The Punk Rocker

The Punk Rocker

Hang out at a UK punk gig today and you'd be hard pushed to describe what you see as anything other than some good old harmless fun in a genre that long since became another subsidiary of rock 'n' roll.

While punk has produced its fair share of careerists, traditionalists and spotty herberts, let's not forget it has produced a few genuinely provocative bands, from the MC5 and Crass to Fugazi and Refused. But that was then, this is now and it's easy to forget that punk still means something - and I don't mean your drunk Uncle Terry or that bloke who still hangs around the town centre in his Angelic Upstarts T-shirts. Instead, the spirit of punk as an anti-establishment force lives on today. You're just not likely to find it in the UK or the US.

Instead, punk is kept alive in places like Cuba where simply criticising the communist regime can get your ass thrown in jail. As has been reported, that's what has happened to Gorki Águila Carrasco, leader singer of Porno para Ricardo, currently facing four years in prison for "peligrosidad" - literally meaning the dangerousness of his music - specifically for dismissing the ruling Castro brothers as "geriatrics". It's hardly GG Allin is it? Maybe it was their vaguely wacky song 'El Comandante' that upset, um, El Comandante.

Elsewhere the appetite for punk rock grows unabated. Readers of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel Persepolis or its film adaptation will know the type of trouble faced when caught with contraband punk music under the theocratic tyranny of Islamist fundamentalists in post-revolution Iran. And indeed, how that hunger for anti-social sounds merely grows when challenged. The Sex Pistols might be a joke today, but for millions of oppressed youth they still represent a signpost to freedom.

The perceived controversial nature of punk bands merely highlights the conservative world we're living in, where fundamentalist religious regimes or paranoid governments still perceive punk bands as threatening. Just ask Canadian punk band The Suicide Pilots, who have a government file on them for their name alone. Or ask leading Chinese punk band Hang On The Box, who have previously been denied visas to travel abroad after their government deemed their music an "inappropriate" export. Punk scenes exist in China, but bands have to tread carefully and make sure not to criticise their government. "We are good citizens who obey the law and love our country," said Li Qing of Chinese punk band Snapline, when asked about governmental intervention when interviewed in 2007. And do you know how hard it is locating a Gang Of Four record in North Korea?

Even UK punks aren't immune - when Mike Devine, guitarist with a Clash tribute band, texted his friend some lyrics from The Clash's 'Tommy Gun' the father of two was paid a visit by the Avon & Somerset Special Branch.

Ultimately, though, Western punk has got soft and largely apolitical thanks to us living in one of the freest countries in the world. Punk in America and Britain is John Lydon selling computer games and Green Day filling stadiums. But if you think punk - the spirit of punk - is dead, go to South America, go to Russia, go to Eastern Europe and see what the young punk fans there have to say about it.