“Punk and Its Afterlives: Introduction” presents the special issue and stages an intervention in the study of punk. Setting aside codified origin myths around punk, alternative histories and futures emerge to offer an expanded continuum of music, politics, and affect. … Continue reading “Punk and Its Afterlives: Introduction”
Issue: Issue 116 Punk and Its Afterlives
Punk and Its Afterlives
“Why Be Something That You’re Not?” Punk Performance and the Epistemology of Queer Minstrelsy
Drew DanielThis essay examines the phenomenon of “queer minstrelsy”—roughly, straight performers pretending onstage and in their lyrics to be gay, here exemplified by the Meatmen, the Frogs, and Zeigenbock Kopf—as a means for thinking about performance as both a catalyst for, … Continue reading ““Why Be Something That You’re Not?” Punk Performance and the Epistemology of Queer Minstrelsy”
Wallflower Masculinities and the Peripheral Politics of Emo
Matthew Carrillo-VincentA sideways critique from a sideways stance, emo presents one of punk’s most fascinating effects: an opportunity for us to think about what a criticism of normativity looks like when it comes from the normative subject. And so while this … Continue reading “Wallflower Masculinities and the Peripheral Politics of Emo”
Punk’s Afterlife in Cantina Time
Deborah VargasThis essay considers the afterlife of punk through an orientation of time and space in the spatiotemporality of the cantina (South Tejas working-class bar). With attention to the Tejas punk sounds of Piñata Protest and Girl in a Coma, I … Continue reading “Punk’s Afterlife in Cantina Time”
Tricky and the Bug: Dub, Punk, and the Abject
Jayna BrownIn considering the music of two dub-influenced artists based in the United Kingdom, Tricky (Adrian Thaws) and the Bug (Kevin Martin), I explore the ways dub and punk share historical space and affective territory, and particularly the ways a punk … Continue reading “Tricky and the Bug: Dub, Punk, and the Abject”
“Gimme Gimme This… Gimme Gimme That” Annihilation and Innovation in the Punk Rock Commons
kerriThe great paradox of any punk scene is the ways in which it can simultaneously foster a sort of nihilistic individualism and an often transformational sense of commonality. This essay considers the performance of a punk rock commons that emerged … Continue reading ““Gimme Gimme This… Gimme Gimme That” Annihilation and Innovation in the Punk Rock Commons”
“Police and Thieves” Citation as Struggle in the Punk Cover Song
Debra Rae CohenAttention to pop ideology is inevitably limited where it doesn’t take formal questions into consideration. However, the question of form in a pop record is itself complicated, because form here doesn’t simply mean song form: it also involves negotiations and … Continue reading ““Police and Thieves” Citation as Struggle in the Punk Cover Song”
Go Gaga: Anarchy, Chaos, and the Wild
jack halberstamIn this essay, I track a history of punk that I associate with wild vocalization within a history of black aesthetics. Building upon the work of Fred Moten, Jayna Brown, and Tavia Nyong’o, this essay returns to some eccentric moments … Continue reading “Go Gaga: Anarchy, Chaos, and the Wild”
This Balaclava Is Too Hot
Barbara Browning“This Balaclava Is Too Hot” is a narrative account of the author’s experiences presenting material in public forums on the relationship between faith, feminism, and aesthetics in the work of Pussy Riot. While US audiences have tended to sympathize with … Continue reading “This Balaclava Is Too Hot”
Coda: “The Cassette Played Poptones” Punk’s Pop Embrace of the City in Ruins
patrick deerThe embrace of the city in ruins was a familiar rallying cry of punk music. From Public Image Limited’s evocation of an urban subject murdered in the countryside while “the cassette played poptones,” to the Clash’s raucous calls for “a … Continue reading “Coda: “The Cassette Played Poptones” Punk’s Pop Embrace of the City in Ruins”