Although the violence of the Troubles and the climate of fear affected music groups – the 1975 Miami Showband massacre 8 discouraged many international rock bands from visiting Northern Ireland – a vibrant local scene emerged, with many young people starting bands such as the Undertones, Rudi, Stiff Little Fingers, the Outcasts, Ruefrex and scores of others. As a subculture, it emerged in London in 1976 and soon made its way to Northern Ireland 7. Punk’s colourful and eccentric haircuts, its angular lines and its rip-and-tear aesthetic defied high street 1970s fashion, upset parents and drew daring young people to this “new teenage cult” 6. This dissonant style of music was associated with a discordant style of dress. Punk rock was an aggressive, fast and minimalist genre of popular music which partly arose as a reaction against contemporary popular music which was perceived as being too commercial and unexciting or too pretentious and removed from the fan. 9 See for instance Timothy Heron, “Alternative Ulster: Punk and the Construction of Everyday Life in (.)ĢPunk is notoriously hard to define it is a both a subculture 5 and a complex cultural phenomenon which spanned several decades and several media – music, fashion, the visual arts, the alternative press, etc.8 On 31 July 1975 three members of the popular Miami Showband were gunned down by the loyalist Ulster (.).7 Punk spread to Northern Ireland much as it did to the cities and regions of Britain: through John P (.).5 Use of the term “subculture” is controversial, but we use the concept as it is defined by Paul Hodk (.).And yet it was this very quality that made punk – despite a relatively small base of participants – such an influential cultural force. Now that the codes and iconography of punk have been integrated into mainstream fashion, media and advertising, and at a time when punk’s fortieth anniversary is being celebrated in London with the official support of the Mayor’s Office and the British National Lottery, it is easy to forget how disturbing it really was. Indeed, as a cultural phenomenon and as a mode of artistic and human expression, punk juxtaposed elements that were generally seen as mutually exclusive, developed an aesthetic which celebrated the monstrous, and encouraged performances and behaviours which were deemed abject, thus disturbing boundaries and provoking strong emotional responses 4. This highlights an aspect of punk which is often forgotten or glossed over: its grotesque nature. Visitors, it warns, “are liable to be spat upon – at least”.
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