On conservatism in punk rock in the US and the UK
I was reading an interesting recent article in CREEM about the origins of punk and the Ramones. I’ll need to find the article so I can paste it, but it essentially made two arguments:
- the Ramones were the true originators of punk rock
- whether or not the Ramones were conservative in the traditional political sense, the article argued that the Ramones were absolutely conservative in a different way- a return to “values”, so to speak, with respect to the structure and motivation behind rock and roll songs. In other words, the Ramones were not so much “conservative” as they were “old school”- they believed RNR songs should be short, fast, fun, vocally melodic, and to the point.
I think the topic of conservatism in punk rock is fascinating. Perhaps the NY hardcore bands had a strain of conservatism (think Agnostic Front, maybe Cro Mags?) but then I always thought punk in the UK was much more of a rebellion against Thatcher etc.
So, what are your thoughts on the origin of conservatism (either political or “song wise” like the Ramones) in punk rock? In the US vs the UK? Which bands exemplified this stance- either staunchly conservative or staunchly against?