Research Project

How has the punk rock genre evolved in it's musical conventions and ideology, concentrating on both Blink 182's & The Clash's self titled albums.

     It could be argued that in recent times Punk Rock music has evolved, but not just in its musical genre conventions, also its lyrics and ideology. The Clash were a very popular, typical, Punk Rock band who were part of the "first concrete punk rock scene and it appeared in the mid '70s in New York." [3]. The Clash's music contains a hardcore style and rebellious lyrical content. 16 years on, the Punk Rock band 'Blink 182' were formed. Arguably both bands are categorised and grouped within the same genre, but both are very different bands. In this investigation I shall be analysing how the Punk Rock genres musical conventions and ideology have evolved by focusing on both the self-titled The Clash album [2] and the self-titled Blink 182 album [1].

     I will use two theories to help me investigate this issue, Post Modernism and Uses and Gratifications. The Post Modern theory suggests that nothing is original, "we live in a postmodern age where ‘things’ no longer seem original, rather their context or use supplies the originality." [9], certain genres are slowly diluted by various concepts and conventions being taken and re-mixed into something allegedly new, it is the "breaking of traditional frames of genre; overthrowing category" [6]. Postmodernism is present in the Punk Rock genre, as various aspects of the genre have been changed where others have stayed pure. The uses and gratifications theory says that not all viewers are passive and texts provide beneficial uses. The theory "states what people do with media rather than what media does to people" [5], this could be a use, for example, gain information from it, or a gratification, for example, to be entertained. I will use this theory to compare what uses and gratifications people got from the so called original punk and the modern punk we hear today.

     Typical Punk Rock gratified the audience by entertaining them with its distinct musical conventions, these included things such as fast paced hard edged music, stripped down instrumentation, distortion on guitars, "in the beginning, punk rock songs were usually fairly short" [4] and often politically related lyrical content. "The main instruments used were the electric guitar and drums." [4]. Punk rock vocals often sound nasal "and sometimes sound more like shouting than singing, which can bring even more emotion to the songs." [4] Bass guitar lines are often uncomplicated, the typical approach is a relentless, repetitive forced rhythm. Drums typically sound hard hitting and heavy, and often have a minimal set-up. The typical objective is to have the recording sound un-manipulated and real, reflecting a live performance.

     Since The Clash were one of the first Punk Rock bands to be formed, they adhere to the majority of the traditional musical conventions. In their first album, which was self-titled, the song 'White Riot' punk musical conventions are very clearly present. The only instruments used in the track are vocals, guitar, bass and drums, the basic instruments used typically in Punk songs. A huge amount of distortion is used on the guitars, this is because the guitar amps back in the 70's weren't brilliant quality, so Punk bands decided that they would over use distortion purposely to give it a different style, which is a common convention used within the Punk Rock genre. I discussed earlier how Punk tracks are often very short, White Riot is under 2 minutes long, along with other tracks in the album such as 'What's My Name', 'Career Opportunities', 'Protex Blue' & '48 Hours'. The vocal style in the track 'Hate & War' are very typical of the Punk genre, especially in the chorus when 'Hate and War' is sung, it is very nasally, and actually shouted rather than sung, typically Punk. The song 'What's my name?' is a very fast hard edged track, and it's also very short, making it seem even faster, but the constant driven bass line gives it that conventional fast hard edged style which is often used within the Punk Rock genre. All the songs used in this album have a very similar playing style and sound, especially with the drums, the drums, like typical Punk Rock tracks, are very dry and heavy, and from all of these conventions and styles used in the tracks, when listening to the album it sounds like you're hearing it live, it's very un-manipulated and gives it that realism. The album was recorded 10–27 February 1977 at CBS Studios in London and National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England. The Clash are definitely considered a typical Punk Rock band when it comes to the typical music conventions.

