Whatever happened to "pay no more than..."?

Over at Dave's there is a bit of a discussion on punk (sparked by Dave going off to see the Buzzcocks, lucky bugger). I've cut and pasted part of my contribution here, plus some other thoughts - extra bonus material!

Some of the younger folk seem to think the main thing about punk was that it was new and trendy. Like it was the latest thing man. Well, I don't think punk's 'ethic' was out with the old and in with the new at all.

Whilst when it first appeared it was new (which I think is pretty unavoidable) it hardly advocated moving on to the next fad as soon as it appeared. Tartan wearing bay city rollers fans and tubular bells all had their moments of newness but they could hardly be described as the spirit of punk.

You could argue that the Boy Band phenomenon with its fuck the music we're in it for the money attitude and it's clear historically transitory nature could fit very easily into some definitions of punk - but that would be just plain silly.

"A guy walks up to me and asks, 'What's Punk?'. So I kick over a garbage can and say 'That's Punk!'. So he kicks over a garbage can and says 'That's Punk?', and I say 'No, that's trendy!"

I would have thought the thing that made punk punk was nihilism. Which is why, as one commentator says, Green Day will never be punk - because all the chords may be there but wrapped up as a perfectly constructed, symmetrical product. I mean that's just sick!

I think punk's self destructive gofuckyourselfness fitted perfectly with the rise in unemployment and decline of the revolutionary hopes of '68, a Labour government shitting on the unions it was meant to be 'in the pocket of' and the bloody conflict in Northern Ireland.

Hey, we'd been living with the prospect of nuclear annihilation by one or other of the superpowers for decades and we were meant to take sides? Kill the Vietnamese for what? A flag? Sod that for a game of soldiers.

When there are no more viable choices - choose nothing.

"Undermine their pompous authority, reject their moral standards, make anarchy and disorder your trademarks. Cause as much chaos and disruption as possible but don't let them take you ALIVE."

For me the real punks were always the jeans and t-shirt wearers rather than the peacock haired part-time punks who "pogo in their bedroom... but only when their Mum's gone out." It always seemed to me that they were more into make up and fashion than taking a shit on a shit world. It takes a lot of effort to get your hair to look like that.

"This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band"

But as much as punk defined itself in opposition to any authority it could find from Mary Whitehouse to Bill Grundy [see infamous interview] authority also loved punk - it appeared to be exactly the way they wanted rebellion to be, standing for nothing except pulling down civilisation around our ears. Jacking in your job and punching the supervisor because he wanted you to stack crates of toothpaste was the ultimate in punk ethic - becoming a shop steward and improving health and safety in the workplace wasn't really on the cards.

Can't play? Can't be bothered to learn how? Form a punk band.

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock