title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: One of Monolith Soft's objectives for the game was to give the characters a wider range of facial expressions compared to past "Xenoblade" titles. The lead character designer was Masatsugu Saito, who was designing characters for a video game for the first time. The developers chose him to give the protagonists a more expressive anime-like art style than prior "Xenoblade" entries, which featured a more realistic type of modeling that they found a bit too stiff. Square Enix artist Tetsuya Nomura was responsible for the characters within the Torna organization. Takahashi had wanted to work with Nomura, but as he was busy with other games at Square Enix, he hesitantly approached the company with the hopes of letting him work as a guest artist. To Takahashi's surprise, they accepted the negotiation. Other guest artists also contributed, such as "Xeno" series veterans Kunihiko Tanaka and Soraya Saga, who designed some of the game's Blades, weapon-like life forms. Tanaka designed a blade of KOS-MOS, one of the protagonists of the "Xenosaga" trilogy. The game's story was conceived by Takahashi, with assistance from screenwriters Yuichiro Takeda and Kazuho Hyodo. Takeda, who also worked as a writer on the last two "Xenoblade" games, stated that the writing techniques and workflow for "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" was similar to that of a movie. While it is a sequel to "Xenoblade Chronicles", it features a new world and cast of characters.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: The game's original score was written by Yasunori Mitsuda, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Manami Kiyota and the duo of ACE (Tomori Kudo and Hiroyo Yamanaka). Mitsuda, who was also in charge of the audio budget, musician booking, schedule management, and sheet music proofreading, was first invited to the project by Takahashi in December 2014. Throughout the following year, Mitsuda and Takahashi held numerous meetings discussing the overall direction of the music, eventually inviting musical group ACE and Kenji Hiramatsu, who had also worked on the first "Xenoblade Chronicles". At the meetings, each composer's contribution to the soundtrack was decided, with ACE primarily handling the field music, and Hiramatsu handling the battle music. According to Mitsuda, it was done in a way that would satisfy the fans, as they did not want to "ruin the image" that was set by the first "Xenoblade Chronicles". With contributions from over 300 total musicians and 20,000 sheets worth of music, Mitsuda considered it the largest project he had ever worked on, with files and data from Pro Tools, his music production software, surpassing one terabyte in size. Overall, there were approximately 120 tracks recorded for the game, with around 25 of them being from Mitsuda.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: The soundtrack features performances from the Slovakian Bratislava Symphony Choir, as well as the Irish chamber choir Anúna. Mitsuda, who had always wanted to work with Anúna after becoming a fan in the 1990s, claimed that their performances for the game made him cry. Two tracks, including the ending theme written by Mitsuda, were sung by Jennifer Bird of the English acoustic duo Tomorrow Bird. Before recording, Mitsuda and Bird corresponded so that she could properly convey the characters' emotions through her singing. While recording, Bird was able to improvise melodic elements of her singing, something that did not usually happen with Mitsuda's arrangements.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: The game was announced in January 2017 as part of Nintendo's detailed reveal of the Nintendo Switch, with a gameplay trailer being released on the same day. Similar to the original "Xenoblade", the title was announced as "Xenoblade 2" in Japan, but had "Chronicles" added to its name in English-speaking regions. The game was also a part of Nintendo's presentation at E3 2017, where it was reconfirmed for release by the end of 2017.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: Like the original "Xenoblade Chronicles", Nintendo's European division took up the reins for the English localization, who regularly communicated with Nintendo's Japanese and American divisions about decisions that could prove controversial, something that was previously an issue with "Xenoblade Chronicles X". Unlike the first two games, the localization process took place during development rather than after and was ready in time for a simultaneous worldwide launch on December 1, 2017. Days before the game's launch, a promotional music video featuring a vocal track from the game by Mitsuda, "Shadow of the Lowlands", was uploaded onto Nintendo's official YouTube accounts. The video features a performance by Anúna, and was filmed and directed by Michael McGlynn, leader of the group. An official soundtrack, consisting of over a hundred tracks, was released in both physical and digital formats on May 23, 2018. Additional content was added through an expansion pass which released through 2018. Added content includes new items, quests, recruitable Blades, and a challenge battle mode. New story-based content, "Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country", was released digitally as part of the expansion pass on September 14, 2018, and as a standalone retail release a week later.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: A costume based on Rex was added to "" a few weeks ahead of the game's launch. Characters from "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" were considered for a position as a playable fighter in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate"s initial roster, but they were ultimately passed over due to poor timing, as according to director Masahiro Sakurai the game was announced to the public far too late in the development of "Ultimate". Pyra and Mythra were eventually added to the roster as a 2-in-1 fighter via downloadable content in March 2021, along with a new stage and several music tracks. While Rex was considered, Sakurai deemed it unfeasible to control both of them at the same time, likening the situation to that of the Ice Climbers, so he was reduced to supportive roles in Pyra and Mythra's moveset.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: Some critics called the initial reveal of the game "unexpected", with Jeremy Parish of "USGamer" favorably comparing it to "Chrono Cross". At the Gamescom event in August 2017, the game received positive early hands-on impressions from gaming sites, being praised for its streamlined combat system and environments.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: Upon release, "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator website Metacritic, which gave it an overall score of 83% on 93 reviews. The game's story, characters, complex combat system, soundtrack, amount of content, and the beauty and size of the environments were largely praised. John Rairdin of "Nintendo World Report" considered the game "one of the finest JRPGs of the generation and perhaps of all time" and was highly praising the music, "diverse world", "fresh and engaging combat", and "thrilling storyline". He also expressed doubt that there would be a better JRPG for the Switch. "Game Revolution"s Jason Faulkner called the game "a joy to review", stating that it was "full of wonder, exploration, and character". Hiroshi Noguchi writing for "IGN Japan" gave a very positive review, stating that it "offers a timeless tale of adventure and an incredibly deep battle system." Alex Fuller for "RPGamer" was enthusiastically supportive of the game, saying "2017 has been one of the greatest years in RPG history; Xenoblade Chronicles 2 caps that off in mesmerising fashion by being one of the finest titles of the year".


