I don't think there has ever an artistic movement that thrived so turbulently on conflict, friction, malice and alienation? – You'd need to stick a safety pin somewhere between John Lydon’s barbed wit and Vivienne Westwood’s beady eye for detail to even begin to understand the in's and out's of punk culture.
“There’s a lot of irony in there, like in ‘pretty vacant’ I’ve never considered myself pretty nor vacant”
– John Lydon
The children of the 60's had become the punks of the 70's. They had grown up surrounded by cultural revolution but were unable to participate and may have felt as though they had missed out. Nothing was happening in the country. There was no room for progression; Britain in the 70’s was dead.
The UK was in political turmoil - Oil crisis, the miners were on strike, the education system was criticised for discouraging working class kids who were told not to have high expectations, entertainment was limited to two TV channels and dingy pubs that closed by 11pm. There was no work and nothing to do. Anger became an energy that had brewed under the surface of the UK for some years.
Punk may have burned bright on the King’s Road in London but it was also ignited in New York City and soon took over in lower Manhattan.
Punk.
ANARCHY IN THE UK.