artists who are almost undefinable due to the number of genres they cross. Sometimes they pick up quite a bit of punk rock on their trip. My favorite of the month is Death Grips. [Guillotine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orlbo9WkZ2E) was my introduction to them, and I’m still digesting it. Rap, electronica, and punk as hell. The whole [Exmillitary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPtPo8Sa3NE) tape is just as great. Probably my favorite over the last decade is Dan Deacon. He seems to be a complete master of the synth, and not taking himself seriously. [Crystal Cat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFlBJ1xZK10) is a work of beautiful low-fi dance pounding away while he pitch shifts into the stratosphere. [Build Voice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTiL-y3nO24) (and just about everything on that record and later) is more accessible, but he’s still doing it to sound good to him. He built a computer controlled player piano for that record, from what I understand normal player pianos couldn’t hack it. You can watch him in action with it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heFRwLfjVXI).