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: Nadia Oxford of "USgamer" stated that "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" "captures nearly everything that made the first game great, borrows the best elements from "Chronicles X", and then improves on much of it. Though Blades change up how you fight in "Chronicles 2", the game spills over with the traits that make the first "Chronicles" game a stand-out experience. More story, more enemies to scrap with, more landscapes to tread across. "Chronicles 2" is a dialogue-heavy game, but there are many points where Monolith Soft lets its environments narrate the seriousness of Alrest's plight." She highly praised the game's story, stating "The narrative explores patriotism, war, environmental decline, refugees, and examines the little people who get caught in the crush when big powers scrap with one another. There are also a number of moral and philosophical questions raised about Blades [...] Are Blades humanity's partners, or their slaves?" "GamesTM" called the game the "apex of open-world design", and the exploration made up for any minor issues.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: Leif Johnson of "IGN" praised the game and called it a "standout RPG that manages to keep its story, combat, and exploration interesting over the course of at least 70 hours of adventure through an impressively varied and rich world", though conceded a few frustrations with the game, including a confusing minimap that sometimes led to the reviewer getting lost. Shubhankar Parijat of "GamingBolt" called it ""A must-play for all Nintendo Switch owners"" and "one of the best JRPGs of this generation" and calling its world "vast and beautiful", its story "complex and layered", and its combat "intricate and addictive", while also noting that the game was occasionally held back by "obtuse design choices" and "a simple lack of polish".


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: However, the game did have its criticisms. Jason Schreier of "Kotaku", who had also disliked the original "Xenoblade Chronicles", gave a largely negative review, calling the game "dull, dreary, overly complicated, and unconcerned with wasting the player's time". He heavily criticized the writing, technical issues, pacing, as well as the gameplay, which he considered overly extensive and complicated as well as the "clunky" menus. He was also critical of the story, calling it "an unsubtle script that stomps all over even the most interesting story scenes". However, he praised the "spectacular" music and "beautifully realized" environments. Noguchi of "IGN Japan" criticized some of the game's mechanics not being well explained and the amount of bugs found in the game at launch, but was looking forward to the early patch of the game to fix many of these issues. Jed Pressgrove, however, writing for "Slant Magazine" was highly critical of the large amount of tutorials found in the game, stating "It's very difficult, if not impossible, to feel like you’re in a different world, much less experiencing a story, when such elements call attention to the contrived nature of the whole shebang." Pressgrove did approve of the game's "rousing soundtrack", however. "Washington Post" Harold Goldberg found the "intricate, unfriendly gameplay" inaccessible, saying "A wondrous game lies in there somewhere.. it's too often too difficult to swim through", and that he wouldn't play the game again after completing it.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" won awards for excellence at both the 2019 Japan Game Awards and the 2018 Famitsu Awards. The game was also nominated for "Best RPG" at IGN's Best of 2017 Awards, and a nomination for game engineering at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewer Awards in 2018.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: The game sold nearly 98,000 copies in its first week in Japan, and 168,000 after a month. In the United Kingdom, the game positioned itself at number 19 overall in its first week, which made it debut 9 places higher over "Xenoblade Chronicles X". In the United States, it charted at number 16 for the month of December. Within a month, the game had sold over a million copies worldwide.


title: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

text: By April 2018, "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" had become the best selling game in the "Xeno" franchise, and the best-selling game of Monolith Soft altogether. In September 2018, Takahashi stated: ""Xenoblade Chronicles 2" exceeded my expectations. We really saw more people pick the game up and experience it in the North American and European territories than we thought would do so... the sales of the" Torna" DLC are exceeding our expectations as well." In an interview with 4Gamer, Takahashi revealed that "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" had sold 1.73 million units worldwide as of March 2019. The 2022 CESA Games White Papers revealed that "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" had sold 2.44 million units worldwide, as of December 31, 2021.


title: Clam

text: Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and have a powerful burrowing foot. They live in both freshwater and marine environments; in salt water they prefer to burrow down into the mud and the turbidity of the water required varies with species and location; the greatest diversity of these is in North America.


title: Clam

text: Clams in the culinary sense do not live attached to a substrate (whereas oysters and mussels do) and do not live near the bottom (whereas scallops do). In culinary usage, clams are commonly eaten marine bivalves, as in clam digging and the resulting soup, clam chowder. Many edible clams such as palourde clams are ovoid or triangular; however, razor clams have an elongated parallel-sided shell, suggesting an old-fashioned straight razor.


title: Clam

text: Some clams have life cycles of only one year, while at least one has been aged to over 500 years old. All clams have two calcareous shells or valves joined near a hinge with a flexible ligament and all are filter feeders.


title: Clam

text: A clam's shell consists of two (usually equal) valves, which are connected by a hinge joint and a ligament that can be internal or external. The ligament provides tension to bring the valves apart, while one or two adductor muscles can contract to close the valves. Clams also have kidneys, a heart, a mouth, a stomach, and a nervous system. Many have a siphon.


title: Clam

text: Clams are shellfish that make up an important part of the web of life that keeps the seas functioning, both as filter feeders and as a food source for many different animals. Extant mammals that eat clams would include both the Pacific and Atlantic species of walrus, all known subspecies of harbour seals in both the Atlantic and Pacific, most species of sea lions, including the California sea lion, bearded seals and even species of river otters that will consume the freshwater species found in Asia and North America. Birds of all kinds will also eat clams if they can catch them in the littoral zone: roseate spoonbills of North and South America, the Eurasian oystercatcher, whooping crane and common crane, the American flamingo of Florida and the Caribbean Sea, and the common sandpiper are just a handful of the numerous birds that feast on clams all over the world. Most species of octopus have clams as a staple of their diet, up to and including the giants like the Giant Pacific octopus.


