Though we constantly hear the phrase “Punk is Dead,” it probably never was alive. Those who made up the movement and held this belief weren’t exactly on the side of life. They were a group of individuals who wanted to highlight how a corrupt system made it impossible to have a life worth living. You can’t kill what’s already dead. Punk walks alongside us every day. It remains in our questioning and resentment towards the establishment.
Our current reality is based on fragments from the past, whether it’s pure nostalgia or the fact that it worked before. We see hippie fashion on the street or influences of French sixties cinema. In recent years there’s been a resurgence, in both clothing and music, of the counterculture of the eighties. But where does Punk fit in this mixture of eras? More than just accessorizing with safety pins and Mohawks, it’s a way of thinking that pushes the thought process so that everyone can exploit their own abilities, whether individual or collectively. This so the human spirit can shine in a world controlled by government and conventional ideas.
The stories of how Punk came about in different countries are an interesting way of exploring recent history. Though we can’t describe a specific punk era here in Mexico, groups like Size made up the scene. There were also the individuals who faithfully waited and worshiped the few records they could get their hands on. But the time when this genre came to existence was a dead era in this country. It had been over ten years since the student massacre at Tlatelolco. Spanish and Latin Pop music was on the brink of the eighties, which would fill a void in the minds of the youth. So the few that chose to rescue punk gave it an unforgettable image and attempted to create a movement that never really arrived.
But in other spots of the world, such as the Soviet Union, an entire underground music scene was born after the great Punk years had passed. An array of genres came together to create a movement aimed at the youth that was sick of the dark side of Soviet life in the eighties. There were themes of domestic violence, alcoholism, and, of course, hate towards politics. Just like in Mexico, radio stations and the mainstream industry ignored the scene, to the point that artists like Yuri Shevchuck and Yegor Letov were persecuted by the KGB for their public activities.
It was during this time when Soviet authorities started putting more pressure on young bands. Underground shows were banned under the guise of “including illegal commercial activities.” The persecution of artists reached a head when promoters and sound engineers started to get imprisoned for making money from the events. The government attempted to fool the young people by telling them there’d be new clubs that would allow unsigned bands. But these only allowed for “clean” bands that had little in common with Punk.
It’s worth mentioning that this movement was born and flourished just as the Soviet Union was about to dissolve. The government’s repressive policies made the participating nations that made up the union want to leave. Likewise with the rise of Capitalism, it seemed it was destined to come crashing down. And the youth stood at the center of all this chaos.
Anger became an emblem of that generation and the subsequent ones. Despite the Soviet Union coming to an end, repression did not disappear in this case. We see that in the case of Pussy Riot, the feminist punk band that was terribly silenced and even physically attacked for protesting against Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin. Punk defines and has become a tool for Russians to show their discontent with the government. It’s a way of showing the desire for freedom that is asked for in every place with a silenced population.
The Punk scene in the territory that was once the Soviet Union stands out for integrating traditional music elements into their sound. In Leningrad old Ukrainian melodies are worked into the songs. Gogol Bordello inserts Romani gypsy elements in his loud records. Unlike other places where Punk defined an era, the bands in the region don’t keep with using only four chords in all their songs, proving that this goes beyond the superficial influence of The Ramones.
It could be due to cultural context, but even if as a musical movement they were unable to change their government, they were successful at bringing awareness to most of the youth. Classic Soviet Punk bands are remembered with respect and admiration. The Soviet sense has several parallels with the development of Punk in Mexico. We not only see it in the images of Igor Murkhin, shown in this article, but in the dissent and rebellion we continue to show towards the government.
Punk is not about clothes, hair, broken teeth, or dirty face. It’s not even about the music (The Clash made that pretty clear). It’s a feeling, and community idea that together we can beat that which seeks to hurt us. It’s a search for freedom, a badly told poem, a misspelled fairy tale, and a terribly filmed movie. When we hear, read, or see it, we acknowledge the pain of hundred of individuals who thought there was no future but dared to imagine a better one.
Igor Murkhin took these images during the six years prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev rose to power and allowed for more freedom of speech. Igor felt firsthand the movement of the youth and other subcultures. He also tells how he had to attend shows in basements to get a glimpse of the wild music everyone wished to set free and how it changed his life.
Igor assures that what he felt between 1985 and 1991 was a splendor of hope. Perhaps it was the thought of the youth and their vitality saving the Union or reforming it for the good of the people. But it became a dream that never came true. It continues to haunt and define us more than any other music genre.
Translated by María Suárez
