What is Punk?

"Family values, unity, spirit, community. All these things they try and steal away from us. That's punk,"

Johnny Rotten

Punk started a little before I was born but there was something resilient, truthful and gritty in it that appealed to me. The Sex Pistols were raw, independent and true to themselves. Little wonder that they were considered "dangerous to the very fabric of society and banned across the country". A bunch of teenagers wielding more influence and independence than arguably, The Beatles. I say this because although they weren't as prolific or easy to listen to as the latter, they were open, unabashed and not stuck on being the top, but simply the best.
I was surprised to hear Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols on the radio a few years ago, not because he was swearing, loud and brasher than a foghorn, but because he discussed lucidly and concisely how much he believed in marriage, traditional values and the family unit. It was touching and pleasing; he had no pretense of the rock hard musician with flagrant tastes, opinions and of course the cliched lifestyle. This is a man who knows himself.

Johnny and friends enlivened a generation. Young boys just went out to Woolworths, grabbed an instrument, started a punk band and played for themselves. On the other side of that, he grew up and is now more of a person to be listened to and admired than before.

Here follows a link to a new Reuters article about Johnny, Punk with a bit on their DVD titled "There'll Always Be An England".
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUKL035478020080704