title: Clam

text: In culinary use, within the eastern coast of the United States and large swathes of the Maritimes of Canada, the term "clam" most often refers to the hard clam, "Mercenaria mercenaria". It may also refer to a few other common edible species, such as the soft-shell clam, "Mya arenaria", and the ocean quahog, "Arctica islandica". Another species commercially exploited on the Atlantic Coast of the United States is the surf clam, "Spisula solidissima". Scallops are also used for food nationwide, but not cockles: they are more difficult to get than in Europe because of their habit of being farther out in the tide than European species on the West Coast, and on the East Coast they are often found in salt marshes and mudflats where mosquitoes are abundant. There are several edible species in the Eastern United States: "Americardia media," also known as the strawberry cockle, is found from Cape Hatteras down into the Caribbean Sea and all of Florida; "Trachycardium muricatum" has a similar range to the strawberry cockle; and "Dinocardium robustum", which grows to be many times the size of the European cockle. Historically, they were caught on a small scale on the Outer Banks, barrier islands off North Carolina, and put in soups, steamed or pickled.


title: Clam

text: Up and down the coast of the Eastern U.S., the bamboo clam, "Ensis directus", is prized by Americans for making clam strips, although because of its nature of burrowing into the sand very close to the beach, it cannot be harvested by mechanical means without damaging the beaches. The bamboo clam is also notorious for having a very sharp edge of its shell, and when harvested by hand must be handled with great care.


title: Clam

text: On the U.S. West Coast, there are several species that have been consumed for thousands of years, evidenced by middens full of clamshells near the shore and their consumption by nations including the Chumash of California, the Nisqually of Washington state and the Tsawwassen of British Columbia. The butter clam, "Saxidomus gigantea", the Pacific razor clam, "Siliqua patula," gaper clams "Tresus capax", the geoduck clam, "Panopea generosa" and the Pismo clam, "Tivela stultorum" are all eaten as delicacies.


title: Clam

text: Clams can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, baked or fried. They can also be made into clam chowder, clams casino, clam cakes, or stuffies, or they can be cooked using hot rocks and seaweed in a New England clam bake. On the West Coast, they are an ingredient in making cioppino and local variants of ceviche


title: Clam

text: Clams are eaten more in the coastal regions of India, especially in the Konkan, Kerala, Bengal and coastal regions of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu regions.


title: Clam

text: In Kerala clams are used to make curries and fried with coconut. In the Malabar region it is known as "elambakka" and in middle kerala it is known as "kakka". Clam curry made with coconut is a dish from Malabar especially in the Thalassery region. On the southwestern coast of India, also known as the Konkan region of Maharashtra, clams are used in curries and side dishes, like Tisaryachi Ekshipi, which is clams with one shell on. Beary Muslim households in the Mangalore region prepare a main dish with clams called Kowldo Pinde. In Udupi and Mangalore regions it is called "marvai" in the local Tulu language. It is used to prepare many dishes like marvai sukka, marvai gassi, and marvai pundi.


title: Clam

text: In Japan, clams are often an ingredient of mixed seafood dishes. They can also be made into hot pot, miso soup or tsukudani. The more commonly used varieties of clams in Japanese cooking are the Shijimi ("Corbicula japonica"), the Asari ("Venerupis philippinarum") and the Hamaguri ("Meretrix lusoria").


title: Clam

text: The rocky terrain and pebbly shores of the seacoast that surrounds the entire island provide ample habitat for shellfish, and clams are most definitely included in that description. The oddity here is that for a nation whose fortunes have been tied to the sea for hundreds of years, 70% of the seafood cultivated for aquaculture or commercial harvesting is exported to the Continent. Historically, Britain has been an island most famous for its passion for beef and dairy products, although there is evidence going back to before most recorded history of coastal shell middens near Weymouth and present day York. (There is also evidence of more thriving local trade in sea products in general by noting the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers was founded in 1272 in London.) Present-day younger populations are eating more of the catch than a generation ago, and there is a prevalence of YouTube videos of locavore scavenging; however, the numbers have a long way to go before they match the numbers consumed in the Mesolithic, as evidenced by the strikingly large number of shells found in middens.


title: Clam

text: Staple favourites of the British public and local scavengers include the razorfish, "Ensis siliqua", a slightly smaller cousin of the bamboo clam of eastern North America. These can be found for sale in open-air markets like Billingsgate Market in London; they have a similar taste to their North American cousin. Cockles, specifically the common cockle, are a staple find on beaches in western Wales and farther north in the Dee Estuary. The accidentally introduced hard-shell "mercenaria mercenaria" is also found in British waters, mainly those near England, and does see some use in British cuisine. The Palourde clam by far is the most common native clam and it is both commercially harvested as well as locally collected, and "Spisula solida", a relative of the Atlantic surf clam on the other side of the Atlantic, is seeing increased interest as a food source and aquaculture candidate; it is mainly found in the British Isles in Europe.


title: Clam

text: In Italy, clams are often an ingredient of mixed seafood dishes or are eaten together with pasta. The more commonly used varieties of clams in Italian cooking are the "vongola" "(Venerupis decussata)", the "cozza" "(Mytilus galloprovincialis)" and the "tellina" "(Donax trunculus)". Though "dattero di mare" "(Lithophaga lithophaga)" was once eaten, overfishing drove it to the verge of extinction (it takes 15 to 35 years to reach adult size and could only be harvested by smashing the calcarean rocks that form its habitat) and the Italian government has declared it an endangered species since 1998 and its harvest and sale are forbidden.


title: Clam

text: but in Islam, clams are considered Halal. In Jainism, eating clams is against the principles of ‘ahinsa’ or non-violence, as it is a result of killing (hinsa) a living creature.


title: Clam

text: Some species of clams, particularly "Mercenaria mercenaria", were in the past used by the Algonquians of Eastern North America to manufacture wampum, a type of sacred jewellery; and to make shell money.


title: R

text: R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is "ar" (pronounced ), plural "ars", or in Ireland "or" .


title: R

text: The letter is the eighth most common letter in English and the fourth-most common consonant (after , , and ).


title: R

text: The letter is used to form the ending "-re", which is used in certain words such as "centre" in some varieties of English spelling, such as British English. Canadian English also uses the "-re" ending, unlike American English, where the ending is usually replaced by "-er" ("center"). This does not affect pronunciation.


title: R

text: The name of the letter in Latin was (), following the pattern of other letters representing continuants, such as F, L, M, N and S. This name is preserved in French and many other languages. In Middle English, the name of the letter changed from to , following a pattern exhibited in many other words such as "farm" (compare French "ferme") and "star" (compare German "Stern").


