Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Punk culture. Punk rock music. Alternative rock music'

Various commentators on punk (e.g. Laing 1985, Frith 1986, Goshert 2000, Reynolds 2005, Webb 2007) have remarked upon an essence or attitude which is much more central to it than any aspects of musical style. Through the analysis of specific recordings as texts, this study aims to deliver on this idea by suggesting that there is an entire generation of musicians working in the independent sphere creating music that combines resonances of folk music with demonstrable punk aesthetics. Given that the cultural formations of folk and punk share many rhetorics of authenticity – inclusivity, community, anti-establishment ideals and, to paraphrase Bannister (2006: xxvi) ‘technological dystopianism’ – it is perhaps not surprising that some successors of punk and hardcore, particularly in the U.S., would turn to folk after the commercialisation of grunge in the early 1990s. But beyond this, a historical survey of the roots of new folk leads us to the conclusion that the desire for spontaneity rather than perfection, for recorded artefacts which affirm music as a participatory process rather than a product to be consumed, is at least as old as recording technology itself. The ‘new folk’ of the last two decades often mythologises a pre-industrial past, even as it draws upon comparatively recent oppositional approaches to the recording as artefact that range from those of Bob Dylan to obscure outsider artists and lo-fi indie rockers. This study offers a survey of new folk which is overdue – to date, new folk has been virtually ignored by the academic literature. It considers the tangled lineages that inform this indie genre, in the process suggesting new aspects of the history of rock music which stretch all the way back to Depression-era recordings in the shape of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. At the same time, it attempts to steer a middle course between cultural studies approaches to popular music which at times fail to directly address music at all, and musicological approaches which are at times in danger of abstracting minutae until the broader frame is completely lost. By concentrating on three aspects of the recordings in question - vocal approach, a broad consideration of sound (inclusive of production values and timbre), and structure as it pertains to both individual pieces and albums – this work hopes to offer a fresh way of reading popular music texts which deals specifically with the music without losing sight of its broader function and context.

Using a distinctly and deliberately interdisciplinary approach to the subject of religion and spirituality as it presents itself within modern Western Societies today, this thesis argues that Straight Edge hardcore punk is a surrogate for religion. The term surrogate is used to denote the notion of a successor and a protector and provider of nourishment. It has been re-interpreted from Theodore Ziolkowski’s work on the same term in ‘Modes of Faith’, in which he examines surrogates for religion which emerged during the early part of the 20th century. An in-depth study, both theoretical and ethnographic in nature and presentation, of Straight Edge hardcore punk is provided to demonstrate that traditionally held categories of religion, secular, sacred and profane are being dismantled and re-built around ideas of authenticity, community, integrity, d.i.y and spirituality. Through the syncretic practices of the Straight Edge adherents they are de-essentialising religion and thus enabling us to re-consider the question of what religion is or could be. This thesis relies on theoretical ideas, interview quotes, informant quotes, researcher taken photographs, and interviewee created or utilised images, tattoos, graffiti and flyers. All of these are interspersed with song lyrics from various bands relevant to the time period under discussion and the themes being drawn out. Much like the adherents themselves, this thesis exists very much within the space of the ‘in-between’, which creates and reacts to necessary tensions throughout.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) do-it-yourself (DIY) punk scene, participants attempt to adhere to notions of authenticity that dictate whether a band, record label, performance venue, or individual are in compliance with punk philosophy. These guiding principles champion individual expression, contributions to one's community (scene), independence from the mainstream music industry and consumerism, and the celebration of amateurism and the idea that everyone should "do it yourself." While each city or scene has its own punk culture, participants draw on their perceptions of the historic legacy of punk and on experiences with contemporaries from around the world. For this thesis, I emphasize the significance of performance spaces and the sonic aesthetic of the music in enacting and reinforcing notions of punk authenticity. The live performance of music is perceived as the most authentic setting for punk music, and bands go to great lengths to recreate this soundscape in the recording studio. Bands achieve this sense of liveness by recording as a group, rather than individually for a polished studio sound mix, or by inviting friends and fans into the studio to help record a live show experience. House venues have been key to the development of the DFW scene with an emphasis on individual participation through hosting concerts in their homes. This creates a stronger sense of community in DIY punk performance. Through participation observation, interviews, analysis of source materials, as well as research in previous Punk scholarship, questions of authenticity, consumerism, and technology and sound studies, this thesis updates work on the experience of sound, listening, and the importance of space in DIY punk communities today.

Twenty-five years of independent, underground, or punk rock music-making in St. John's, Newfoundland, have been defined by geographic isolation. In tracing a historical record of the small city's punk/indie scene, this project seeks to evaluate recent academic discussion surrounding the role of collectivity in artistic 'independence' and examine the impact of prevailing international aesthetics and changing communication technologies on local practice. The self-containment and self-sufficiency of the St. John's music community, largely the product of the city's isolated position on the extreme eastern tip of a large island off the east coast of North America, provide a unique backdrop against which to foreground a discussion of the distance between indie/punk rhetoric and reality. I contend that 'scene' in popular and academic use refers to the casual aggregation occasioned by similar interest and shared location, while 'community' hints at effort, co-operation and productive support.

In order to analyze the relationship of punk to anarchy, this thesis will investigate the discursive function of "anarchy" both in contemporaneous accounts of punk and in subsequent histories. Beginning with the genesis of British punk and the first references to anarchy in different media during the late 1970s, subsequent chapters focus on the seminally influential anarcho-punk band Crass in order to discern their impact on the evolution of the anarcho-punk genre and its relationship to anarchism up through the mid-1980s. Several other anarcho-punk bands will also be considered for their contributions to this genre. In addition to providing an in-depth study of anarcho-punk, which has been largely ignored by scholars, the present work seeks to enhance understanding of the role of anarchy in punk discourse and hopes to offer a starting point for analysing recent developments in other politicised subcultures.

