I had a fun time listening to Rich’s experience as a musician in the punk rock scene in New York. I love listening to a range of music genres, and punk rock is usually one I stray away from. Therefore, because I am so unaccustomed to it, I enjoyed learning about the genre, listening to the music, and I was able to put myself into the punk rock era of the eighties and nineties. Listening to Rich’s experience helped shine light on a rather misunderstood genre. 

I was particularly amused by the amount of effort it took not only to produce the music, but to distribute it and raise awareness. By doing this, spreading punk rock music created a subculture/aesthetic in the era solely through the music. For example, the band would gain attendance at performances simply by spreading flyers through a community, a much more difficult way than modern day, where accessing a community of consumers can be done so quickly via the internet. Rich also introduced the concept of “zines”, which were magazines that he personally made which focused on the punk rock genre. This showed that a successful musician combines art and business. Also, as a record collector, I loved being able to physically see the records — a direct time capsule from Rich’s band. These records were also distributed, at such a low price, to bring awareness to punk rock music. This also shows how different gaining a music platform was, as less people could listen to the music anywhere at any time from the internet. 

Finally, I found Rich’s personal stories about being in a punk rock band quite amusing. For example, he shared that punk rock concerts were often chaotic, bold, and loud, which broke societal norms through music. People were letting everything out and could confide in the music. Thus, Rich helped enlighten to me that punk rock was not only a genre, but a movement. 

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.