title: R

text: The letter R is sometimes referred to as the (literally 'canine letter', often rendered in English as the dog's letter). This Latin term referred to the Latin R that was trilled to sound like a growling dog, a spoken style referred to as ('dog voice'). A good example of a trilled R is in the Spanish word for dog, "perro".


title: R

text: In William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", such a reference is made by Juliet's nurse in Act 2, scene 4, when she calls the letter R "the dog's name". The reference is also found in Ben Jonson's "English Grammar".


title: R

text: The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for "tp", "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was "rêš" (also the name of the letter). It developed into Greek 'Ρ' ("rhô") and Latin R.


title: R

text: The descending diagonal stroke develops as a graphic variant in some Western Greek alphabets (writing "rho" as ), but it was not adopted in most Old Italic alphabets; most Old Italic alphabets show variants of their "rho" between a "P" and a "D" shape, but without the Western Greek descending stroke.


title: R

text: Indeed, the oldest known forms of the Latin alphabet itself of the 7th to 6th centuries BC, in the Duenos and the Forum inscription, still write "r" using the "P" shape of the letter.


title: R

text: The Lapis Satricanus inscription shows the form of the Latin alphabet around 500 BC. Here, the rounded, closing Π shape of the "p" and the Ρ shape of the "r" have become difficult to distinguish.


title: R

text: The descending stroke of the Latin letter R has fully developed by the 3rd century BC, as seen in the Tomb of the Scipios sarcophagus inscriptions of that era. From around 50 AD, the letter "P" would be written with its loop fully closed, assuming the shape formerly taken by "R".


title: R

text: Along with Latin minuscule writing in general, it developed ultimately from Roman cursive via the uncial script of Late Antiquity into the Carolingian minuscule of the 9th century.


title: R

text: In handwriting, it was common not to close the bottom of the loop but continue into the leg, saving an extra pen stroke. The loop-leg stroke shortened into the simple arc used in the Carolingian minuscule and until today.


title: R

text: A calligraphic minuscule "r", known as r rotunda (ꝛ), was used in the sequence "or", bending the shape of the "r" to accommodate the bulge of the "o" (as in "oꝛ" as opposed to "or"). Later, the same variant was also used where "r" followed other lower case letters with a rounded loop towards the right (such as "b, h, p") and to write the geminate "rr" (as "ꝛꝛ"). Use of "r rotunda" was mostly tied to blackletter typefaces, and the glyph fell out of use along with blackletter fonts in English language contexts mostly by the 18th century.


title: R

text: Insular script used a minuscule which retained two downward strokes, but which did not close the loop ("Insular "r"", ꞃ); this variant survives in the Gaelic type popular in Ireland until the mid-20th century (but now mostly limited to decorative purposes).


title: R

text: Other languages may use the letter in their alphabets (or Latin transliterations schemes) to represent rhotic consonants different from the alveolar trill. In Haitian Creole, it represents a sound so weak that it is often written interchangeably with , e.g. 'Kweyol' for 'Kreyol'.


title: R

text: Brazilian Portuguese has a great number of allophones of such as , , , , , and , the latter three ones can be used only in certain contexts ( and as ; in the syllable coda, as an allophone of according to the European Portuguese norm and according to the Brazilian Portuguese norm). Usually at least two of them are present in a single dialect, such as Rio de Janeiro's , , and, for a few speakers, .


title: R

text: The International Phonetic Alphabet uses several variations of the letter to represent the different rhotic consonants; represents the alveolar trill.


title: Glossary of BDSM

text: This glossary of BDSM (an initialism for "bondage", "discipline", "domination", "submission", "sadism", and "masochism") terms defines terms commonly used in the BDSM community.


title: Glossary of BDSM

text: BDSM abbreviations have their origins in classified personal advertisements, where euphemisms for paraphilic and socially-disapproved practices were required by periodical editors to circumvent censorship and obscenity law.


title: Glossary of BDSM

text: The term "BDSM" is a portmanteau of initialisms intended to encompass all of the following activities:


title: Glossary of BDSM

text: Some people in the BDSM community begin dominant terms with an upper case, for example: Top, Master, Dom, Domme, etc., as well as to begin submissive terms with a lower case, even where normally incorrect, chiefly in acronyms and abbreviations, such as D/s for Dom/sub. Some extend this to honorifics and capitalization: for example Master Rob's slave, , may refer to him as Sir and herself as (or as "this slave", restricted from referring to themselves in the first person). Others are highly dismissive of this "slashy speak".


title: Glossary of BDSM

text: In addition, high protocol refers to groups or individuals that adhere to strict roles and role-based rules of conduct, whereas low protocol refers to groups or individuals that are more relaxed. Old Guard now usually refers to high protocol groups, particularly gay leather BDSM groups; people who use this phrase may be romanticizing a perception of leather history: see Old Guard leather.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Stephen Alan Wynn ("né" Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction and operation of several notable Las Vegas and Atlantic City hotels, including the Golden Nugget, the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, The Mirage, Treasure Island, the Bellagio, and Beau Rivage in Mississippi, and he played a pivotal role in the resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1990s. In 2000, Wynn sold his company, Mirage Resorts, to MGM Grand Inc., resulting in the formation of MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International). Wynn later took his company Wynn Resorts public in an initial public offering and was Wynn Resorts' CEO and Chairman of the Board until February 6, 2018, when he announced his resignation. He is a prominent donor to the Republican Party, and was the finance chair of the Republican National Committee from January 2017 to January 2018, when he resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Through Wynn Resorts, he has overseen the construction and development of several luxury resorts, opening Wynn Las Vegas in 2005, Wynn Macau in 2006, Encore Las Vegas in 2008, Encore at Wynn Macau in 2010 and Wynn Palace in Macau in 2016, and Wynn Everett near Boston which opened in June 2019 under the name Encore Boston Harbor. In 2006, Wynn was inducted into the American Gaming Association Hall of Fame. As of September 2015, Wynn's net worth was estimated by "Forbes" at $2.4 billion, making him the 279th wealthiest American. Steve Wynn collects fine art, including pieces by artists such as Picasso and Claude Monet.


