Does Anybody Care About Us?

The British and American punk scenes in the last 30 years has one main thing in common, rising against "the man". One of the pioneers of "political-punk" were Black Flag, who were fronted by Henry Rollins, when they brought out their 1981 album Damaged. Damaged was a highly controversial album as many people saw it as an uprising against the government. To the extent where many Black Flag shows were cancelled.


My point is that since 1981 and post-Damaged, punk bands have been stereotyped into an anti political category, and to a certain extent, frightened politicians at the time. The Sex Pistols 1976 Anarchy tour was near enough cancelled due to a large number of complaints from local politicians, and the shows they did play had to be evaluated before the show begin so that they politicians were comfortable with they music they were going to play.


The reason that I wrote this article is that I am pissed off. As a teenager living in post-modern Britain I am annoyed with the standard of government post-labour. As should most teenagers, we are being raised in a country with minimal opportunities for jobs, for example, my brother just finished a masters degree at Glasgow University and can only get a part-time job in our local chippy. Not a lot is being done by our government to create jobs, actually the opposite is being done, jobs are being cut, companies are being shut down and its making the job market more and more competitive. Most teenagers use the same outlet to take stress away, music. Whether it is to listen or write, it still helps people deal with the reality of the world we live in. There is a new wave of political-punk bands on the rise in Britain.


The King Blues were a punk rock band from London, England, credited for fusing ska and folk together with influences from punk rock and hardcore punk. The King Blues last album, Punk & Poetry contained a song called We Are Fucking Angry. Which was written about a teenage uprising during the London riots. Many other songs on this album are based around post-modern britain, including the song that the name of this article is took from, Does Anybody Care About Us, could be interpreted as a song which identifies the mass unemployment problems in Britain. The video highlights this.


I understand this article isnt the best, I was in a really angry mood earlier on and i decided to blame it on politics, this article just explains the fact that punk music, and politics go hand-in-hand .


Thanks for reading.
Stay sexy readers
Dan :)