Sex Drugs And Rock N Roll Research Paper

Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. This phrase has long been used to summarize the rock lifestyle, but given the great diversity of rock music many would agree that this concept is most prevalent in the subgenre known as punk. Punk was gritty, foul, arrogant and snotty, nothing it said had meaning outside of what could be said with a mere finger gesture…or was it? In truth punk was as diverse in its nature as rock was as a whole. It is because of this that so many argue about when exactly the punk scene started, but many agree that it was born right here in the states, out of small town garages from boys and girls sick of the mundane spiff the radio played. This, is their story.
In the late 60s, shortly after the Vietnam War had begun, the hippy movement had started. People who united against the war, people who went to parties, Woodstock, took LSD and made love in the streets, it is these people many say were the first of the punks. While they grooved instead of thrashed, these peace loving boys and girls were rebelling. This rebellious mentality is what punk is, it is “the fight against complacency,” Don Lette, punk: attitude. But punk is in its own sense,
self destructive. Many of the now recognizable punk icons of today didn’t like the hippies, they didn’t like anything in fact, they wanted to tear down everything and start from the ground up. This is quite possibly why punk rock does not follow any of the “rules” of music.
The Velvet Underground was the first to stand out from the hippy movement and culture. They were dressed in black, with wrap around shades and the literary references made in their songs. Their subject matter was also quite dark, which was highly uncommon in the hippy culture of make love, not war. At the center of it all was Andy Warhol, who had brought these people together in the first place, while Lou Reed and Nico became the metaphorical face of the band, Warhol was the brain behind their success.
Then came MC5. Unlike the Velvets, MC5 did not stand the test of time. This was not very surprising due to the fact that they did not release an album. But this was due to an intro for one of their (now most famous) songs, Kick Out the Jams, that used the word mother******. Today it seems rather trivial to ban an entire album for using that word, but back then it was a truly wicked thing to say.
Meanwhile across the ocean, England had more to worry about than one risqué word.
For this was the time the most notorious punk band made its début on the streets of London. The Sex Pistols, one of the rudest, obnoxious, vile, and rebellious bands had arrived. Led by front man Johnny Rotten, the band quickly made a place for itself in music history. The Sex Pistols only existed for six months, but what made them last was the fact that they themselves were so terrible. They swore (not only at shows but on TV as well), sniffed glue, stuck safety pins in places they were never meant to go, wrote songs that broke nearly every taboo, all the while inspiring kids to go out and make music themselves. But despite it all the reason the band broke up was because of the classic Yoko effect, only with the twist of hard
drugs.
Shortly after The Sex Pistols had run their course people everywhere began to pick up guitars and form bands. The Smiths, the Clash, Dropkick, Stained, all started shortly after going to a Sex Pistols concert. And most of them went on to find great success.
Punk has become a revolutionary step in rock history. It has evolved (and degenerated) over time as all things do, but its following has never been stronger than it is today. It continues to touch and change the lives of many and lives on in the spirit of those who still chose to question what they are told and act out for what they believe.