title: Steve Wynn

text: On February 6, 2018, Wynn stepped down as CEO of Wynn Resorts amid accusations of sexual misconduct including harassment, assault, and coercion. Wynn has denied the allegations.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Steve Wynn was born Stephen Alan Weinberg in New Haven, Connecticut, on January 27, 1942. His father, Michael, owned a chain of bingo parlors in the eastern United States. His mother Zelma (née Kutner), was from Maine. Wynn’s father changed the family's last name in 1946 from "Weinberg" to "Wynn" when Steve was 4 years old "to avoid anti-Jewish discrimination". Wynn was raised in Utica, New York, and graduated from The Manlius School, a private boys' school east of Syracuse, New York, in 1959.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Steve Wynn received his Bachelor of Arts in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. Shortly before Wynn's graduation in March 1963, his father died during heart surgery, leaving $350,000 in gambling debts. Wynn relinquished a position at Yale Law School to take charge of his family's bingo parlor in Waysons Corner, Maryland.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 1967, Wynn and his family moved to Las Vegas where he purchased a small stake in the Frontier Hotel and Casino. That year he met E. Parry Thomas, the president of the Bank of Las Vegas, which was the only bank at the time willing to extend loans to Las Vegas casinos, and Thomas helped finance several of Wynn's early land deals. Starting in 1968, Wynn also spent four years operating a wine and liquor importing company he had purchased.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 1971, Wynn bought a controlling interest in the Golden Nugget Las Vegas, one of the oldest casinos in the city. His company stake increased so that, in 1973, he became the majority shareholder, and the youngest casino owner in Las Vegas. In 1977 he opened the Golden Nugget's first hotel tower, followed by several others. Frank Sinatra was a periodic headliner at the Golden Nugget, and Wynn has since maintained a relationship with the Sinatra family, even naming a restaurant at Encore "Sinatra".


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 1980, Wynn began construction on the Golden Nugget Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's first and only "locals casino" and the city's sixth casino after the city legalized gambling in 1976. Joel Bergman, who designed Wynn's other resorts, designed the Golden Nugget. Though at its opening it was the second smallest casino in the city, by 1983 it was the city's top earning casino. Wynn sold the Atlantic City Golden Nugget in 1987 for $440 million.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn's first major casino on the Las Vegas Strip was The Mirage, which opened on November 22, 1989. It was the first time Wynn was involved with the design and construction of a casino, and he financed the $630 million project largely with high-yield bonds issued by Michael Milken. Its construction is also considered noteworthy in that The Mirage was the first casino to use security cameras full-time on all table games. The hotel became the main venue for the "Siegfried & Roy" show in 1990, and in 1993 the hotel hosted the Cirque du Soleil show "Nouvelle Expérience".


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn's next project, Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, opened in the Mirage's old parking lot on October 27, 1993, at an overall cost of $450 million. The establishment was the home of the first permanent Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 1995, Wynn's company proposed to build the Le Jardin hotel-casino in the marina area if the state of New Jersey built a road that connected to the hotel-casino. The company had also agreed to allow Circus Circus Enterprises and Boyd Gaming to build casinos on the site, but later reneged on the agreement. While the road, called the Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, was eventually built, Le Jardin was cancelled after the company was acquired in 2000 by MGM Grand Inc., which later built the Borgata, in a joint venture with Boyd Gaming, on the site.


title: Steve Wynn

text: On October 15, 1998, Wynn opened the even more opulent Bellagio, a $1.6 billion resort considered among the world's most spectacular hotels. The architect was Jon Jerde of The Jerde Partnerships, and construction was undertaken by Wynn's company Mirage Resorts, Inc. When built, the Bellagio was the most expensive hotel in the world. In front of the hotel are the Fountains of Bellagio—shooting fountains choreographed to music that "dance" on the hotel's 8.5 acre man-made lake—which are now considered Las Vegas landmarks. The Bellagio is credited with starting a new spree of luxurious developments in Las Vegas. Among these developments include The Venetian, Mandalay Bay, and Paris Las Vegas.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn brought Mirage Resorts' style to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1999, where he oversaw development of the 1,835-room Beau Rivage. Themed to blend Mediterranean beauty with Southern hospitality, the resort was part of a building boom that established Biloxi as a regional tourism center along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. "Beau Rivage" was originally the name Wynn wanted to give the Bellagio, though he had decided on "Bellagio" after vacationing in the Italian region of the same name. Beau Rivage opened as the largest hotel-casino to be built outside Nevada. The casino was initially located on a series of floating barges, as local law confined all casinos to mobile marine vessels at the time. The hotel, restaurants, and associated facilities were constructed on land.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Mirage Resorts was sold to MGM Grand Inc. for $6.6 billion ($21 per share) in June 2000 to form MGM Mirage. Five weeks before the deal was closed (April 27, 2000) Wynn purchased the Desert Inn for $270 million. He sold the Inn later that year.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn took Wynn Resorts Limited public in 2002. Wynn became a billionaire in 2004, when his net worth doubled to $1.3 billion. On April 28, 2005 he opened his most expensive resort at the time, the Wynn Las Vegas, on the site of the former Desert Inn. Built at a cost of $2.7 billion, it was the largest privately funded construction project in the nation as of 2005.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn successfully bid for one of three gaming concessions opened for tender in Macau. This property, known as Wynn Macau, opened on September 5, 2006. In 2008, Wynn Macau became the fifth Asian hotel to receive the Mobil Five-Star award.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In the summer of 2008, hiring began for Encore Las Vegas, the newest in Wynn's collection of resorts. The tower of Encore is modeled after the Wynn Las Vegas tower, and they share the same "property" though they are separate hotels. After having started construction in 2006, the overall cost of the project equalled $2.3 billion. Encore opened on December 22, 2008. As of December 31, 2012, Wynn and Encore Las Vegas employed approximately 9,000 full-time employees. Encore at Wynn Macau, an expansion of Wynn Macau similar to the expansion of the Las Vegas property, opened on April 21, 2010.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 2016, Wynn opened the Wynn Palace in Cotai, Macao, PRC. It was previously approved by the Macau government in 2012.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In September 2014, Wynn was awarded the license to build the Wynn Boston Harbor casino in the eastern Massachusetts city of Everett, near downtown Boston.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that dozens of people recounted a pattern of sexual misconduct by Wynn, including several former employees. On February 6, 2018, Wynn stepped down as CEO of Wynn Resorts, though he denied all allegations.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In the past, Wynn has financially supported both the Democratic and the Republican Party, for example contributing $200,000 to the Republican Governors Association in 2013. In 2011 he spoke in support of Nevada Senator Harry Reid. Though he supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election, in 2011 he expressed disappointment with Obama's policies relating to economic issues.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In December 2010, Prince Albert II of Monaco bestowed Monegasque citizenship to Wynn, an unusual act since Wynn did not meet the prerequisites. According to the "Las Vegas Sun", Wynn was given the citizenship when he agreed to serve as outside director in Monaco QD International Hotels and Resorts Management, which is a joint venture between the governments of Monaco and Qatar. The organization buys and manages hotels in Europe, the Middle East and North America.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Between 2012 and 2018, Wynn contributed more than $2.5 million to the Republican Governors Association and also donated $411,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, $248,000 to the Republican National Committee, and $100,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. In 2016, Wynn donated $833,000 to Republican Party joint fundraising committees. After Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Wynn was named a vice-chairman of Trump's inauguration committee.


