Annotated Bibliography #1

Moore, Ryan. “Postmodernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Deconstruction.” The Communication Review 7:3 (2004): 305-327. Web. Accessed 5 May 2011.

Ryan Moore’s article Post Modernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Deconstruction places the punk subculture in a postmodern framework as a way of understanding and analysing the practices, beliefs and so on of members of the subculture. Moore traces a history of punk through the article, relating all changes in the culture and the development of new subsets (eg. hardcore etc.) back to theoretical ideas, with a strong focus on authenticity and deconstruction within punk cultures. I feel that authenticity is a very important idea when discussing punk, particularly when looking at the DIY aspects of it, and this article discusses clearly the significance of this for the subculture. However, what I found most interesting and helpful in this article was Moore’s discussion of deconstruction. This is an idea I hadn’t really given too much though to but Moore’s analysis of punk as what he refers to as a “culture of deconstruction” (311) has opened up new ways of thinking about punk for me. Most interesting I found was Moore’s analysis of bands that “flaunt their immaturity and idiocy” (317) such as The Descendents and The Circle Jerks as a “rebellion against authority.” (318) As I think I’d like to focus on more recent punk movements in my essay, this discussion of bands like The Descendents offers a strong framework to look at more recent bands that could fall within this “immature” punk category, like Blink 182 and early Green Day. Overall, I see Ryan Moore’s article providing a very strong basis for my research and feel it will be very useful.