A socio-cultural Perspective on the Post-Punk Revival Movement

Abstract

What makes the emergence of a musical movement possible? As “music is very often a product of its time – both a reflection of the ‘here and now’ and a ‘recaller’ of memories” (Laughey, 2006:1), the post-punk revival movement of the 2000s has developed and spread by virtue of a number of socio-cultural as well as economic conditions. In my dissertation I will try and analyze them: in the first place I argue that the movement can be inserted in a more general trend in culture that invested Western countries in manifold practices during the last fifteen years or so, i.e. the retro tendency; furthermore, I will touch issues of post(post)modernity, nostalgia, revivalism, generational shift etc. The second chapter will then discuss the development of the concepts of originality and authenticity, the commercialization of the term “alternative/indie”, the debate over the so-called “death of pop/rock”, and a quick overview of the similarities and differences between the two previous movements from which the post-punk revival takes its name: punk and post-punk. The third and final chapter will focus on the movement itself, highlighting themes and representations in order to demonstrate that all those points made before serve as the basis and are reflected in the lyrics, album covers, musicians’ behavior, and so on and so forth. I will examine more thoroughly the early period of the so called “garage rock revival” or “new rock revolution” as labeled on bands such as The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, The Vines – considered the precursors of the movement, and Franz Ferdinand as well. The time frame is 2000-2007, the year which most music critics select as the starting point of the movement’s decline.