Journal Entry #4 - Barbican - "Rockarchive's A Chunk of Punk" (Punk London)

Saturday 14th May 2016

"Rockarchive's A Chunk of Punk" is a music library exhibition at the Barbican.

It seems that over the summer London is participating in a Punk event and I am going to try and follow it the best I can. I missed the first three events due to being at university, but now I am free I am going to try and attend each event. The event itself is called "Punk London" and it has been created to celebrate 40 years of Punk heritage and the influence it has had over London.

I must admit I had a bit more expectation for this exhibition at the Barbican. The exhibition was in the library and it was just a few show cases of pictures, vinyls and magazines which were all Punk related. It was quite small, but, for a free event I am still grateful for it. I found it very interesting and very informative. I have never been a big fan of Punk music, but I am interested in the cultural and political history/reasoning for the movement. The idea of anarchistic, young adults stomping around in their Dr. Martens whilst shouting and spitting is quite intriguing.

However, I feel that this 40 year celebration has romanticised the entire punk generation. They never wanted to conform and they certainly did not want to be popular and fashionable. Can I even go as far to say that they did not want to be respected, either?

Punk enthusiasts and Punk followers are still around today. I do not understand that why 40 years has influenced the Punk movement to now 'become a part of history' as it is still a movement today. Granted, it has probably dwindled throughout those forty years, but that is less than a lifetime and it is still part of the lives of some people today. Thus, I do not think it is a brilliant idea to be treating the movement like a unearthed dinosaur.

Nonetheless, this celebration of a once disrespected culture (often looked down upon by many conformers) is still in place and I find it fascinating. I think Punk is an iconic movement from England and just because I do not think it should be put on the dusty shelf just yet, does not mean that I feel a boycott for all of these events is necessary. I shall attend the events in the future as many of these bands influenced the bands that I enjoy listening to.