If the kids are united punk6/17/2023 In the same interview, they credits Bikini Kill and the riot grrrl movement as a whole for their "feminist musical acts, activism and community building."Īs Philip Kiszely notes, punk has a history of having a performative aspect beyond the musical. Their influences go beyond the masculine genre of Oi! and into the explicitly feminist riot grrrl genre that developed in 1990s America. Their vibe does really capture the essence of punk, which is aggressive protest." The Oi! scene, the women said, "had incredible musical and social energy, their sound ripped though the atmosphere of their decade, stirred trouble around itself. "We realised that this country needs a militant, punk-feminist, street band that will rip through Moscow's streets and squares, mobilise public energy against the evil crooks of the Putinist junta and enrich the Russian cultural and political opposition with themes that are important to us gender and LGBT rights, problems of masculine conformity, absence of a daring political message on the musical and art scenes and the domination of males in all areas of public discourse." Explaining their decision to become performers, two members of Pussy Riot tell Vice : From the women's public statements, it seems to be as deliberate as their choice to target Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. But there is something odd about that, precisely because Pussy Riot's choice of punk music as a vehicle for protest does not appear to be peripheral. Jenkins is wrong to say skinheads invented Oi!, and his remark is admittedly peripheral to the general theme of his article. (Even now, there are many successful punk musicians who have aligned themselves with explicitly political campaigns supporting left-wing candidates - think of NOFX's Rock Against Bush, or the Australian version, Rock Against Howard.) The band's lead singer Jimmy Pursey then went on to perform with The Clash at the Rock Against Racism concert, which attracted support from some of the biggest names in punk. Sham 69 famously quit live performances in 1978 after skinhead violence at one of their concerts. One well-known example was Skrewdriver, which adopted a right-wing political identity after releasing their first album.īut, Kiszely says, the three bands Pussy Riot mentions were never about right-wing politics. British punk then evolved in the 1970s in an atmosphere of simmering racial tension, with the right-wing National Front growing in popularity, and some punks were outspoken supporters of fascism. When I asked Philip Kiszely, a professor at Leeds University with a special interest in punk music, about this, he told me Oi! music developed out of the first wave of punk, with the musicians shirking some of the "art school" aspects characteristic of the first punks, and projecting a more masculine working-class identity. In another interview, this time with Vice magazine, Pussy Riot mentions they are influenced by the Angelic Upstarts, the Cockney Rejects and Sham 69 - three seminal bands from the British Oi! scene. It's true that the band claims inspiration from Oi! music. In an interview with NPR, they explain that they started off as politically engaged women, angered by laws to restrict legal abortions and Vladimir Putin's plan to return as president once he had finished his term as prime minister, "who figured punk protest music would energize people through their emotions." Moreover, Pussy Riot makes no secret of their brand of politics. Pussy Riot hardly represents the first punks in the decades since then to find support amongst those who would consider themselves political liberals. In what seems like a throwaway line, Jenkins wonders "why liberals are suddenly so fond of a band that claims inspiration from the 'Oi!' music invented by Far-Right British skinheads." It's a strange remark, primarily because of its characterisation of the connections between punk music and left-wing protest as "sudden." From the earliest days of punk, the music and culture can be seen as expressions of working class identity and celebrations of rebellion against the establishment. In recent article, historian Philip Jenkins depicts Pussy Riot as perpetrators of a religious hate crime that should be roundly condemned, and certainly believes that the support the group has received from political progressives around the world is unjustified.
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