     When reflecting on early punk it is easily identifiable, as it stuck to more rigid conventions, however, modern day punk has arguably become Postmodern. 26 years after The Clash released their album, Blink 182 released their self-titled album, stated by many as a Punk Rock album "This c.d is heart warming and fun at the same time. It fuses old skool punk, with new pop punk." [10] Blink 182 do conform to a few of the typical Punk Rock musical conventions, however, some would argue that the Punk Rock musical conventions have become diluted, "this album really reset the bar in the pop-punk genre. [10] Blink 182 do conform to typical Punk music conventions, every song in Blink 182's album includes nasally lyrics, because of the way the lead singer 'Tom De-Longe' sings. He has that typical Punk voice. Also in this album the lyrics are shouted, rather than sung, like The Clash in the majority of their tracks, this is mainly in the chorus' of the songs 'Feeling This', 'Obvious' & 'Violence'. The track 'Go' conforms to a couple of the typical Punk Music conventions, it is very fast paced, starting off with a very heavy instrumental, consisting of a driven harsh sounding guitar & bass line and the drums using the cymbal, snare & kick drum. Like all Punk Rock songs, the guitar has distortion on it, "the most technical way to define punk rock is a genre of music, usually played at a high tempo with distorted electric guitar" [7], this is present in tracks such as 'Feeling This', 'Obvious', 'Violence', 'Stockholm Syndrome', 'Down' and 'Go'. All of the tracks in this album use the typical Punk instrumentation, vocals, guitar, bass and the drums, this is heard in some of the tracks in Blink 182's album such as 'I Miss You', 'Stockholm Syndrome', 'Down', 'All Of This' and 'I'm Lost Without You'. However, there are certain songs that go against the stereotypical Punk music conventions, for example, 'I Miss You'. When analysing this song, I would not have labelled it as a Punk song. Straight away from the sound of the drums I could tell this was not Punk, the drums are clear and smooth sounding, with the use of jazz brushes and what sounds to be a cow bell, these all subvert to the typical Punk Rock conventions as the drums are supposed to sound heavy and dry and give off the feel of a live performance. Instead of the usage of an Electric Bass, a big double bass is used, to give it the acoustic jazz feel that Blink 182 were going for, this once again goes against typical Punk Rock conventions. Blink 182 were able to make Punk a much more mainstream genre, as they were including other instruments and effects to enable a wider range of people to be entertained, for example, including a jazz style to their track 'I Miss You' making it a hybrid, showing that Blink 182 made the Punk Rock genre a more Postmodern genre, as lovers of two different genres could listen to this song and gain entertainment from it.


     It could be argued that Punk ideologies have also become diluted. Originally, Punk ideologies were primarily concerned with individual freedom, which tends to conform concepts such as individualism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism and free thought. [8] "Punk culture originated as a movement of shock, rebellion, and discontent; and from certain points of-view, it has evolved into an overt socio-political movement." [8] Lyrically, Punk Bands often express their discontent with certain individuals that tamper with their freedom and/or free speech, this could be seen as Punk Bands being 'rebellious'. They also discuss moral standings on wars and other problems to express their hatred towards lack of equal rights and people giving up their lives.

     The Clash conform to many of these ideologies, with lyrics which discuss many social and political problems. In their track 'White Riot', the lyrics of the chorus are 'White riot, I wanna riot, white riot, a riot of my own, white riot, I wanna riot, white riot, a riot of my own'. This is repeated throughout the track, this adheres to typical Punk ideologies and this genre, as it helps represent them as rebellious and to believe in anti-authoritarianism, showing that they are willing to go against the law and fight for equality and rights. In The Clash' track 'Hate & War' even from the title you can see that this is a typical punk song, the first line of the song is 'Hate and war the only things we got today', this shows the Clash' discontent with society today, that all they ever see are hatred between others, and war, this links back with typical Punk ideology, showing that they conform to Punk. Another track that shows Punk Ideologies in the lyrics is 'Career Opportunities' with the a line in the second verse, 'I hate the civil service rules', this shows anarchism, the belief in abolishment of the government and that they are unfair and the rules they give are un-just, this, as stated earlier, is a common ideology within the Punk genre. The song 'Cheat' consists of a few of Punk ideologies, it has an element of individualism and free thought. 'Don't use the rules, they're not for you, they're for the fools' is the first line of the last verse, this shows the concept of individualism and free thought, because The Clash are implying that no-one needs to tell you what to do, you should be your own person and do your own things and be an individual, these are all ways in which The Clash adhere to typical Punk ideology. The track 'Police and Thieves', a very similar title to 'Hate and War', consists of the lyrics 'Police and thieves in the streets, scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition', this shows The Clash' discontent with the way people are treated, and the fact many acts lead to violence, once again this conforms to Punk ideologies. The Clash are a very typical Punk Rock band in terms of using lyrics to express their Punk ideologies, and in a way, this is very clever, as the audience can personally identify with the things they are saying, creating a bigger and wider audience for their music. The Clash also drew in a huge crowd of fans because of their rebellious attitude in songs, people listened to them for pure entertainment and escapism, it was exciting for them, they were fighting back, and their anarchism gave them hope.

