Source: Debbie Harry Index of Galleries
"Blondie, Punk And All The Other Stuff or (If I Had Been A Better Drummer Clem Would Be Unemployed)" By Bob Betts
Source: Debbie
Harry Index of Galleries
© Copyright 2001, Robert W. Betts
This essay was adapted from an extract of an article in The Blondie Review by the author--Ed.
Punk (pungk) slang, n. 2. A young hoodlum or tough. A young thug. Youth, usually associated with wild or careless behavior. Displaying a seemingly bitter personality toward the establishment. Antagonistic toward social or cultural standards. Sincere or staged antiestablishment attitude, actions, or demeanor. Of, or relating to, being or acting purposely bizarre. —Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Yale-Literary Edition, (Yale/Buckley, New Haven, Connecticut) 1963
I went to the ‘vault' purposely just to retrieve a pre-punk rock dictionary. I wanted to see what the definition was prior to the existence and subsequent influence of lower Manhattan's new music. My suspicions were confirmed; the definition applies.--Ed.
I was one. Or, at least, that's what I wanted everyone who saw me to think. But, at the time, I was never quite clear on the whole punk thing. Was I supposed to really live it? Or was it just an attitude—a social expression describing contemporary feelings in a traditional culture? And why just music. . . and clothing? Why not speeches in the park? If they (we) were so serious about it there would be some kind of social movement—upheaval. But there really wasn't. It was just music and clothes. . . and, of course, attitude. That really seemed to be the prime ingredient; attitude....