While perusing email today, I received a newsletter from USNI (United States Naval Institute). One of the links caught my attention due to the odd pairing of topics, and that it was posted on the USNI website made it even stranger.

“A Brief History of Punk Rock in the Cold War” by Daniel Trombly was not what I expected it to be. Trombly doesn’t focus on the pre-Sex Pistols years of punk  in relation to the Cold War, but instead discusses later punk bands (with Utoobage examples) and their varied responses to global events. The groups he cites are not limited to the U.S. and the U.K. – some are as far away as Brazil and Peru – and he puts their songs in context with Cold War history.

“Punk rock is no stranger [to] violent politics. From decrying statist militarism to embracing revolutionary upheaval to reveling in the nihilistic specter of nuclear war, the genre has a lot to say about conflict.

“Name any war, police action, popular unrest, and there’s a good chance somebody sang, shouted, screamed or spat about it to a crowd.

“The scale of irregular violence surrounding the better known clashes between Cold War superpowers is staggering. U.K. post-punk band Gang of Four memorialized the omnipresence of irregular conflicts in the 1979 song 5.45, emphatically declaring: “guerrilla war struggle is a new entertainment.” Many of their contemporaries seemed to agree.

“The list below is far from comprehensive (you could write a dissertation about Vietnam’s role in American punk rock) but it reflects a cross-section of the geography and strategy of the Cold War’s irregular conflicts.” [link]

If you’re interested in the Cold War, a punk rock aficionado, or both, it’s an interesting essay. Gabba Gabba Hey.