Overview

As a music scene, punk rock faces an unfortunate stereotype which often assumes an overwhelming presence of aggression and indifference. Using interviews and personal experience, Ellen M. Bernhard argues that contemporary punk scenes are more than just music and mohawks—they operate as sites of autonomous practice and networked communities where a tireless pursuit for social action is amplified by the platforms and forces that exist within the scene today. Contemporary Punk Rock Communities explores current trends within the punk rock community and concludes that today's scenes are spaces of autonomy and commitment where inclusiveness and diversity are prioritized. While self-sufficiency is preferred, scene-related practices are influenced and affected by the larger forces that exist within society today.

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9781498599672

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Is punk dead? In this compelling book, Ellen Bernhard-a dedicated punk scholar who knows what it means to journey hours cross-country or pack into a poorly ventilated venue for a show-answers with a definite and defiant `No!' Drawing on in-depth interviews with participants and the author's own first-hand experiences within the scene, she provides a much-needed investigation into contemporary punk culture. She demonstrates that punk's significance is limited to neither the 1970s or one's own adolescence, but that its continuing relevance persists decades after its birth and long after each premature declaration of its supposed death. Painting a vivid picture of the contemporary scene, she shows how punk isn't all just slam-dancing and PBR-swilling (although there is plenty of that too), but also a sincere and spirited fight for a better world. Along the way, she explores new, important topics such as the role of television, the use of social media, and the strange interaction of counterculture with popular culture in punk communities. Equal parts rigorous scholarly inquiry and impassioned love letter to the scene, this engagingly-written and informative work will resonate with anyone who has stood elbow-to-elbow in a dingy basement or smoky dive bar to catch a band no one has ever heard of. It will likewise fascinate anyone who hasn't, but wants to know what all the madness is about. A must for the student of punk rock and a persuasive argument for why those who aren't should be. -- Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl, University of New Haven, author of Punk Rock and the Politics of Place Bernhard offers a more expansive and less ideologically centered view of punk than what we have seen in the past, and in doing so offers a corrective to common misconceptions about the culture. What emerges is a picture of contemporary punk as a thoroughly postmodern community in its fragmentation, plurality, and contradictions-simultaneously reverential to its origins and eager to abandon their shadow. -- William Ryan Force, Western New England University

Is punk dead? In this compelling book, Ellen Bernhard-a dedicated punk scholar who knows what it means to journey hours cross-country or pack into a poorly ventilated venue for a show-answers with a definite and defiant `No!' Drawing on in-depth interviews with participants and the author's own first-hand experiences within the scene, she provides a much-needed investigation into contemporary punk culture. She demonstrates that punk's significance is limited to neither the 1970s or one's own adolescence, but that its continuing relevance persists decades after its birth and long after each premature declaration of its supposed death. Painting a vivid picture of the contemporary scene, she shows how punk isn't all just slam-dancing and PBR-swilling (although there is plenty of that too), but also a sincere and spirited fight for a better world. Along the way, she explores new, important topics such as the role of television, the use of social media, and the strange interaction of counterculture with popular culture in punk communities. Equal parts rigorous scholarly inquiry and impassioned love letter to the scene, this engagingly-written and informative work will resonate with anyone who has stood elbow-to-elbow in a dingy basement or smoky dive bar to catch a band no one has ever heard of. It will likewise fascinate anyone who hasn't, but wants to know what all the madness is about. A must for the student of punk rock and a persuasive argument for why those who aren't should be. -- Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl, University of New Haven, author of Punk Rock and the Politics of Place

Author Information

Ellen M. Bernhard is lecturer in the Communication Department at Chestnut Hill College.

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