rePUNKlican

"How can you be punk and be conservative?"
-John Q. Scene wearing black rimmed art school glasses a Dead Kennedys shirt from Hot Topic

Punk has a few established norms. None were more holy to the gods of three chords than "DIY". It means "do-it-yourself". Punk bands made their genre on their own. Punk bands recorded themselves in basements. They distributed those tapes at shows they set up themselves. If a venue wouldn't book them, they'd make their own venue (basement shows). The fans made the magazines that drove the publicity. You bought their music directly from them via mail. They slept in vans or on fans' couches.

They made something themselves that nobody wanted to give to them.

All the while the content of many songs and the political positions they took were, the government should take from the "rich" and give to the "poor". They demanded the sucessful give up what they had gained through the DIY ethic and never demanded the same of everyone else. I've always found that hypocritical. Their actions and goals were "do-it-yourself", but their message was "blame-it-on-somebody-else". Nobody held the bands down, they got up on their own.
They amusing onus of the punk rock story is many of the loudest voices against the wealthy, are now wealthy. The old punk guard says take the rich man's money, just not mine...

I try to live by the DIY. I am a victim or a success of only my own actions. Nobody has their foot on my neck. You deserve the life you work for.