title: Steve Wynn

text: After the January 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump, Wynn was named finance chairman of the Republican National Committee. In October 2017 "The Wall Street Journal" reported that Wynn, who has financial interests in China, lobbied President Trump on behalf of the Chinese government to return a Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, to China. On January 28, 2018, Wynn resigned from the finance chairman position amid sexual misconduct allegations. In May 2021, the Department of Justice ordered Wynn to register as a foreign agent of China, and filed a civil lawsuit. He denied acting as a foreign agent and lobbying in China's behalf. The case was dismissed in October 2022. The court did not determine whether Wynn actually acted as a foreign agent, but ruled that he could not be retroactively compelled to register after his alleged relationship with the Chinese government had ended.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn is known for amassing a large collection of fine art, often placing the pieces in his various casinos and hotels. In 2004, Wynn purchased Vermeer's "A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals" at a Sotheby's auction for $30 million. With the purchase, he became the first art collector to purchase a Vermeer painting in over 80 years. Wynn later sold the painting to the Leiden Collection owned by Thomas Kaplan for the same price.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 2006, Wynn acquired J. M. W. Turner's "Giudecca, La Donna Della Salute and San Giorgio" for $35.8 million via an anonymous telephone auction. Although Wynn did not officially identify himself as the buyer, his identity was confirmed by two people acquainted with the transaction. Wynn purchased the painting from the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation, a White Plains-based nonprofit organization that supports Capuchin priests on their missionary trips.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Steve Wynn's private art collection with specific commentary about his paintings by Claude Monet are highlighted in the 2008 film "Monet's Palate" with Meryl Streep and distributed by American Public Television. Many of the collection's pieces were on display at the Bellagio. The collection was on display at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno while the Wynn Las Vegas was being constructed and was installed in the resort shortly before it was opened. The Wynn Las Vegas gallery, which had charged an entrance fee, closed shortly after the start of 2006. The artwork from the former gallery was then scattered around the resort.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 2009, he spent $33.2 million on Rembrandt's "Man with His Arms Akimbo", the auction record for the artist.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Under the direction of Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts acquired Jeff Koons's "Tulips" at auction in November 2012 for approximately $33.6 million. In May 2014, Wynn acquired "Popeye" from the same artist for over $2 million, putting the work on display at Wynn Las Vegas.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In February 2020, Wynn bought two Picasso paintings from Donald Marron's collection for $105 million: "Woman with Beret and Collar" and "Jacqueline".


title: Steve Wynn

text: Also in the collection is "Le Rêve", the Picasso portrait that was the working name of Wynn's resort project. Wynn purchased the painting from an anonymous collector in a private sale in 2001. In 2006, he reportedly was to sell it to Steven A. Cohen for $139 million, which would at that time have been the highest price paid for any piece of art. However, he put his elbow through the canvas while showing it to a group of guests.


title: Steve Wynn

text: This canceled the sale, and after a $90,000 repair, the painting was estimated to be worth $85 million. Wynn sued his insurance company over the $54 million difference with the virtual selling price. The case was settled out of court in April 2007.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn married Elaine Farrell Pascal in 1963. They divorced in 1986, remarried in 1991, and divorced again in 2010. Elaine Wynn was a director of the company's board for 13 years, ending in 2015. They have two daughters, Kevyn and Gillian. Kevyn was kidnapped in 1993 and Wynn paid $1.45 million in ransom for her safe return. The kidnappers were apprehended when one attempted to buy a Ferrari in Newport Beach, California, with cash. Kevyn was found unharmed several hours later.


title: Steve Wynn

text: On April 30, 2011, Wynn married Andrea Danenza Hissom in a ceremony at the Wynn Las Vegas. She is the mother of Alex Hissom and Art gallerist Nick Hissom, great-niece of Ben Novack (developer of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel), and cousin of Ben Novack Jr.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn suffers from the degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa, which he was diagnosed with in 1971. In 2010, Wynn switched to a vegan diet after watching the documentary "Eating" by Mike Anderson.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In May 2006, "Time" magazine included Wynn as one of the "World's 100 Most Influential People". Wynn was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by President George W. Bush on October 30, 2006. In November 2006, Wynn was inducted into the American Gaming Association Hall of Fame. He has also received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Sierra Nevada College; The Culinary Institute of America; and Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. "Forbes" magazine named him a "Captain of Capitalism" in 2007. Wynn was named to "Institutional Investor's" Best CEOs list in the All-America Executive Team Survey from 2008 through 2011.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In November 2014, Wynn ranked 17th on "Harvard Business Review's" list of 100 best-performing CEOs in the world.


