on a worldwide stage, success was the end of the quintessential punk and the beginning of punk as a constructed image.

Punk did have a unique, distinguishing feature: a refined ability to shock. Anyone observing a group of punks moving through Leicester Square on a Friday night would steer well clear: these guys looked seriously strange. (The female punk presented a paradox: a hint of the feminine beneath the hardened exterior). The mohawks, leathers and safety pins were a radical departure from the glamour rock of the previous decade. When situated beside the staid British working class and grannies with their pushcarts, the punks of London created an immediate sensation. But one must recognize that the desire to be different can be applied to any previous teen generations. It was the retribution that followed punk that exceeded the norm.

To summarize, the punk movement was the same, time-tried rejection of existing rules and the rowdy voice of change: a statement of discontent through an inarticulate voicing of problems: loud, if not clear, shocking and forthright. Trying to read any more into punk was as pointless as making sense of adolescence. When did being an adolescent ever mean anything? Johnny Rotten once said, "It's all about being yourself. Be a ... individual". Punk was a sensational new act to be sure, but basically, it was an adolescent phase with rampant publicity. There were no higher plans or decisions to create utopian heroes. The manifestos designed to destroy the youth of Britain never existed. A question still remains why all the fuss? Primarily, it was because the punk movement grew at an alarming rate, as if the floodgates had opened to release an army of anxious, eager and angry youths. However, it was reaction from the mainstream society that was even more unsettling. Punk had caused the British public to take a long overdue look at themselves through their youth. Clearly, they did not like what they saw. The reaction ranged from rejection to denial and the youth response was support or confrontation. Whatever the reaction, the British public were witne

Some topics in this essay:
Sex Pistols, Rotten It's, Chairman London, Malcolm MacLaren, Leicester Square, London Times, Lester Bangs, Sid Vicious, Public Image, Johnny Rotten, sex pistols, pop culture, johnny rotten, british public, quintessential punk, record company executives, punk movement, gill 3, trying determine, debruijn 11, company executives,