Name the first 3 things that pop into your head when you hear the word 'punk'
- Safety pins, bondage and Sex Pistols
- 1977, Sex Pistols and The Clash
- Mohicans, leather jackets and Clint Eastwood
- Music, tartan and Dr Martens
- Never mind the bollocks, God save the Queen and mohicans
- Mohicans, politics and DIY clothes
- Tartan, mohicans and Sex Pistols
- Stiff little fingers, DIY music and S+M
- DIY, Dad and mohicans
- Tartan, Mohicans and Vivienne Westwood
- Mohicans, Tartan and bright coloured hair
- Studs, Vivienne Westwood and Dr Martens
- Leather, Sid Vicious and Mohican
I've tallied the results to make them easier to digest;
- Safety pins-1
- Bondage-2
- Sex Pistols-3
- 1977-1
- The Clash-1
- Mohicans-8
- Leather-2
- Clint Eastwood-1
- Music-1
- Tartan-4
- Dr Martens-2
- Never mind the bollocks-1
- God save the Queen-1
- Politics-1
- DIY-3
- Stiff little fingers-1
- Dad-1
- Vivienne Westwood-2
- Hair colour-1
- Sid Vicious-1
- Studs-1
Some of the results are very similar and could be merged into groups E.G. Never mind the bollocks and God save the Queen only got one result each but fall under the category of music. I'm going to keep the original tally but also going to create a new one that puts all the similar results into a group. I organised my findings into these specific groups because I feel they were and are the most important icons of the punk period.
- Clothes-12
- Hair-9
- DIY-3
- Music-8
- Politics-1
- People-3
- Other-3
Conducting this survey gave me an insight of peoples understandings of punk and it's icons but I wanted somebodies first hand accounts to get a greater grasp on the subject, therefore the next step was to interview an ex-punk.
Q. When did you first consider yourself to be a punk?
A. It was 1977 because I had been working away and had just returned around the same time punk had reached Lancashire.
Q. Why did you choose to be a punk?
A. It wasn't the way they dressed it was the alternative music. I'm interested in the lyrics of a song and the meaning behind them, at the time there were 4 music choices; Prog Rock, Disco, Punk or Pop. Punk songs had real meaning behind them.
Q. So what was your first real punk experience?
A. It was a gig, I saw a band called The Attics at Lodestar in Ribchester.
Q. Were you into the whole punk fashion?
A. No I didn't dress like a punk at all even though I was a manager at a punk clothing store. The reason I didn't dress like a punk because I didn't want to alienate myself from other people.
Q. Did the politics and social issues at the time affect/influence you?
A. They only really affected me through the lyrics in the music I listened to as opposed to things happening on the news and in the real world.
Q. Were you part of any group or gang?
A. No at the time I worked and lived in Devon and there wasn't a big punk scene where I lived. I was influenced solely by the music and not peer groups.
Q. Finally can you recall any 'icons' of that era?
A. Joe Strummer, Sid Vicious, Malcolm Mclaren, Vivienne Westwood and Johnnie Rotten.