This thesis examines the punk genre's evolution into commercial mainstream music in Spain and Mexico. It looks at how this evolution altered both the aesthetic and gesture of the genre. This evolution can be seen by examining four bands that followed similar musical and commercial trajectories. In Spain, Kaka de Luxe and Radio Futura; in Mexico, Size and Ritmo Peligroso. Since punk music's gesture is both visceral and political, various methods of suppressing or containing the punk gesture arise. For both Spain and Mexico, containing the punk gesture was a matter of government censorship in the early years of punk. By the late 1980s, neoliberalism, global tastes, and capitalist interests controlled the punk gesture more than governmental crackdown. The thesis concludes that while the punk gesture was contained for both political and economic reasons during the 1980s, the resurgence of the punk gesture in the 1990s is evidence of the genre's resilience in a capitalist and hegemonic environment.

El objetivo principal de esta tesis es la comprensión del papel de determinados movimientos corporales no instrumentales pero relacionados de una u otra forma con la música en los procesos de identificación colectiva e individual, y en la formación y mantenimiento de un sentimiento de pertenencia a un colectivo de personas unidas principalmente por tener un interés en común en un género musical determinado. Los movimientos, acciones y posturas corporales investigados son los realizados por las personas músicas durante la performance musical, el concierto, excluyendo los movimientos instrumentales productores de sonido. Igualmente se analizan los movimientos realizados por el público tanto como reacción ante la música y el concierto que como conformadores del mismo concierto. Una parte de estos movimientos relacionados con la música presentan un alto grado de automatización. Por otra parte, y en relación con lo anterior, consideramos que todo movimiento corporal puede ser significado por una persona perceptora. Al abordar la actividad motora corporal como criterio en la construcción de una identidad grupal y como catalizadora de un sentimiento de pertenencia a un grupo es ineludible investigar sus condiciones socio-históricas de producción, propagación, adquisición y aprendizaje. El concierto se caracteriza por la contigüidad corporal, productora de un conjunto de interacciones sociales basadas en las relaciones cara a cara. Esta copresencia kinésico- corporal dota de significados y posibilidades afectivas a determinados movimientos y acciones corporales caracterizados especialmente por ser colectivos y seguir normas implícitas. La escena local —en esta investigación las del punk, el hardcore y la improvisación libre— es el contexto sociocultural en el que se desarrolla el concierto, y a la vez el colectivo o comunidad —ya que como exponemos una escena local es, entre otras cosas, un grupo de personas unidas por un gusto y unas prácticas musicales— que será el destinatario último de ese sentimiento de pertenencia, así como un entorno delimitado por criterios identificatorios, entre ellos los relacionados con el cuerpo.
The main objective of this thesis is to comprehend the role of certain non-instrumental body movements related to music in the processes of both collective and individual identification, as well as in the formation and maintenance of a feeling of belonging to a group united mainly by a common musical genre. The movements, actions and body postures investigated are those performed by the musicians during the musical performance, excluding the sound-producing instrumental movements. Likewise, the movements made by the audience are analysed both as a reaction to the music and the concert and as part of the concert itself. Besides, these movements related to music present a high degree of automation. In addition, we consider that all body movement can be signified by the perceiving person. When approaching the corporal motor activity as a criterion in the construction of a group identity and as a catalyst for a feeling of belonging to a group, it is inescapable to investigate its socio-historical conditions of production, propagation, acquisition and learning. The concert is characterized by bodily contiguity, producing a set of social interactions based on face-to-face relationships. This kinetic bodily co-presence endows with meanings and affective possibilities to certain movements and corporal actions characterized especially by being collective and following implicit norms. The local scene - in this particular investigation the punk, hardcore and free improvisation scenes of Barcelona - is the sociocultural context in which the concert takes place, and at the same time the collective or community - since how we expose a local scene is, among other things , a group of people united by a sharing musical taste and musical practices — who will be the ultimate recipient of that feeling of belonging, as well as an environment delimited by identifying criteria, including those related to the body.

From the claims of punk rocker GG Allin aiming to shed his own blood for Rock ‘n’ Roll to the religiously tinted narratives of Bruce Springsteen we come to find artists using religious references to color their artistic medium. A question arises: Could these utterances and narratives show a deeper meaning behind Rock ‘n’ Roll such that it can give individuals a way to obtain religious experience? This thesis aims at arguing for the ability of Rock ‘n’ Roll as having a way to incite feelings of religious experience and communitas. Through the usage of auto-ethnography coupled with subsidiary sources from academic to pop culture writers this thesis will investigate if such a creative form helps to enable individuals to experience transcendence and feelings of community while immersed in Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Sociology.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-409). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ67936.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Education.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-132). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR45946

Punk rock provided not only a watershed of creativity, innovation and a do-it-yourself spirit to a culture saturated in the mainstream, it physically brought like-minded people together in a community, or rather extended family, which in today’s hyper-d.i.y. culture, is progressively declining. As early as the 1940s, theorists such as Adorno and Horkheimer warned us about alienation in a society increasingly dependent on technology. By looking to punk, and other resilient and robust counter-cultures, perhaps we can find solutions to the pitfalls of the ‘culture industry’ (Adorno, Horkheimer, 1944). My thesis, consisting of a feature-length documentary film and textual analysis, is a culmination of: ethnographic research into the punk scene in my own community; theoretical research into the sociology, ethnography and subculture theory; and my own subjectivity. My personal findings are presented to offer insight into punk philosophy and to spur discourse, rather than deliver an objective account or didactic reproach.
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