Often when people think of punk music they still think of the eighties "Down with government, beat the heck out of your neighbor, get wasted" stereotype. Punk is a term applied to a child or teenager who acts in an antisocial way. Some think that punk music is a form of rebellion, and that it is turned against all other musical forms and influences. Webster's Universal Dictionary defines a punk as 1. (slang) a. someone worthless or unimportant. b. a young ruffian; hoodlum. c. an inexperienced youth d. a young male partner of a homosexual. 3. a style or movement characterized by the adoption of aggressively unconventional and often bizarre or shocking clothing, hairstyles, etc., and the defiance of social norms usually associated with punk rock musicians and fans.5. (informal) poor in quality or condition. It says that punk rock is rock music marked by loud, insistent music and aggressive, often abusive or violent lyrics. I don't agree with all of these, so called, "definitions." That is a very bad interpretation of what punk and what punk rock is. People I know that are considered punks by their peers are not worthless, unimportant, hoodlums, or a partner of a homosexual. And punk rock that I listen to is not insistent, or abusive, and it doesn't have violent lyrics. Punk music is as much cultural as it is musical. It goes without saying that punk music has earned its reputation for being high impact, loud, energetic and intense. However, people often associate the message of all punk music as containing nothing more then violent, anti-government statements, and messages of alienation. Many people share the view that it has nothing to say and has offered nothing but a continued sentiment of hostility towards its fans. This is an unfair judgment of a genre of music whose fans are as variable as the messages of the music itself. Punk music has indeed offered messages of abstinence rather then promiscuity, faith rather then hopelessness, understanding rather then hate, and love rather then hate.