     Blink 182 use some Punk musical genre conventions, but they do not conform to Punk ideology. The Punk ideologies that The Clash had, have disappeared in modern punk. In the track 'I miss you' the chorus more or less Modern Punk ideologies. 'Don't waste your time on me, you're already, the voice inside my head, I miss you, I miss you'. Rather than Blink 182 singing typical Punk ideology and conveying things such as anarchism, they sing about personal problems, like personal romance and relationships, this is very different ideologies to The Clash, as The Clash discussed social problems, whereas Blink 182 discuss love. Another example of this is in Blink 182's track 'I'm Lost Without You' at the end of the first verse, 'Are you afraid of being alone, cause I am, I'm lost without you, are you afraid of leaving tonight, cause I am, I'm lost without you'. This once again shows non Punk ideologies, Blink 182 subvert from typical Punk ideology. Due to the fact that modern day punk now concentrates more on personal problems, it draws in a huge audience, as most people will be able to personally identify with the songs, and the lyrics sung, and people will listen to this to feel more part of something, to almost socially integrate. Many would argue that the majority of Modern Punk is like this, not just Blink 182, Modern Punk has become a Post Modern genre, mixing genres such as pop, people often refer to punk as 'Pop Punk', as mainstream pop talks a lot about love and personal problems, which is what Blink 182 do in their songs.

     The Punk Rock genre started off with very simple musical conventions, trying to get a very un-manipulated sound and make it sound like a live performance, however, this approach has decreased due to bands such as Blink 182, as they use instruments such as the double bass, and give the drums a very jazz feeling effect in songs by using brushes on the snare to give it a clean sound, rather than the 'norm' heavy, dry effect, enabling the genre to become much wider and Postmodern. The typical Punk Rock ideology was very rebellious, and involved things like anarchy and individualism, social problems. Whereas now, modern day punk, those ideologies have completely disappeared, as now bands such as Blink 182 talk about much more personal problems, like losing girlfriends, and needing a girl to be happy, making the genre much more mainstream, as everyone in the modern day has these sorts of problems, this is how Punk Rock has evolved. "The biggest difference I would say is that at one point, at least for me, punk rock represented a gathering point that was in spite of what mainstream America had to offer and the whole idea was not to go along with it and it was definitely not about financial success or being involved with the music industry or any of that kind of stuff. It was completely in opposition to all that kind of stuff, so that's rather different now." [11]

1. http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Blink-182-Blink-182-Album/EC0D1AFA1B0EBA3848256DAA002BDAF4
2. http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/The-Clash-The-Clash-Album/2B320D12057FA825482568AB00335E00
3.  http://punkmusic.about.com/od/punk101/a/punkhistory2.htm

4. http://www.entertainmentscene360.com/index.php/history-of-punk-rock-music-8586/

5. http://communicationtheory.org/uses-and-gratification-theory/

6. http://postmodernmusic.blogspot.co.uk/
7. http://toobbox.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-punk-rock/ 
8. http://axio-rock.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/punk-ideologies.html
9. http://www.20three.com/2013/06/yeah-get-real-originality-and-authenticity-in-a-postmodern-age/
10. http://www.metacritic.com/music/blink-182/blink-182/user-reviews
11. http://www.punkrockacademy.com/stm/int/im.html

How typical is Sin City to it's genre(s)?

