Underlying the popularly perceived “refinement” of the United Kingdom is a rich and deep history and association with punk music. Punk music was first invented in the United States but became prominent in the UK in 1976 with bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash emerging as central players. Aggressive and fast with distorted sounds and lyrics that are decidedly anti-establishment, punk music and punk culture overall has made a certain reputation for itself: no matter what, social injustice is unacceptable. It seems that in America, any political message in music has been lost, and there is a wider acceptance of oppression and injustice. As the UK’s punk scene subverts the apolitical and is loud about social issues, the United States must look to it. Blending culture and radical change together may be the perfect catalyst for Americans to stand against systems that oppress them.
Take the Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. In the band’s 2022 song “I Love You,” lead singer Grian Chatten declares, “And I love you like a penny loves the pocket of a priest.” Despite the prominence of the Catholic Church in Ireland and the vastness of the establishment as a whole, Fontaines D.C. still found the ability to criticize its corruption.
Another band, the British punk rap duo Bob Vylan, has come to light recently for leading the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine!” and “Death, death to the IDF” during their set at the 2024 Glastonbury Music Festival in response to the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israel Defense Forces, something that even the United Nations has characterized as an “unlawful presence.”
Actually, the UK’s punk scene has been doing this for a long time. In 1976, The Clash’s frontman Joe Strummer said, “We’re anti-fascist, we’re anti-violence, we’re anti-racist and we’re pro-creative.”
In standing up against these establishments and the general acceptance of injustice, these bands embolden others to take a stand against what subjugates them. When you cut through the blaring guitars and truly listen, you understand that punk aims to bring awareness to a wide-reaching range of social and political issues. It voices what people already know.
Never has the U.S. needed this more than now. Despite being the inventors of the punk genre, Americans have been accepting injustice with a certain amount of passivism, especially when it comes to the federal government. I watch my friends repost posts on Instagram condemning injustice and I see celebrities make statements on the Notes app asserting their beliefs, but it all just seems so quiet. Americans, where did the screaming go?
It might be because sometimes, it feels like too much. In just a little over 10 months, President Donald Trump’s administration has committed mass deportations, made massive cutbacks on SNAP benefits and facilitated the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States. But Fontaines D.C. went against the Catholic Church, an establishment whose actions have long-standing consequences for society in Ireland even today, and Bob Vylan raised awareness of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, an issue that has roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If punk music can go against establishments that have been subjugating others for hundreds of years, Americans can stand up against the federal government. Because it’s not just about standing up against Trump or any other politician that has subjugated Americans these past few months but about confronting the systems that have allowed these politicians to take these actions in the first place.
Americans cannot bow to the institutions they consider permanent, because they aren’t. Just as the Catholic Church can be criticized and the Israeli occupation can be protested, so too can the face of American politics be changed. In turn, social issues can be absolved or at least improved. We just can’t give up now.
In Green Day’s song “American Idiot,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says, “Don’t want to be an American idiot / Don’t want a nation under the new media,” urging listeners to think for themselves and to stop minimizing the discourse around issues.
Normalize dissent. Stand for a culture that screams for change and is loud about the fact that we can actually do things. Bringing back American political punk means that we can create and shape the type of world we live in. We do not have to accept our oppression.