title: Steve Wynn

text: He also received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006, which was rescinded following Wynn's sexual misconduct allegations in 2018.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In June 2022, he was recognized by the International Hospitality Institute as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 1991, Dennis Gomes, president of Wynn's Golden Nugget, left his position to join Donald Trump's Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey, receiving a $1 million bonus in lieu of equity. Wynn filed suit against Trump and Gomes for breach of contract, as Gomes was contracted to work at the Nugget until 1992. Gomes settled in 1994. Also in 1991, Gomes alleged in a countersuit that Wynn used harsh language against Gomes, but Wynn's representatives denied the allegations.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 1997, Wynn sued Barricade Books for defamation over the catalog description of an unauthorized biography "Running Scared" by John L. Smith. Wynn was initially awarded $3.2 million, forcing Barricade into bankruptcy. In 2001 the ruling was thrown out by the Supreme Court of Nevada. A retrial was scheduled for 2004. The issue was settled between Wynn and New York publisher Lyle Stuart in a confidential agreement, and the case dismissed.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In a legal battle over an attempt by Wynn-controlled Mirage to build a casino in Atlantic City, Donald Trump claimed in a lawsuit that Wynn used a private investigator as a double agent to secretly record conversations with Trump. The investigator, Louis Rodriguez, a former Los Angeles police officer and investigator for the IRS, claimed he had a change of heart because he felt that Trump used his efforts "in an immoral and unethical manner to cause financial harm" to Wynn and Mirage and thus turned "whistleblower." Wynn settled the lawsuit in 2000 and befriended Trump, who attended Wynn's wedding in 2011.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Beginning in 2008, Wynn engaged in a dispute with "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joe Francis. In 2011, a Nevada district attorney prosecuted Francis for writing a bad check to cover a $2 million gambling debt owed to Wynn, but the judge dismissed the case for falling outside the six-month statute of limitations. Wynn collected the debt in a separate civil case. In response to the collection, Francis stated that Wynn threatened to kill him, prompting Wynn to file suit for defamation against Francis. In February 2012, Clark County, Nevada, judge Mark Denton ruled that Francis damaged the reputation of Wynn and awarded Wynn $7.5 million in damages. In September 2012, after Francis repeated the alleged threat on television and Wynn added a second defamation claim, a jury awarded Wynn $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The judgment was amended to $19 million, after Wynn failed to prove that Francis could pay the original amount.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In January 2012, Wynn's former business partner Kazuo Okada filed suit to gain access to company documents related to Wynn's pledge to donate $135 million to the University of Macau Development Foundation. Wynn later accused Okada's company, Aruze, of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, leading to a Department of Justice probe into Aruze's gifts of hotel rooms and other expenses to Philippine, South Korean, and Japanese gaming officials. In a March 2013 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Wynn noted that while the Okada dispute could cut into Wynn's profits, beyond an "informal" SEC inquiry into the Macau donation, there was no formal investigation underway. In July 2013, the SEC announced that its investigation into the Macau donations was concluded and it would not pursue any enforcement action against Wynn or Wynn Resorts.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 2014, Wynn sued hedge fund manager James Chanos for slander after Chanos, at a Berkeley event, allegedly said Wynn violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Wynn's lawsuit was dismissed, with U.S. District Judge William Orrick III ruling that Chanos's remark was constitutionally protected speech. Wynn was also ordered to pay Chanos' legal fees. Wynn's subsequent appeal was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn has sought to weaken Nevada's anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) legislation. He has publicly clashed with Yelp over the issue.


title: Steve Wynn

text: Wynn has dealt with several legal issues related to sexual misconduct allegations that were covered by "The Wall Street Journal" in 2018. One accusation came from a manicurist whom Wynn later paid a $7.5 million settlement. In February 2018, Nevada regulators fined Wynn's company $20 million for failing to respond to sexual misconduct claims. In April 2019, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission fined Wynn Resorts $35 million due to the gaming authority's findings that former company executives covered up sexual misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn


title: Steve Wynn

text: Angelica Limcaco, a former salon manager at Wynn Las Vegas, filed a federal lawsuit in 2018 against Wynn Resorts and Steve Wynn claiming that she was fired, blacklisted and intimidated into silence after she elevated her concerns in 2006 to then-president of Wynn Las Vegas, Andrew Pascal. The case was appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after Judge Miranda Du ruled in favor of Wynn Las Vegas, holding that the claim was not made within the statute of limitations and Angelica Limcaco's attorney, Jordan Matthews, argued that the time limits should not apply because Limcaco feared for her personal safety. Jordan Matthews filed a petition with the Ninth Circuit in March 2020 questioning the Nevada District Court's selection of Elayna Youchah as a magistrate judge. Elayna Youchah served as Wynn Las Vegas' lead counsel in the Limcaco case and Youchah was apparently selected just before Judge Du dismissed Limcaco's case. Matthews argued there was no disclosure about this apparent conflict of interest. In May 2020, Judges William A. Fletcher, Jay S. Bybee and Paul J. Watford, heard oral argument on the Limcaco case in San Francisco, California. Jordan Matthews argued that the lower court's decision should be reversed. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission Report confirmed that Wynn Las Vegas and Steve Wynn took steps to remove a rape victim immediately after Limcaco reported the rape and Limcaco was then threatened by her superior, Doreen Whennen, to remain silent.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In March 2018, lawyer Lisa Bloom announced that she would represent a former dancer in a sexual misconduct suit against Wynn. In response, Wynn filed a defamation lawsuit against Bloom, pointing out that he is legally blind and could not "leer" at dancers. In April 2018, Wynn filed a defamation lawsuit against his former employee Jorgen Nielsen after he made negative comments about Wynn's alleged sexual misconduct to "The Wall Street Journal" and ABC news. In October 2019, Neilsen filed a lawsuit against Wynn Resorts, its CEO, Matthew Maddox, its former general counsel, Kim Sinatra, and Wynn Resorts former head of security, James Stern, for allegedly spying on him. In April 2019, James Stern, a former FBI agent and the former executive vice president of corporate security for Wynn Resorts, resigned after testifying before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to spying on Elaine Wynn and other employees. According to court documents filed by Wynn's lawyers in 2018, Wynn had reached a settlement in 2006 with another former Wynn employee who had accused him of sexual misconduct. The settlement included a non-disclosure agreement. After the "Wall Street Journal" article came out, the woman announced to Wynn's lawyer that she intended to speak publicly about the settlement, and the lawyer reported her to the FBI for extortion; no charges were filed.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In 2020, a Nevada judge ruled that a woman defamed Wynn when she reported in 2018 that he had raped her in the 1970s, noting that her testimony lacked veracity.


