Although punk rock isn’t my favorite genre of music, Rich Stremme really made me appreciate its history and how it contributes to music today. I especially found it interesting when he brought up the contrast between British punk rock and US punk rock. He mentioned that British punk originated as a platform for working-class expression and a strike against the government, while American punk leaned towards edgy themes. He mentioned the two punk worlds often clashed and did not appreciate each other’s music. It was typical for British punk bands to have outrageous lyrics and most of them were considered working-class misfits. Another thing I found cool was the 7-inch records. The ones we got to see had very interesting covers and I think they were so shocking because it was unusual to see something like that nowadays. The zines were also fascinating which were magazines that would spread messages of punk rock. They weren’t a way to seek profit but rather a way of self-expression and identity. This reminded me of the modern zines we have now which just consists of social media. It was intriguing to hear about his experience in El Paso because it really showed me how widespread punk rock was. The fact that punk rock was able to connect people all over the world was so impressive. I also really appreciated the cute pins we got at the end as well as the stickers!!

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