...way of living really. I have always defined punk as "doing your own thing"
Yeah, agreed.
Also, using that particular expression another funny contradiction that exists in the false dichotomy between "hippies" and "punks".
To me, most Western post-WWII youth subcultures are essentially the same thing, dressed up differently;
-music
-drugs
-clothes
-rejection of (some) bourgeois values - though this applies to some more than others.
Whether it's ravers, hippies, goths, punks, mods, skinheads, teddy boys etc etc - the interests are often virtually identical (yet aesthetically different) - and the ideology (if any) behind each might be deliberately opposed to the subcultures that came before - with different sets of influences....
But to me, countercultures that are perceived to be diametrically opposed to one another (punks and hippies, for instance) have a shitload more in common than either bunch would want to admit.
I have a strange tendency to be acccused of being a punk (among hippiess) and a hippie (by some punks).
It's silly, but funny.
I just like energy and good music. And cool clothes...and drugs. %)
But some of the icons of the "hippie" era were fucking punk.
And lots of "punks" were disaffected flower-children.
Then you have those that fit neither category, but share the spirit and rebellious nature of each.
Labels are annoying - and "doing your own thing" is something we can all do.
No uniforms, no cliches, no tribalistic stereotypes. I just wanna dance to good music in good company....preferably in a snappy outfit, on good drugs
