Punk Personality: Contradictions in Stereotyping Identity

The notion of stereotyping identity through popular music is not new. Indeed, the defining of a ‘cultural style’ that individuals identify with is as crucial, if not more crucial, than the actual musical genre itself. A ‘cultural style’ not only includes superficial notions of aesthetics (i.e. ‘the look’ associated with a genre), but also includes the perpetuation of an ideology as it pertains to concepts such as capitalism, consumerism, race and gender. One does not have to look far to see examples of this on the interface of musical representations.[1] However, often in these representations, there are many contradictions presented in relation to the identity espoused. For example, the Punk genre is stereotyped as an anti establishment ideology, which accentuates individualism and rejects middle class values. It is represented as exhibiting disgust in relation to authority or ‘the man’. Yet, despite this perpetuated stereotype, Punk actually presents and promotes itself through the establishment- the very thing it detests. It is often represented by big business (i.e. recording studios, such as EMI[2]), has clothing lines (which actually goes against the notion of being anti consumerism through safety pinning old clothes together) and uses conventional establishments such as MTV[3] to moan about power structures, while enforcing them at the same time. The individualism conveyed is only as individual as the confines of consumerism and commodification allows. Thus, this so called rejection of establishment and integrity based on individualism is merely a representational facade - a fictional stereotype- a hyperreality. Nevertheless, the consumer, specifically young adults seeking meaning and affiliation, are all too eager to embrace yet another form of consumerism and capitalism manipulation.

[1] For example, Rap/Hip Hop music sexually objectifies women, identifies African Americans as playboys and gangsters, and enforces a consumer driven ideology where ‘bling’/material status acts as a buffer for an underlying theme: violence perpetuated by racial oppression.
[2] For example, The Sex Pistols.
[3] MTV is owned by Viacom: one of the ‘big six’ that own most of the media outlets in the world.