I don’t usually listen to punk rock, so when Rich Stremme’s songs were playing while we were drawing our graffiti, it was my first time listening to punk rock in a couple of years. I did not connect with the music or beats when listening, so I tuned it out while drawing, expecting not to be interested in his presentation. I was surprised when it was a Zoom presentation since I believed Rich would be there in person. In my opinion, all the technical difficulties made his presentation hard to follow and connect to. I did, however, enjoy listening to his experience with punk rock. I liked his discussion about zines, essentially small magazine pages intended to share a message to the public, and it was how punk rock artists spread their name. I have done a lot of graphic design work, making posters, campaigns, and websites, so it was interesting to hear about zines and how punk rock artists made their following. I thought it was crazy some of the lengths people went to because of punk rock, like how someone killed another person after getting kicked out of a rock show, and it showed me how passionate people were about punk rock back then. Rich’s presentation, although through Zoom, was easier to connect to because of the in-class items we could see, like the album covers being passed around the class, and I found them to teach me a bit more about the history of punk rock, which I liked. Although I don’t connect with punk rock music, it was interesting to hear about punk rock’s history and its specific terms like zines, which I think opened my eyes to punk rock.

The guest speaker’s introduction to punk rock was an important part of his early life. It began when his uncle and aunt took him to a show during his childhood. That experience inspired Rich to create zines, which included band reviews and lyrics. These zines showcased musicians’ work to others. After attending his first punk rock show in Connecticut, Rich connected with people through his zines and eventually decided to form a band with some of them. He noted that most of the audience at these shows were men, with women often participating as photographers. I thought it was very intriguing

Hearing about Rich’s punk rock journey inspired me to learn more about the genre. Punk rock challenged the expectations of its time and eventually became so influential that those rules faded away. Looking at the old album covers passed around during class, I found myself drawn to the designs and the CDs inside them. It made me think about how people accessed music in the 20th century, before apps made it so easy to buy songs. I really liked the pins and stickers he gave me.

When I was listening to Rich talk about his life, I thought it was very interesting. He was explaining to us how when he moved it was hard to find people with the same interests as him. He also said how punk rock had a negative connotation to it, and whenever he found a person who liked what he did, they connected. He was also explaining how he made a lot of bands with friends and how he tried to get himself into events so that more people could hear him and his band. This was very interesting to me because I would never have expected a teenager to try so hard, like Rich did, to get into these events. Like he explained, he would call multiple times a month to try to get into shows. This was surprising to me because most people would give up after a couple of rejections. I also liked his viewpoint that you should let everyone enjoy their time at an event because you never know what they might do next. It was basically him saying it was the band’s responsibility to make sure people don’t do anything bad because of them. He then later explained that one person at one of his events actually killed someone after getting kicked out of the event. In general, I thought the Zoom call with Rich was interesting, and it helped open my eyes to a bit of the rock world.

As someone whose music taste usually tends toward rock and alternative, I was excited when I learned that we would be having guest speaker Rich Stremme speaking to us about his formative experiences with the nascent punk rock scene. Something I have always admired about the punk scene was how grassroots it was, which Rich discussed in length. I found it so fascinating that he created a zine basically by himself when he was as young as 13, and that he managed to carve a place for himself within the scene at such a young age. It takes an incredible amount of dedication to start from nothing and work your way into the scene, which is what Rich managed to do. I also really enjoyed how he discussed the sort of multidisciplinary aspect of punk rock in regards to his work with graffiti artist Revs. You wouldn’t have been able to promote your music without some kind of graphic accompaniment, which for Rich came in the form of Revs’ work. I think this also sort of ties into the idea of zines, as one would have to make them visually appealing to gain a following. Something else I found curious was his response to my asking him his thoughts on the riot grrrl movement and his experience with women in punk. I was surprised to learn that his experience with women in punk was that they were mostly photographers, which I hadn’t known beforehand. I did know, however, that women were excluded from the predominantly male scene, so at least within that they were able to carve out a niche for themselves. On riot grrrl, however, Rich said that he felt it to be exclusionary of men. He told a story of somebody at a Bikini Kill concert harassing other crowd members, after which he was asked to leave by the band; he ended up killing his girlfriend that night, apparently. He said that he would have welcomed the man in the concert so that he wouldn’t take the frustration of being rejected out on innocent people. Honestly, I would never have thought of riot grrrl in that way. The way I see it, riot grrrl was an avenue for women who were excluded themselves from the punk movement and, felt alienated by the sheer testosterone of it all. Thus, they branched out into their own offshoot of punk and wrote and sang about their specific frustrations. I will say that I found it interesting to hear such a radically different viewpoint from my own, and I can definitely see where Rich was coming from in that regard.

♥Background♥

Before getting the opportunity to chat with punk artist Rich Stremme, I reflected a bit on my punk background. Growing up, I lived with a culture to fear punks and anybody out of the ordinary. I, being out of the ordinary myself, was also afraid of not conforming to the norms of society. Since the beginning of my freshman year of high school, I realized I was more punk than I thought I was, and instead of fearing the misfits, I befriended them. This relates to the question I asked Stremme— how did you adapt to the stigmas surrounding punk culture?

