Thread: Is a punk just an angry hippy?

Joe Strummer the punk rock icon started life as a hippy and when he retired from being angry he declared himself a hippy again. So this is my question, is a punk just an angry hippy?

Yes and No.

I refuse to label and generalize. "Hippy"
"Yuppy" "hipster" "gangsta" "punk"

It's a tricky one and for sure I think people have different sides to them. I just found it interesting Joe Strummer calling himself a hippy when that was a side of him he rejected but ultimately embraced. Maybe punk is the angry stage of rejection, be it spiritual, economic, political, societal. At the end of the day, if things get better there is less to be punk about. If you have no sense of punk then you likely live in the matrix. I am surprised mainstream music is so bland and apolitical today. There should be a lot more punk attitude. Muse are doing it somewhat with the political themes, but then again they are making 10 minute prog tracks too. Punk is about everyone being able to do it. A message, an attitude, a snarl. Then you can smile and be friendly when the rant is over. There should always be at least some punk.

Can you be a punk hippy. I know one can be a punk ass bitch but I'm not sure about a punk hippy. If you can be a punk hippy, I am a punk hippy.

Originally Posted by Gandalf

It's a tricky one and for sure I think people have different sides to them. I just found it interesting Joe Strummer calling himself a hippy when that was a side of him he rejected but ultimately embraced. Maybe punk is the angry stage of rejection, be it spiritual, economic, political, societal. At the end of the day, if things get better there is less to be punk about. If you have no sense of punk then you likely live in the matrix. I am surprised mainstream music is so bland and apolitical today. There should be a lot more punk attitude. Muse are doing it somewhat with the political themes, but then again they are making 10 minute prog tracks too. Punk is about everyone being able to do it. A message, an attitude, a snarl. Then you can smile and be friendly when the rant is over. There should always be at least some punk.

The Clash like the Pistols were always the mainstream rock versions of punk that still retained a jarring originality in an age of heavy AOR and Radio banality. It wasn't just Prog the vomit inducing dirge of Glam had for every one off original trailblazer like Bowie a million Sweets and shit like Paper Lace clogging up the air waves. In many ways Punks were not overtly political in sermonising like many Hippies who took on the folk mantle of carrying on the protest movement but were more direct in confronting things like racism by having been so influenced by Reggae and Dub. It became more obvious with Two Tone but Donn Letts was not the Clashes film maker by accident. I photograph loads of Punk bands now that are in their fifties and though It can get a bit repetitive, It's refreshing that a generation in their twenties are not embarrassed to make up half the audience and play on the same bills with their bands. In fct my mate has his 25 year old son as lead guitarist in his band

Muse ? they are about a million miles away from the idea of a two minute D.I.Y fuck you ethic in which everyone is invited and musicality is resigned to secondary importance with the idea, enthusiasm and realness taking centre stage. Once you admit its all surface and doesn't not really mean anything, then it becomes incredibly real and will never leave your soul. Not sure Muse even have a soul

