By: Kathie Chu

The punk scene originated in London in the 60s, and New York’s punk rock scene can be traced back to late 1960s trash culture and an early 1970s underground rock movement centered on the Mercer Arts Center in Greenwich Village, where the New York Dolls performed. New York teenagers also influenced this punk scene. According to the NYT, “They passed their days at Stuyvesant High School. They came from the High School of Performing Arts and Murrow. They went to Friends Seminary, Walden and Dalton, and to Brooklyn Friends. Some were dropouts and runaways; some were even from the suburbs. Almost all of them were under 18.” They created their own bands and then their own scene. Punk is heavily associated with anti-establishment, anti-capitalist, and anti-authoritarian views. The politics of punk is probably more important than the clothing. The music was still probably the most important part. These teens that made their own bands solidified punk culture in the US.