♥What I Learned♥

Stremme’s response resonated with my experiences, where the general theme was that trying new things and doing what he loves mattered the most to him. With this in mind, I realized that punk rock is a protest. Punk individuals take a stand for what they love and embrace the parts of life that stray from the common, normalized trends that might be quite harmful at times. Punks take this stand especially when others or society pressures them to conform to common ideas in politics, fashion, or casual living. With these points in mind, I firmly believe that openly and happily being the black sheep is the freedom that the punk genre gives us, and it gives life more vibrancy. Punk art has made my life significantly better, and being able to listen in on a professional who actively participated in creating the type of art I love confirmed that this lifestyle is really about being passionate about who you are, and I believe that is the strongest and most peaceful societal protest against conformity.

       The guest speaker’s introduction to punk rock was a fascinating thing in his early life. It all started in his childhood when he was taken by his uncle and aunt to a show. From there, Rich was inspired to make zines, which included band reviews and lyrics. Those zines are very similar to our Instagram posts in showing our loved ones and followers highlighting the aspects of a musician’s career or latest works. When Rich first saw his first punk rock show in Connecticut, he met with a lot of people through his zines and eventually wanted to form a band with them. This was an interesting event, as he noted that the event was predominantly male rather than women, as most of them were photographers.

       Rich’s main intention in pursuing punk rock was mainly due to its uniqueness. At the time, punk rock was a relatively new genre of music and didn’t have much popularity during that time. He appreciated how punk rock broke conventional music norms and embraced a do-it-yourself approach. The lyrics often tackled social issues and personal struggles that gave it a depth that many other genres lacked, especially with asylum seekers crossing through the southern border when he performed in one of the southern states. What sparked me the most about Rich was his involvement in other art disciplines, like graffiti, when he moved to Brooklyn, Revs, and other musicians, where he found a vibrant community of artists and a new source of inspiration. 

       After hearing about his punk rock career, I felt inspired to research more about it. Punk rock pushed back against many expectations of what music should be like during its time. Eventually, it became so popular that those expectations no longer apply. When looking at the album covers that were passed throughout the class, I grew interested in the album cover designs and the old CDs that were encased in them. It made me wonder about the accessibility of these albums during the 20th century, especially when music applications weren’t available to purchase music. The gifts left by Rich of the old-fashioned stickers and pins were precious, and something that added something special to my music collection.

When Rich Stremmes songs were playing, I enjoyed them. I liked the beats and I thought they were great songs. I did not like how he was speaking to us in a zoom call, since not only did it make it difficult to see what he actually looked like, but I think it’s more challenging to listen to someone and for the speaker to catch their audience’s attention through it. I liked the art on the vinyl disks he sent for us to look at, it was like graffiti art with a lot going on and it looked like they had deep meanings. I also think it was nice he gave us some freebies, especially the pins. He talked a lot about zines, which are small pieces of paper that are reproduced and shared to the public to spread a message, and how he used them to spread punk-rock related messages. One story he shared that shocked me was when his friend didn’t allow someone to enter a concert after they traveled there for six hours. He told him that if the guy killed someone then his friend is responsible for it, and later they found out he actually killed someone. Other than that, I would definitely prefer if he talked to our class in person, as I think it would make it a lot more interesting.

I think it was really cool to listen to Rich talk about the old punk rock scene. Rock and Metal is my favorite genre of music to listen to, and it was nice to hear about a culture that is considered its origin. I liked how he seemed to have strong opinions on different topics of punk rock, and I thought that his stories were interesting.

 

I also think that his story about turning away certain types of people from shows was interesting to say the least. I don’t necessarily agree with his viewpoint, since it is impossible to tell what a person will do if you tell them no, but I did find it cool to hear his thought process. I think it is a very similar thought process to the one that other fans of the genre have.

 

I thought the art on his zines were pretty cool, and they felt very authentic. You could tell the art was more about spreading a message rather than on the quality of the drawings, but it made the zines into a really interesting piece of artwork.

 

It was also nice listening to Rich’s stories about his rock experience, and they reminded me of one of my relatives who also was very into rock around the same time Rich was. I think that made his stories more enjoyable to listen too, since I was able to draw parallels to previous things I’ve been told.

