Where To Get Information For A Political Punk Band

What are the socio-political origins of punk rock?

Note: There will be exceptions to everything I write in this answer. Punk is and was a pretty broad subculture so generalizations don't  apply 100% of the time.Not to belittle the influence of the punk scene in 1970's England, Punk is a little older than that. 1960's proto-punk bands like The Sonics, The Velvet Underground, The Seeds, The MC5, The Stooges,  and many more were laying the ground work in the 60's for full fledged punk to arise in the early 70's. These were predominantly white, urban, working class and mid to lower middle class men. There was a common thread of subversiveness that ran through these bands, but the subversiveness could be manifested in different ways. Sometimes it was political (Anarchists, Nihilists and Marxists), sometimes it was Artistic subversion (Situationists), sometimes it was subversion of cultural mores (sexual freedom, disdain for laws or political structure). There was a distrust of authority and a rebellion from the cultural conformity of the 1950's that was similar to the hippy subculture, but darker and more pessimistic.The early 70's brought the early punks, Suicide, The Ramones, Televison, Patti Smith, The Stranglers, The Saints, DEVO, Radio Birdman, The Talking Heads etc... These bands were similar to the Proto-Punk bands but had more art school influences and involved more women.With the rise of the true punks, punk turned overtly political in the late 1970s in the UK some to the left as a protest against the Thatcher administration, some to the right with the Nationalist skinhead movement. US bands caught up somewhat in the 80's with the election of Thatcher's soul mate Ronald Reagan. This is Punk's Golden Age (76-82), with bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Black Flag, The Buzzcocks, The Germs, Joy Division, The Birthday Party, The Fall, Husker Du, Minor Threat, The Mekons, The Scientists, The Dead Kennedys... After the mid 80s, Punk began to Balkanize into the thousand sub genres that exist today. These groups are so diverse that they defy classification. During the 80's punk also spread outside of the Anglophone (and to a lesser extent German speaking) countries, becoming a world wide subculture.From a geographical perspective, proto-punks were predominantly American, early punks were mostly American, British and Australian and true punks were mostly British and American.

Songwriting: How do I write a political punk song?

First think about the politics.  I can't imagine a punk song that says, "Vote for Donald Trump" (or for that matter anybody else from Ted Cruz to Hilary Clinton, to Bernie Sanders to Jello Biafra himself)  because that's not what punk politics is about.To paraphrase Tom Robinson: Politics is about your life.  It's about your best friend getting shot dead for being in the wrong neighbourhood at the wrong time.  It's about your dad losing the job he had for thirty years because they closed the factory and built a new one in Yunnan.  It's about the local venue getting closed down cause the neighbours hate the noise.  It's about anything you can think of.So... take whatever you want to protest about and write it in four lines with two rhymes.  There's your chorus.Then you write verses, maybe telling the story of some of those things happening  Most of the times, the Dead Kennedys only wrote a couple of verses, but sometimes they wrote more because they needed them.Or you could just do what we did for Love Bomb Jihad, namely call and response with a couple of slogans as a makeshift chorus.  (Of course, we stole that from Cajun styles but it's still punk as well).

Is punk rock politically polarized? What kind of politics dominate the punk world? Who are the outliers?

In the 70s the British punk bands that talked about politics tended to be left wing. The Clash were the main political punk band of the era, whose politics were firmly nailed to the left, as were some of the later post punk and New Wave artists, like The Jam, SLF, Billy Bragg and New Model Army.These bands were largely anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, and anti-racist. Several artists were very vocal in their calls not to become involved in the army, a career that many disenfranchised young man chose. For some this seemed out of touch with their fan base.Billy Bragg wrote:The Clash put out a record…where they sang "it's up to you not to heed the call-up". I was also listening to Kate Bush, 'Army Dreamers', [SINGS] "what could he do, should have been a rock star, but he didn't have the money for a guitar, what could he do?/ Should have been a politician but he never had a proper education". It's weird innit, how sometimes it takes Kate Bush to understand how working class lads don't always have set choices the same as everyone else.Of course many, like The Sex Pistols, claimed politicians were all at fault and opted for Anarchy, which got translated as ‘anything goes’ - which isn’t really what it means.Billy Bragg's Favourite Albums... "Setting Sons!"There were right wing groups, the most famous of which were Screwdriver, who moved further and further to the right over their lifetime, and were firmly a neo-nazi, white-supremacist band. Bands like this influenced the ‘Oi’ bands, a working class movement against the over thought and college rock of some punks, and philosophising of people like Strummer, meaning that even bands like Sham 69, who were essentially left-leaning, were plagued by right wing skinheads. The backlash against this movement led to the multicultural ska movement.Strangely, many of the people to the right still listened to the Clash and the Jam, whereas those of us to the left wouldn’t buy a Screwdriver album.So in the UK in the 70s Punk was very political, in a way that I don’t see bands doing any more.

Do post-punk songs have the same political overtones as punk?

I would say yes. Though post-punk songs, when political, are often more subtle and eloquent. Also the political themes are often "hidden". Dark and dystopian lyrics reflect the political landscape and deliver a subtle comment on current politics. Kinda like czech and russian sci-fi and arthaus movies before the so called free speech (more or less) freed the criticism from the metaphorical shell.  For (often) political post-punk check out bands like:Joy Division /New OrderGang Of FourNew Model ArmyPublic Image Ltd.Happy MondaysBerurier NoirKilling JokeHans-A-PlastU2 (early stuff)The SlitsWireeven The Cure and Siousie And The Banshees

Do you have to support the political part of punk in order to understand the music?

Do you have to support the political part of punk in order to understand the music?No. Because most of it was insincere, a lot of it was wasn’t fully understood and even more was done because..well because…people thought it was the thing to do..To get an idea of what the situation was like from somebody old enough and familiar enough with the origins of Punk let me tell you a little story about one of its most iconic punk bands ‘Siouxie and The Banshees’.When at the last minute one of the bands meant to be appearing at the 100 Club pulled out, Malcom Maclaren had to look around for a suitable replacement. With no practice, no songs, no drummer, no name, Siouxie Sioux offered the services of her new band (2 days maybe) The Banshees. Besides the wonderful audio chaos that ensued, what is now remarkable, though trust me, not at the time, was the fact some of the band wore swastika armbands, and their “drummer” for the night, a certain Mr Sid Vicious, was wearing a ‘T’ shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Belsen Babies’. The Clash, who were also on the same gig, complained and refused to play.So, although there was always a left wing influence behind the culture of Punk it had a lot to do with just a rejection of the previous generations values and a meansSome thought that Punk was a vehicle for dissent, shock and and anti establishment and political upheaval. Both a platform to express their concerns regarding society and perhaps in certain cases a tool to change it. Yet even here there was disagreement, some of the most politicised were from the upper classes (a constant joke about art school types) and were often despised and treated with suspicion about their motives.As with all things there was never a single consensus, and despite what some commentators and those involved at the time would have you believe it was mostly about having a dance, having a laugh and just being young.A proud member of the British Chapter of the Gigi J Wolf Bottom Writers™ Guild

Did politics destroy punk?

No.You’re talking about the music of this band?And this band?And this one?Not to mention this one?Nope. Always about politics.Even if you think The Ramones, who had major political differences in the band and didn’t sing generally sing about directly political subject matter, weren’t essentially a political statement, you weren’t really paying attention.