Autonomy and agency: The event of punk | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Punk & Post-Punk
  4. Volume 12, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 12, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2044-1983
  • E-ISSN: 2044-3706

Abstract

This article interrogates the contested politics of punk. Against the reactionary trend to accept the ephemerality of punk as evidence of its obvious failure, its political naivete and subsequent recuperation, I defend the continuing relevance of punk precisely as a political project. Identified as an in Badiou’s sense, punk erupts spontaneously in parallel with complementary European resistance movements and, for a brief incandescent moment, convulses history, placing all criteria of meaning and value in question. So, even if it ‘disappeared just as quickly’, punk survives its transience through people who, haunted by its emancipatory promise and radicalized by its ‘aesthetics of resistance’, are motivated to ‘a new way of being’ in its memory. Channelling the late Mark Fisher (aka ), this article recovers the lost politics of punk, invoking its fidelity to social transformation through autonomous cultural practice to fulfil its revolutionary promise. The argument concludes that, far from an exhausted ‘musical genre’, the event of punk remains efficacious precisely because it is not reducible to any of its actual historical iterations.

© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/punk_00159_1
2023-05-23
2024-04-26
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Badiou, Alain. ( 1992), Manifesto for Philosophy (trans. N. Madarasz), New York:: SUNY Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Badiou, Alain. ( 1994;), ‘ Lauren Sedofsky talks with Alain Badiou. ’, Frieze, October, pp. 84–124.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Badiou, Alain. ( 2002), Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (trans. P. Hallward), London and New York:: Verso;.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Badiou, Alain. ( 2005), Being and Event (trans. O. Feltham), London and New York:: Continuum;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Balls, Richard. ( 2021), A Furious Devotion: The Authorised Biography of Shane MacGowan, London and New York:: Omnibus Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Barros D’Sa, Lisa, and Leyburn, Glenn. ( 2013), Good Vibrations, UK:: The Works;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Benjamin, Walter. ( 1977), The Origin of German Tragic Drama (trans. J. Osborne), London:: New Left Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Benjamin, Walter. ( 2003), Selected Writings: Volume 4 – 1938–1940, Cambridge, MA and London:: Belknap Press of Harvard University;.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Berardi, Franco. (Bifo) ( 2011), After the Future, Chico, CA:: AK Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bernhard Jackson, Emily. ( 2021;), ‘ Do us all a favour: The aspirations of punk’s successors. ’, Times Literary Supplement, 24 September, pp. 22–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Buck-Morss, Susan. ( 2002;), ‘ Revolutionary time: The vanguard and the avant-garde. ’, Perception and Experience in Modernity: Benjamin Studies, Amsterdam and New York:: Rodopi;, pp. 209–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Cooper, Sam. ( 2016), The Situationist International in Britain: Modernism, Surrealism, and the Avant Gardes, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Cornils, Ingo. ( 2018), Writing the Revolution, Rochester, NY:: Camden House;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Critchley, Simon. ( 1997), Very Little… Almost Nothing: Death Philosophy Literature, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Critchley, Simon. ( 2017;), ‘ Rummaging in the ashes. ’, in S. Cabut, and A. Gallix. (eds), Punk Is Dead: Modernity Killed Every Night, London:: Zero Books;, pp. 28–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Debord, Guy. ( [1967] 1984), The Society of the Spectacle (trans. F. Perlman), St. Petersburg:: Black & Red;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Fisher, Mark. ( 2014), Ghosts of My Life, London:: Zero Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Fisher, Mark. ( 2018), k-punk, London:: Repeater;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Gallix, Andrew. ( 2017;), ‘ The boy looked at Eurydice. ’, in R. Cabut, and A. Gallix. (eds), Punk Is Dead: Modernity Killed Every Night, London:: Zero Books;, pp. 15–27.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Garnett, Robert. ( 1999;), ‘ Too low to be low: Art pop and the Sex Pistols. ’, in R. Sabin. (ed.), Punk Rock: So What? The Cultural Legacy of Punk, London and New York:: Routledge;, pp. 17–30.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Gilbert, Pat. ( 2016;), ‘ Punk ’76. ’, Mojo, 267, February, pp. 66–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Gilbert, Pat. ( 2017;), ‘ Trial by fire. ’, Mojo, 286, September, pp. 72–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Graham, Tom. ( 2019;), ‘ Hauntings: The creative ideas of a critical thinker. ’, TLS, 24 May, pp. 32–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Gray, Chris. (ed.) ( 1998), Leaving the Twentieth Century: Incomplete Work of the Situationist International, London:: Rebel Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Hibbert, Christopher. ( 1980), King Mob: The Story of Lord George and the London Riots of 1780, Cheltenham:: History Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Home, Stuart. ( 1991), The Assault on Culture: Utopian Currents from Lettrisme to Class War, Stirling and Chico, CA:: AK Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Keir. ( 2001;), ‘ When two sevens clash: Punk and autonomia. ’, The Free Association, September, http://freelyassociating.org/when-two-sevens-clash-punk-and-autonomia/. Accessed 2 May 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Kraus, Chris. ( 2018;), ‘ Howl. ’, Times Literary Supplement, 12 January, p. 33.