From the Velvet Underground to New Found Glory, what is considered punk, or “punk rock”, has gone from pulsating lyrics about anarchy in the United Kingdom to melodic guitars with lyrics of love-torn teenage boys.

Lisa Yansura and Sierra McGill, students at SJI, joke during dinner at the Gator Corner dining hall. McGill said she thinks "Punk has really changed." (Kristine Ingold photo)

The term “punk” was first used in reference to the new kind of rock ‘n’ roll in a 1970 essay called “The Punk Muse: The True Story of Protopathic Spiff…” by Nick Totsches in the music magazine “Fusion”. He described this music as “a visionary expiation, a cry into the abyss of one’s own mordant bulls**t.”

Eventually, the Ramones came around. The Ramones are often cited by current bands such as The Ataris, Further Seems Forever, and The Vandals as one of the most influential punk bands with songs like “I Wanna Be Sedated”, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, and “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones were the first punk band to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

The passing of years has now spawned new divisions of punk such as emo and hardcore. Emo is a relatively recent development of the mid-90’s. Best described as emotional, poetic tales of love lost, found, and lost again, it is often associated with the bands Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, and Saves The Day. With lyrics like “…buried deep as you can dig inside yourself/ covered with a perfect shell/ such a charming beautiful exterior/laced with brilliant smiles and shining eyes/ perfect posture but you’re barely scraping by,” it’s easy to see why emo is often associated with very depressed and introspective young people. Hardcore is an advance of the late 80’s with screamed lyrics accompanied by fast, blaring guitars with founders being D.O.A. and the current Hatebreed. Hardcore has lyrics quite similar to emo, yet the presentation of the words is different.

“Punk has really changed. Now there’s emo. I personally really like it. It’s almost derived from hardcore. It’s like hardcore lyrics set to slower music. I really can’t describe it.,” said 15-year-old Sierra McGill of West Palm Beach, Fla. She also adds “…In weird ways hardcore reminds me of emo. It takes kinda the same idea with really emotional lyrics but it screams them at you and it’s set to faster music. In a weird way they’re one in the same.”

By all likeliness any person outside of “the scene” has probably never heard of any of the bands that are commonly enjoyed by the emo or hardcore crowd, such as The Get Up Kids, The Juliana Theory, Dashboard Confessional, Saves The Day, Weezer, Further Seems Forever, Jimmy Eat World, Thursday, or Hatebreed. That brings me to my next point, what I like to call “The Underground Rule.”

“The Underground Rule” promotes that if a band signs to a “major” label (such as Sony, RCA, Island, Virgin, or any label that dishes out many high budget albums each year), emo or hardcore kids will consider the band to be “selling out”. “There’s a difference between getting popular and selling out. Getting popular happens almost by accident when it’s still about the music. If you sell out you’ve forgotten why you got in the business in the first place. It becomes about the money. It’s just when people let it all go to their heads,” said McGill .

As said by one Coral Springs, Fla., resident, Laura Cragg, to “sell out” is “…to give into the pressures to be what you aren’t….to be cool or do something just because it’s ‘in’.”

Most emo or hardcore kids also like bands to stay on minor labels so they will continue to play at smaller venues such as skate-parks and clubs, giving them the feeling of virtual ownership of the band because they gets to see them often. “I’ve seen Dashboard [Confessional] five times now,” said McGill ever so proudly.

All in all, punk, like all other music, will change with the times. As countless rock stars have said, “It’s only rock ‘n’ roll.”