The first wave of Punk contained two distinct streams: the aggressive, nihilistic working class movement and the intellectual development of the situationists.
Whilst some argue that the first wave was not supported by any intellectual agenda it was in the second wave that the movements intellectual influences became increasingly apparent. Further, this second wave, according to Muggleton, straddles class boundaries. Following Dada and Surrealism, Situationalism was a radical philosophy, originating in France in the mid 1950s, and was influential within the Student riots of 1968 in Paris. Denouncing left-wing politics, the Situationalists sought to confront dominant assumptions regarding gender, sexuality, the family and work through the politicisation of culture, leading to a revolution of everyday life. It was the distinctive ‘cut-up’ style of the situationists’ art-work that heavily influenced James Reid in the design of the distinctive record sleeves for the Sex Pistols, and which went on to become the dominant image of Punk. Whereas the earlier movement sought to shock through appearances, the second wave of punk has developed an overtly political ideology.
The movement seeks to challenge dominant conceptions regarding issues such as sexism (Riot Girls), racism (Rock Against Racism), legal and illegal drug use (Straight Edge Punk) and Homophobia (Queer Punk) through both parody and through practise. By concentrating on the remarkable appearance of this subculture, it has been possible for academics to miss its transgressive potential, for this resistance is expressed through consumption, and is felt to be empowering by the subcultualists committed to the ideology of anarchism.
Yet, before we can claim the Punk as the vanguard of history it is necessary to explore the ways in which the movement has, through its opposition to capitalism and its ideology of anarchism, sought to ‘re-embed’ relations of production, distribution and consumption, continuing the ideals of the 1960s counter culture.