I gained a great deal from our zoom call with Richard Stremme. For one, I acquired a great admiration for the punk rockers of the 1970s. They were highly ambitious and made immense financial sacrifices for their musical passion. In order to market their music, they had to create their own zines, reach out to bands and utilize artistry. They were true hustlers. This history rebutted my perception that the punk rockers were lazy. I thought many of them raged against the machine and the establishment because they didn’t want to work. Isn’t it common knowledge that they just wanted to scream at the top of their lungs? However, Rich’s description sold me on the idea that punk rockers were thoughtful people whose work and motivations were as legitimate as any other group of musicians. In addition, in the words of Rich, they engaged in a “labor of love,” as they always had to invest more money into financing their projects and almost never broke even. Breaking even was a fantastic accomplishment. They pursued art purely for its own sake in the same fashion as Robert Mapplethorpe. I think the message of punk art, described by Rich as raw individual expression, was influenced by its artists’ pure dedication to their work as opposed to money. Since they didn’t need to satisfy commercial interests, their art could be an outlet for the fullest expression of their individual selves. Additionally, since many of the early punk rock artists were not beholden to record labels, their message was not regulated from the top-down. They could be as anti-establishment and boundary-breaking as they wished. Thus, there is some truth to the idea that in art, there is purity in poverty. One who is not influenced by money and simply wants to produce art for an artistic purpose will likely create more authentic art. They will create art which is not reflective of market desires, but of their internal monologue. This is an oversimplification to some degree, as one can have multiple motivations and find a way to produce art which is both marketable and artistically fulfilling. However, one who does rely on the market will always be inhibited in their creative output to some extent-as they will be moved by its forces-even if such influence is subconscious. There are a couple of points to be made about three things which were raised during the zoom call. The first relates to the anti-racist thread of punk rock and the album called “Ashamed to be White.” Anti-racism has defined the cultural zeitgeist in recent years. The Black Lives Matter movement, as a social movement, was supported by a majority of Americans. Additionally, the capitalist establishment-meaning large corporations-were also heavily supportive of BLM. Furthermore, today, MLK is a figure who is revered by both sides of the political aisle. However, during the 1970s, racial egalitarianism was the subject of a polarized culture war. Those who critiqued their own whiteness-a notion which still raises eyebrows today-were regarded as extremist radicals. I may not agree with the idea that white people should feel guilt over racial injustices. I suspect Kimberly Drew would agree. The greatest degree of responsibility lies at the hand of systems of discrimination rather than individuals. Nevertheless, I sympathize with what the punk rock artists did. At the time, white pride was an unvoiced but highly influential idea that shaped racist power structures. In discussing whiteness in a critical way, the punk rockers questioned the assumptions of white superiority, which were often left unquestioned. Although white people shouldn’t feel a sense of shame in their identity, this genre of anti-racist punk art expressed deeper reservations about the harmful exclusion at the heart of “whiteness.” Egalitarian racial dialogue is a critical issue and we should all be grateful to punk rockers for pushing the envelope towards equality and away from hierarchy. A second point concerns the straight edge movement in punk rock. This was a movement to abstain from drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex, which were perceived as excesses of punk rock. These behaviors had become so ingrained in punk rock culture that to be contrarian meant to be as abstinent as a Mormon. I think the same kind of reaction to the excesses of the punk rock lifestyle were paralleled in new age movements during the same time which were seeking meaning in spirituality. Just as punk rock was countercultural, eastern religions were perceived as distinct from Christian American culture. Today, arguably the No-Fap movement and the popularity of a “trad” lifestyle on social media platforms represent a reactionary response to greater openness to sexuality and pornography. Even so, these latter movements come from a place of close mindedness and are heavily influenced by the far-right. That is a potential reason why these contemporary trends do not inspire art like straight edge did. Straight edge, new age, vegetarianism and other searches for purity were part of a pursuit of an altruistic ethic and represented an attempt to open one’s mind to new ways of thought. On the other hand, the tendencies of intolerance and closing oneself off from the world seem to animate the contemporary pietistic movements more than openness. To become a traditionalist is not to explore something new, but to tap into a nostalgic, imagined ideal of restriction. Art must be creative and therefore must explore new ideas. That requires an openness, which is why great art was inspired by straight edge but has not been sparked by contemporary puritanical movements. A third point to make is regarding the neo-Nazis. Rich said he was opposed to punk rockers kicking anyone out of their audience because of their potential for violence in reaction to their exclusion. I would argue that tolerating neo-Nazis or other extreme figures emboldens and strengthens them. If they exist unhampered within one’s art audience, they can spread and grow. It is up to an artist to regulate their audience and to exclude hateful people-so that they don’t possess the influence necessary to cause significant harm. Otherwise, one’s message can be co-opted to support horrific causes. Although there is the possibility that people who are excluded will do harm as a result of their rejection, one could argue that it is not the exclusion but the hateful ideology which causes harm. The consequences of allowing such an ideology to grow within one’s artistic community are far worse than those of exclusion because fringe groups can do far more harm with social inclusion than without it. When it comes to something like deplatforming, one sees that figures who are silenced and banned from social media forums lose a significant degree of their audience. Although those people are pushed into echo chambers where they are only surrounded by people who share their extreme views, they are not able to spread their message to a wider audience when they are ostracized in this manner. An artist should not abdicate control over their message when their message is being used for tremendous harm. That is the limit to allowing one’s audience the right to interpret one’s art. The playwright for “The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits” echoed the same sentiment in our Q&A. In hearing from Richard, I can no longer state with confidence that punk rock artists are anarchist hooligans. On the contrary, they are as thoughtful as they are brash.

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.