     The film Sin City is considered to be a hybrid, a film with two genres, these are Film Noir & Comic Book, two unique and obvious genres. There are many conventions within this film to show that these are the genres of the film, such as characters, themes, mis-en-scene and iconography, etc.
    Film Noir is a genre that reflects a certain time period, The Cold War. The Cold War was basically a war that involved no violence or killing, it was just a time leading up to another possible war. This made the majority of people, like policeman, very corrupt. This is shown throughout the film Sin City, enabling us to see this is film is Film Noir, for example, about 15 minutes into the film the protagonist John Hartigan is shot and killed by his partner, this shows mistrust, paranoia, and corruption. There is also another scene that shows this when Marv is sleeping with Goldie, and when he awakes she is dead, and the killer has escaped, the police then show up and Marv has been framed for the murder of his own lover, this once again shows the mistrust and corruption of the time it was set.
     Like I said before, Sin City is a hybrid, it consists of two genres, Film Noir, and the other one is Comic Book. Comic Book conventions, unlike Film Noir conventions, are very obvious, they include things such as the Classic Propp Characters and extreme usage of special effects and over exaggerated non diegetic/diegetic sound. We more or less know straight away that this is a comic book film, because when John smashes through the door, the door breaks so easily and is propelled across the room, this shows the emphasis on special effects and lack of a reality, which is a huge convention of Comic Book.
     In the film there is a non-linear narrative, basically a narrative that doesn't follow a specific order, it isn't chronological. We see this in the film quite distinctly, because at the start of the film, John is murdered, but then about half way through we see him alive again with a villain that another protagonist killed, non-linear is a huge common convention used in Film Noir. Characters in the film also determine what kind of genre the film is, for example, the protagonists in Film Noir films often contain a physical or mental flaw, John has a heart condition, which is a physical flaw & Marv has a mental flaw which he needs to take pills for, he often questions whether what he sees is a reality. Marv is quite a down to earth kind of character, and is very depressed, this reflects the time in which the film was set, and says things such as "Hell is everyday waking up and not knowing why you're here" this shows the kind of character Marv is and also is a convention of Film Noir, as during The Cold War this is how the majority of people felt.
     Because of the fact this is a hybrid film, conventions within Sin City are often diluted, for example in typical Comic Book films, the protagonist is the perfect hero, never produces any kind of crime, never kills anyone, just captures the bad guy and arrests them and saves the day, however, in Sin City, this convention is diluted slightly because Film Noir is present, and the protagonists in Film Noir films are cynical, they do good deeds, but often torture their victims and kill innocent people, which brings me onto my next point about the iconography of the film and the characters. The protagonists all wear trench coats, this symbolises a cape, which obviously is a convention of Comic Book, but to show this convention is slightly diluted by Film Noir, when Marv tortures a suspect for information, he takes off the trench coat, to show he's no longer really that stereotypical hero anymore, he is doing bad things, for an overall good result.

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre?

     The chosen text I have studied is the film Fish Tank. Fish Tank is social realist film, which the majority of time show a realistic portrayal of British society. Fish Tank is very typical of it's genre with it's usage of technical codes, for example the hand held camera, a hand held camera is used in the majority of the scenes in the film to add to the realism, as if you're actually there with them. An example of this would be when Mia finds out Connor has left, and she runs out the house to try and find him, normally in a high budget mainstream film, running sequences are presented with lots of different camera angles, fast editing, etc. Where is in Fish Tank, a single hand held camera is used by a camera man running behind her to add to the effect that we are actually there with her, you see the camera bobbing up and down like you would in real life.
     Another technical convention used in Fish Tank to show that it's a social realist film is the use of diegetic sounds and the lack of non-diegetic sounds. In reality, there is no soundtrack to your life, so to add to the realism of the film, no non-diegetic music or sounds were used at all. In the scene where Mia, Mia's Mom & Sister and Connor are all in the car on the way to the lake to go fishing, diegetic music is used coming from the radio, this is more or less the only music you hear throughout the entire film, to once again add to the realism.