Autonomads, Dead Kennedys, Psychedelic Furs, Cramps, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, X-Ray Spex, Gwar, Sporadics, Poison Idea, Le Tigre, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Rezillos, Devo, Discharge, Clash, Ruts, Vibrators, Wedding Present, Madness, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Minor Threat, Blitz, The Slits, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Asian Dub Foundation, Bolt Thrower, Culture Shock, Blondie, Planet Gong, Hagar the Womb, Those Naughty Lumps, Doom, The Fall, Electro Hippies, Random Hand, MDC, Slade, Stiff Little Fingers, Angelic Upstarts, Pop Will Eat Itself, UK Subs, Androids of Mu, The Mob, Wedding Present, Senseless Things, Buzzcocks, Chaos UK, Dickies, Flux of Pink Indians, Steel Pulse, Bad Manners, Amebix, Prince Buster, Dr Feelgood, King Kurt, Alien Sex Fiend, Joy Division, The Adverts, Kate Bush, Vivian Stanshall, Nirvana, Hole, Splodgenessabounds, Dandy Warhols, Iron Maiden, Melt Banana, I Refuse It!, Nina Hagen, Lime Spiders, Black Sabbath, Public Image Limited, David Bowie, Gary Numan, Hawkwind, Jane's Addiction, Germs, Damned, Spizz, Black Flag, Minutemen, Angry Samoans, Fleas and Lice, Oi Polloi, Velvet Underground, Stooges, Hello Bastards, Bis, Jim Jones Revue, Primal Scream, Jesus and Mary Chain, Stupids, Crass, Subhumans, Destroy All Monsters, Man...Or Astroman?, Come On, Dead City Riot, Police Bastard, Cardiacs, Undertones, Wire, Toy Dolls, Talking Heads, Inner Terrestrials, Joan Jett, Plasmatics, Eek-A-Mouse, Mischief Brew, GBH, Penetration, Guttermouth, New Model Army, These Lovely Eggs, Elastica, Spear of Destiny, Descendents, Rage Against the Machine, T Rex, Selector, Stranglers, Motorhead, Poisoned Electrick Head, Meteors, Half Man Half Biscuit, Alternative TV, Johnny Moped, Bad Religion, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Peter & The Test Tube Babies, Partisans, Husker Du, Sugarcubes, John Otway, Satan's Rats, Art Brut, Thrilled Skinny, Blyth Power, Inca Babies, Credit to the Nation, Prodigy, Misty in Roots, LKJ, Body Count, Foo Fighters, Slipknot, Therapy?, Girlschool, Snuff, Misfits, Butthole Surfers, Back to the Planet, RDF,Fugazi, System of a Down, Adam & The Ants, Operation Ivy, Teradrop Explodes, Ugly Kid Joe, Sex Pistols, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Strokes, Extreme Noise Terror, Wonk Unit, Orb, Voorhees, Choking Victim, Atari Teenage Riot, Sick of it All, Anti-Flag, Leftover Crack, Mad Professor, Boss Hog, Electric Six, Peaches, Love and Rockets, Face to Face, Visage, Magazine, Menace, Fear, REM, Pogues, Foetus Inc., Rammstein, Dr and the Crippens, NoFX, Cure, Strawberry Switchblade, One Way System, Armitage Shanks, Alice Donut, Leatherface, English Dogs, Omega Tribe, Poison Girls, Skints, Rudimentary Peni, Penywise, Placebo, The Smiths, Sisters of Mercy, Screeching Weasel, Punishment of Luxury, The Cult, Violent Femmes, Vandals, Sleater Kinney, Link Wray, Chron Gen, Eastfield, Some Chicken, Killjoys, Hives, Ash, Flys, Lunachicks, Die Zwei, UK Decay, We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It

No, Muse have a soul and that is Matt Bellamy's conflict. Every good man can feel dead inside and then in the next breath want to say something that will change the world. Muse have a heart and even their bsides are very good.

I am FUNK-PUNK.

Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust

I am FUNK-PUNK.

You are a funk punk in the USA right now baby.

Originally Posted by walrus

Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust

I am FUNK-PUNK.

You are a funk punk in the USA right now baby.

here is what America has done to me

little pumpkin little steep a little pumpkin live with people of the earth thinking of the a smart boy to the s*** cheese sandwich fried grilled cheese sandwich Nathan's Famous hot dog sauerkraut little sweet you are so sweet hearts 12345 ABCDE X 678 910 blue orange red yellow P people little people people kill people eater paper bag

Really, I've never known or seen a lot of "angry" punks, and I've known a lot of those nutty fookers

Down at Mission beach, San Diego, I saw this guy come out of a "tea and granola" establishment. He had 'hippie hair', wore sandals, and a Pantera Vulgar Display Of Power shirt. Struck me as odd.

Depends on whether or not the punk likes authority and control....if so then yes. The members of Crass aren't hippieish at all

Real punks never trust or like a hippy.