Primark Punks - Sanitised Rebellion

OK .. that's a slight bastardisation of a song by the Television Personalities which was about part time punks but I've never been able to get it out of my head ever since a friend mentioned the term Primark Punks .. ie all the Emos etc that buy off the peg kind of punk sort of like clothes know what I mean .. innit :-)

But there is a serious point here and I am of the age when punk was the thing .. I never did the safety pin fashion and the spitting etc but what really turned me on to punk was the DIY ethos .. the if you want to do it, then do it attitude. Granted, it turned out some pretty awful music at times but then created some excellent music by bands such as the Slits who could barely play a note when they started to play live but went on to become an influential band.

The thing is, they just went and did it .. they didn't wait until it became a fashion. They created their own look and created their own music.

It's funny really, you often hear people of my age moan about the youth of today, and I do too, often a little tongue in cheek but I moan for different reasons. What really worries me is the lack of rebellion .. it's like everything has to be done for them. The clothes have to be ready to wear from a major chain store, all the little fashion accessories are bought too .. there is no DIY spirit it seems. Just go shopping then  back to their purple bedrooms with purple candles to be part of the gang - no sense of individuality.

But maybe that's just me, after all, I'm not 16 any more and peer pressure is different, more influenced by the media which is much more invasive than in my youth and 'always on' too.

And in some ways the internet HAS actually allowed individuality to flow whilst at the same time supresses it with more peer pressure.

One thing I hate which may influence this somewhat is the technology such as at Amazon where if you buy something it says .. 'you might also like' .. well .. maybe I might but by doing this, are we condemming people to stay within certain boundaries .... but that's for another article.

Rant over :-)