Where have the punks gone??

Where have all the punks gone??

We need you back!!

In the seventies & eighties the punk genre provided a voice for the oppressed. The punks emerged from a time of greedy capitalistic governments and mass unemployment. Once again our society has found itself in a similar situation. In the late seventies the Sex Pistols led a musical counter attack on the oppressive regime, which was the start of a fresh way of thinking. You don’t have to accept the situation you are in if you’re not happy! This gave young people an empowerment that hadn’t existed pre-punk. Not only were people going to express themselves, they were going to protest and actively stand up against societies wrongs. This attitude of voiced protest spread to comedy and this provided alternative comedians like Ben Elton, who were not afraid of giving their opinions on society. Even the Queen of fashion Vivian Westwood was a punk. This punk culture was refusing to be silenced and was relentless in its pursuit of equality.

Today we are in a worse situation than in the punk era, society is seriously flawed and yet the people with a public voice are seemingly silent. I can’t think of a single punk band that has emerged since 2008, the year that we all found out how ineptly our country had been run. Now over 3 million people not in employment, a series of welfare benefits cut from people who rely on them and not a single protest song? How? Oh and not to mention students having to pay £9,000 a year tuition fees, and at the same time millionaires being given a £40,000 tax relief. If that isn’t enough to cause a rebirth of the punks I don’t know what will! I am starting to think that there is some sort of block on punk music by the powers that be. Instead of hearing music that has a message we are saturated with mindless manufactured music that has no benefit in society. Music can be the trend setter, the influence on people to make a difference.

People have stood up for what they believe, across the country there has been protests outside major high street shops that don’t pay their taxes. In London and eventually other parts of the country last year there was riots. These riots were dismissed as criminality pure and simple by David Cameron. Yet he was responsible for the closure of all the youth centres in that area. One of the major contributing factors of the riots, another huge factor is mass unemployment in the area of the riots. I am in no way in favour of rioting but I am in favour of protest. Which is why I think we need the punk spirit back to protest again our corrupt and selfish society?  

Sun Xun at the Blue Coat art gallery

This week I visited the Blue Coat art gallery in Liverpool. For the next two weeks Liverpool is holding an art event called the Liverpool Biennial. This event is being held in several different locations, and has a sense of a cultural coming together in one city. As part of my university brief, I and two others explored the Sun Xun exhibition which is situated in the Blue Coat. The building from the outside is somewhat a piece of art. This 18^th century building, maybe considered a prime location for fine art, however perhaps unexpectedly its home to a selection of modern art. It would seem fitting that Sun Xun’s art seems to capture the modern and something of the old. I felt when observing the exhibition that I was seeing what could be described as modern fine art. Xun is certainly a talented artist, which is evident throughout his pieces. A particular favourite of mine was the hung scroll of birds, a hand drawn sequence of a bird taking off and flying away. This is so impressive because it is how you would view a piece of film, meaning that if it was animated it would create a moving image. Overall I was impressed by the gallery and the art inside. I would recommend the experience to anyone with an interest in art.