Street punk (alternatively spelled as Streetpunk) is a working class[Glasper 2004, p. 10.] genre of punk rock which took shape in the early 1980s, partly as a rebellion against the perceived artistic pretensions of the first wave of British punk. [ Street punk emerged from the Oi! style, performed by bands such as Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer, and UK Subs.][Glasper 2004, p. 122.] However, street punk continued beyond the confines of the original Oi! form. Street punks generally have a much more outlandish appearance than the working class or skinhead image cultivated by many Oi! groups.
Punk veteran Felix Havoc offered this description of the style:CharacteristicsStreet punk music is characterized by two main musical aspects: single note guitar lines and short solos. Unlike similar genres such as hardcore punk, street punk bands often contain two guitarists, one of which plays guitar melodies while not singing. Street punk also makes frequent use of gang vocals and sing–along choruses, one of the aspects the genre borrows from Oi!. The lyrics to most street punk songs often feature condemnation or praise of acts of violence, drinking and drug use, partying, inner-city turmoil, or personal politics. Street punk bands sometimes express political viewpoints, typically of a left-wing variety, although some street punks eschew politics altogether in favor of a more hedonistic, nihilistic outlook.FashionStreet punk style is highly visible. Dress for a street punk is characterized by leather, metal studs, ripped jeans, and Dr. Martens boots.[ Hairstyles often include unnatural coloration, liberty spikes or mohawks.][ Some street punk bands have included skinheads.][Glasper 2004, p. 74.] A minority of street punk bands — including The Violators, Major Accident, and The Adicts — dressed like the "droogs" who appear in Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange. Other bands, such as Anti-Nowhere League, took inspiration from the Mad Max films.[Glasper 2004, p. 309.]HistoryUK 82UK 82 (also known as UK hardcore, second wave punk, real punk, and No Future punk) took the existing punk sound and added the incessant, heavy drumbeats and distorted guitar sound of New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands, especially Motörhead. The lyrics of UK 82 bands tended to be much darker and more violent than the lyrics of earlier punk bands. The term UK 82 is taken from the title of a song by The Exploited. The three most prominent of these bands, according to Ian Glasper, are The Exploited, from Edinburgh; Discharge,[Matt Diehl, "The Young Crazed Peeling", My So-Called Punk: Green Day, Fall Out Boy, The Distillers, Bad Religion---How Neo-Punk Stage-Dived Into the Mainstream, New York: Macmillan, 2007, ISBN 0312337817, 9780312337810 p. 107.] from Stoke-on-Trent; and GBH, from Birmingham. The Exploited were controversial in the scene for their violent lyrics and for wearing swastikas, considered by many to be "cartoon punks". They also had a large Nazi punk following. Nonetheless: "For many, The Exploited were the quintessential second wave punk band with their senses-searing high-speed outbursts against the system, and wild-eyed frontman Walter 'Wattie' Buchan's perfect red mohican." Discharge's early work proved to be enormously influential, providing the blueprint for an entire subgenre. Their later work, however, was decried as bad heavy metal.
Cross pollination existed between this era of street punk and American hardcore punk. Lyrics in the UK82 scene tended to focus on the possibilities of a nuclear holocaust, and the apocalypse, partially due to the Cold War atmosphere. The other mainstay of the lyrics of the time was unemployment, and the Conservative Party government of the time. Lyrics demonized the Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher in the same way that American hardcore punk bands did with the Ronald Reagan administration.
Other UK 82 groups include English Dogs, Chaos U.K., Blitz,[ Anti-Nowhere League,][ and Dogsflesh.]D-beatD-beat (also known as Discore[ and käng (boot), in Sweden][Jandreus, p. 11.]) was developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, for whom the genre is named.["I just wanna be remembered for coming up with that f-ckin' D-beat in the first place! And inspiring all those f-ckin' great Discore bands around the world!" - Terry "Tez" Roberts, Glasper 2004, p. 175.] The first such group was The Varukers.["The Varukers were the original Discore band, the first and best of the hardcore punk acts to take the simple, yet devastatingly effective formula laid down by Discharge and play it as fast, hard, heavy as they could." Glasper 2004, p. 65.] The vocal content of D-beat tends towards shouted slogans. The style is distinct from its predecessors by its minimal lyrical content and greater proximity to heavy metal. It is closely associated with crust punk, which is a heavier, more complex variation.[ D-beat bands typically have anti-war, anarchist messages and closely follow the bleak nuclear war imagery of 1980s anarcho-punk bands. The style was particularly popular in Sweden, and developed there by groups such as Anti Cimex,][Jandreus, p. 20-21.] Mob 47, Driller Killer,[ and Wolfbrigade.][ Totalitär, Skitsystem, and Disfear are contemporary Swedish D-beat groups. Other D-beat groups include Disclose, from Japan; Crucifix and Final Conflict, from the U.S.; and Ratos de Porão, from Brazil.]Contemporary street punkProminent 1990s street punk groups included The Virus, The Casualties,[Felix von Havoc, Maximum Rock'n'Roll #188. Access date: September 9, 2008.] The Unseen,[ Oxymoron,][ A Global Threat, Lower Class Brats, Clit 45, The Restarts, and Antidote. Rancid and The Distillers][ also borrowed from street punk.]See alsoBibliography- Glasper, Ian (2004). Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 1901447243
- Glasper, Ian (2006). The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980 to 1984. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 1901447707
- Jandreus, Peter (2008). The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk 1977-1987. Stockholm: Premium Publishing.
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