Annotated Bibliography #2

Haenfler, Ross. Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk and Social Change. United States: Rutgers University Press, 2006. Web. Accessed 11 May 2011.

Chapter Eight of Ross Haenfler’s book Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk and Social Change focuses on the commercialisation of punk, and in particular the straight edge movement, over the past 10-15 years. In this chapter he poses the argument that punk is no longer an underground movement and looks in detail at the way this commercialisation has affected the identities, practices, values and so forth of members of this subculture, concluding that commercialisation hasn’t “killed” the movement (186) but has made some obvious changes. To do this Haenfler looks at the way the media has incorporated punk into the mainstream culture industry and I think most importantly for my essay, at the impact the internet has had upon the punk scene. I feel Haenfler’s discussion of the impact of the internet will be highly useful for my essay and the fact that this chapter is so heavily focused on contemporary ideas of punk makes it stand out amongst other readings I have encountered which seem to have a heavier focus on the subculture during the 1970s and 1980s. While I still feel Moore’s article will be an invaluable resource, Haenfler’s chapter definitely picks up where Moore’s fell down with its minimal discussion of the current state of punk. My main concern with this chapter is that it does focus more on straight edge and hardcore than straight punk rock. However, in a contemporary sense where there are many debates online about what is and isn’t punk, it’s definitely important to take a look at these movements as well.