Why Everyone Should Own 1 Punk Cd

Outline for Persuasive Speech Topic: Why everyone should own one Punk CD.

1. a. By a show of hands I would like to see how many of you listen to Punk Rock.

Today I'd like to talk to you about this genre of music that was created in reaction to other forms of music, and hopefully influence you to check it out and maybe even buy a CD.

i. I've been listening to punk since as early as the 5th grade. "Punk" (make quote sign) is a term applied to a child or teenager who acts in an antisocial way. Punk music is a form of rebellion, and it turned against all other musical forms and influences at its time of creation. Punk music is as much cultural as it is musical. It is anarchic, against society, and against everything in established order.

ii. I'd like to give you a brief history, the philosophy behind the music, and how what you hear today on the radio isn't quite the same. I've included a few of the bands that I like to give you an idea what I'm talking about. Punk rock is much more than just music as music is just expressions of what people hold dear to them.

Transition statement: But since I don't have all day to talk lets go to a brief history.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Most of the first wave of British punk were born from art schools. Members from The Clash, Sex pistols, Damned, Wire, Adam and the ants, and Siouxsie and the Banshees had all come from such places in and around London. A large contingent came from in and around the Kings road area of west London, and a lot of the first wave knew of each other first hand- Tony James (Gen X), Mick Jones (Clash). Topper Headen (Clash) and Keith Levine (Clash, Public Image) had all been in the London SS, a Proto-punk band featuring the aforementioned all-star line-up. Shortly after The SS split, Tony James went to form Chelsea with future Generation X member and MTV pop star Billy Idol. In addition they recruited future Damned Guitarist and leader Brian James. The Clash's Leader, Joe Strummer had been plying his trade in the pub rock scene, which was instrumental to the rise of punk, with his previous band the 101'ers. As soon as he saw the Pistols, he knew his band was outdated. Strummer was actually an ex public schoolboy, and his dad was a worker in the national treasury of some sort. Other bands, such as the UK subs had also evolved from pub rock- Charlie Harper was in the marauders prior to forming the subs. Upon punk's arrival, their Violent and sexist attitudes had found a place. Other bands formed simply from watching the larger first wavers play; Stiff little fingers immediately after the Clash played in Belfast. The Buzzcocks were another band from the northwest, and helped forge the Manchester punk scene by helping bands like Warsaw, who later changed their name to Joy Division. The Ramones had a bigger following in the UK than they did in their native country; the US was too embraced in Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles to take any notice of anything else.

Malcolm Mclaren was the owner of a shop called "Sex" in Kings road, which sold Bondage gear and punk items. Eventually he gathered together a few young Naive boys who were willing to help him revolutionise the world of music. Johnny Rotten, as legend has it, first entered his shop with a Pink Floyd T-shirt sketched with the words "I hate" above the band's name. As a result of the Bill Grundy show incident, which gave the Pistols and the Banshees no shortage of press coverage, punk became almost impossible to ignore and major labels snapped and signed most of the first wave. At first, a lot of them did refuse to change, but the rate at which some changed their musical style was alarming; The Clash by 1980 had turned into a convovulated mess, with Soul, Reggae, Funk, Rap and many other styles being present on the triple Sandinista album. Likewise, Stiff little fingers moved from the fiery political punk of Inflammable material (1979) to the shocking horns and trumpets of Now then (1982) within three years. It seems ironic that the band who kept the punk ethic longest, of all those who had signed to majors, were the Jam. Paul Weller always claimed the Jam were MOD group, and not a punk group. For the uninitiated, Mod was a style of 60's British rock that had people riding around on scooters and on the seaside; bands such as the Who, Small faces, and Kinks were purveyers of this type of music. Even so, a lot of punk bands had a Mod background anyway, because it was the working class music that preceded

punk the previous decade.

2. BODY/MAIN POINTS a. The origins of the genre, like any other, are hard to pinpoint exactly when and where. Unlike any other genre, however, it was started as a deliberate reaction to the mass commercialism of music, where trends were sold with music on top for giant record labels to make profit. Roots can be traced back to the Velvet Underground, who while were not commercially successful, were considered to heavily influence the genre. Brian Eno is reported to have said that, "Only five thousand people ever bought a Velvet Underground album, but every single one of them started a band." By the time 1976 came around, bands such as The Ramones and The Clash clearly defined the lines of punk and the DIY attitude. Punk culture can be defined by fashion such as: i. Severe haircuts, (ex. Mohawk) ii. Body piercings, (often with safety pins) iii. Taking clothes others would throw away or sell at garage sales. The term "punk chic (pronounced chique)" (emphasize quotes) has largely been absorbed by the mainstream.

b. The Philosophy behind punk is beauty in simplicity. DIY stands for Do It Yourself and is an attitude and ethic that anyone can form a punk band. The early UK punk fanzine "Sniffing Glue" once famously included drawings of three chord shapes, captioned, "here's a chord, here's another one, here's another one. Now form a band" (ex Ramones) The actual musical structure of punk itself reflects this attitude with simple power chord structure, usual fast hard beat, and loud angry vocals that usually sound like crap.

c. I feel our culture today lacks goals. Most people want everything without doing the work to get it. Nearly everything that we like and

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