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Kundnani, Hans. ( 2018;), ‘ Epochal rupture. ’, Times Literary Supplement, 4 May, p. 11.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Marcus, Griel. ( 1989), Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, London:: Faber & Faber;.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Marcuse, Herbert. ( 1969), An Essay on Liberation, London:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Needs, Kris, and Porter, Dick. ( 2017;), ‘ 1977: Young, loud and snotty. ’, Vive le Rock, 42, pp. 44–63.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Nolan, Seamus. ( 2016), Subvert All Power, Dublin:: Upstate Theatre and the Irish Arts Council;.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Porter, Dick. ( 2019;), ‘ The outside of everything. ’, Vive le Rock, 64, pp. 42–55.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Porter, Dick. ( 2021;), ‘ Below the streets, the revolution: 100 Club Punk Special. ’, Vive le Rock, 87, pp. 44–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Ranson, Gerry. ( 2020;), ‘ 1977: Diary of a mad year. ’, Vive le Rock, 77, pp. 44–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Reynolds, Simon. ( 2005), Rip It Up and Start Again, London:: Faber & Faber;.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Robertson, George. ( 1996;), ‘ The situationist international: Its penetration into British culture. ’, in S. Home. (ed.), What Is Situationism? A Reader, Chico, CA:: AK Press;, pp. 107–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Sabin, Roger. ( 1999), Punk Rock So What? The Cultural Legacy of Punk, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Savage, Jon. ( 1991), England’s Dreaming, London:: Faber & Faber;.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Seymour, Richard. ( 2016;), ‘ Schadenfreude with bite. ’, London Review of Books, 38:24, pp. 11–14.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Strongman, Phil. ( 2007), Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk, London:: Orion;.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Strongman, Phil. ( 2013), Anarchy! The McLaren Westwood Gang, UK:: Strongman Films;.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Strongman, Phil. ( 2020), Chaos! The Sex Pistols Secret History: The Dave Goodman Story, UK:: Strongman Films;.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Strongman, Phil. ( 2021), telephone interview with the author , 29 October.
  46. Vague, Tom. ( 2000a), The Boy Scout’s Guide to the Situationist International, Paris and London:: Nothingness;.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Vague, Tom. ( 2000b), King Mob Echo: From Gordon Riots to Situationists and ‘Sex Pistols’, Stirling and Chico, CA:: AK Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Vague, Tom. ( 2017;), ‘ King Mob Echo. ’, in R. Cabut, and A. Gallix. (eds), Punk Is Dead: Modernity Killed Every Night, London:: Zero Books;, pp. 41–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Vaneigem, Raoul. ( [1967] 2012), The Revolution of Everyday Life (trans. D. Nicholson-Smith), Oakland, CA:: PM Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Wilkinson, David. ( 2017;), ‘ Ever fallen in love?. ’, in R. Cabut, and A. Gallix. (eds), Punk Is Dead: Modernity Killed Every Night, London:: Zero Books;, pp. 131–46.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Wise, Dave, and Wise, Stuart. ( 1996;), ‘ The end of music. ’, in S. Home. (ed.), What Is Situationism? A Reader, Chico, CA:: AK Press;, pp. 63–102.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Wise, Dave, and Wise, Stuart. ( 2016;), ‘ Panel discussion with members of the Bristol Radical History Group. ’, Bristol Radical History Group, 30 April, https://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/dave-wise-and-stuart-wise/. Accessed 5 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Wise, Dave, and Wise, Stuart. ( 2017;), ‘ The end of music. ’, in R. Cabut, and A. Gallix. (eds), Punk Is Dead: Modernity Killed Every Night, London:: Zero Books;, pp. 163–71.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Worley, Matthew. ( 2014;), ‘ Afterword: The cultural impact of punk – An interview with Jon Savage. ’, in Subcultures Network (ed.), Fight Back: Punk, Politics and Resistance, Manchester:: Manchester University Press;, pp. 304–16.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Žižek, Slavoj. ( 1999), The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology, London:: Verso;.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Žižek, Slavoj. ( 2012), The Year of Dreaming Dangerously, London and New York:: Verso;.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Žižek, Slavoj. ( 2014a), The Event, London:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Žižek, Slavoj. ( 2014b), The Universal Exception, London and New York:: Bloomsbury;.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Cashell, Kieran. ( 2023;), ‘ Autonomy and agency: The event of punk. ’, Punk & Post-Punk, 12:1, pp. 7–25, https://doi.org/10.1386/punk_00159_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/punk_00159_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): agency; Autonomism; détournement; k-punk; King Mob; Punk 77; Sex Pistols; Situationism

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error