title: Steve Wynn

text: In July 2020, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit without prejudice against Wynn Resorts, Ltd., which was filed by nine anonymous employees. The federal judge said the women could not justify why it was necessary to file the lawsuit anonymously. Since Judge James C. Mahan dismissed the case without prejudice, the lawsuit can be refiled.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom, and the DIY ethics, the culture originated from punk rock.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk ethos is primarily made up of beliefs such as non-conformity, anti-authoritarianism, anti-corporatism, a do-it-yourself ethic, anti-consumerist, anti-corporate greed, direct action, and not "selling out".


title: Punk subculture

text: There is a wide range of punk fashion, including T-shirts, leather jackets, Dr. Martens boots, hairstyles such as brightly coloured hair and spiked mohawks, cosmetics, tattoos, jewellery, and body modification. Women in the hardcore scene typically wore masculine clothing.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punk aesthetics determine the type of art punks enjoy, which typically has underground, minimalist, iconoclastic, and satirical sensibilities. Punk has generated a considerable amount of poetry and prose, and has its own underground press in the form of zines. Many punk-themed films and videos have been made.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk subculture emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s. Exactly which region originated punk has long been a matter of controversy within the movement. Some suggest the name "" was borrowed from prison slang.


title: Punk subculture

text: Early punk had an abundance of antecedents and influences, and Jon Savage describes the subculture as a "bricolage" of almost every previous youth culture in the Western world since World War II, "stuck together with safety pins". Various musical, philosophical, political, literary, and artistic movements influenced the subculture.


title: Punk subculture

text: In the late 1970s, the subculture began to diversify, which led to the proliferation of factions such as new wave, post-punk, 2 Tone, pop punk, hardcore punk, no wave, street punk, and Oi!. Hardcore punk, street punk, and Oi! sought to do away with the frivolities introduced in the later years of the original punk movement. The punk subculture influenced other underground music scenes such as alternative rock, indie music, crossover thrash, and the extreme subgenres of heavy metal (mainly thrash metal, death metal, speed metal, and the NWOBHM). A new movement in the United States became visible in the early and mid-1990s that sought to revive the punk movement, doing away with some of the trappings of hardcore.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk subculture is centered on a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock, usually played by bands consisting of a vocalist, one or two electric guitarists, an electric bassist, and a drummer. In some bands, the musicians contribute backup vocals, which typically consist of shouted slogans, choruses, or football-style chants.


title: Punk subculture

text: While most punk rock uses distorted guitars and noisy drumming sounds derived from 1960s garage rock and 1970s pub rock, some punk bands incorporate elements from other subgenres, such as surf rock, rockabilly, or reggae. Most punk rock songs are short, have simple and somewhat basic arrangements using relatively few chords, and typically have lyrics that express punk ideologies and values, although some punk lyrics are about lighter topics such as partying or romantic relationships.


title: Punk subculture

text: Different punk subcultures often distinguish themselves by having a unique style of punk rock, although not every style of punk rock has its own associated subculture.


title: Punk subculture

text: The earliest form of music to be called "punk rock" was 1960s garage rock, and the term was applied to the genre retroactively by influential rock critics in the early 1970s. In the late 1960s, music now referred to as protopunk originated as a garage rock revival in the northeastern United States. The first distinct music scene to claim the "punk" label appeared in New York City between 1974 and 1976. Around the same time or soon afterward, a punk scene developed in London. Los Angeles subsequently became home to the third major punk scene. These three cities formed the backbone of the burgeoning movement, but there were also other punk scenes in cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney in Australia, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal in Canada, and Boston and San Francisco in the United States.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk subculture advocates a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic. During the subculture's infancy members were almost all from a lower economic class, and had become tired of the affluence that was associated with popular rock music at the time. Punks would publish their own music or sign with small independent labels, in hopes to combat what they saw as a money-hungry music industry. The DIY ethic is still popular with punks.


title: Punk subculture

text: The New York City punk rock scene arose from a subcultural underground promoted by artists, reporters, musicians, and a wide variety of non-mainstream enthusiasts. The Velvet Underground's harsh and experimental yet often melodic sound in the mid to late-1960s, much of it relating to transgressive media work by visual artist Andy Warhol, is credited for influencing 1970s bands such as the New York Dolls, The Stooges, and the Ramones. Early New York City punk bands were often short-lived, in part due to widespread use of recreational drugs, promiscuous sex, and sometimes violent power struggles, but the relative popularity of the music led to the evolution of punk into a movement and lifestyle.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punk political ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. Common punk viewpoints include individual liberty, anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, anti-corporatism, anti-government, direct action, and not "selling out".


title: Punk subculture

text: Some groups and individuals that try to self-identify as being a part of the punk subculture hold pro-Nazi or Fascist views, however, these Nazi/Fascist groups are rejected by almost all of the punk subculture. The belief that such views are opposed to the original ethos of the punk subculture, and its history, has led to internal conflicts and an active push against such views being considered part of punk subculture at all. Two examples of this are an incident during the 2016 American Music Awards, where the band Green Day chanted anti-racist and anti-fascist messages, and an incident at a show by the Dropkick Murphys, when bassist and singer Ken Casey tackled an individual for giving a Nazi-style salute and later stated that Nazis are not welcome at a Dropkick Murphys show. Band member Tim Brennan later reaffirmed this sentiment. The song "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys is a standout example.


title: Punk subculture

text: Early British punks expressed nihilistic and anarchist views with the slogan "No Future", which came from the Sex Pistols song "God Save the Queen". In the United States, punks had a different approach to nihilism which was less anarchistic than the British punks. Punk nihilism was expressed in the use of "harder, more self-destructive, consciousness-obliterating substances like heroin, or methamphetamine".


title: Punk subculture

text: The issue of authenticity is important in the punk subculture—the pejorative term "poseur" is applied to those who associate with punk and adopt its stylistic attributes but are deemed not to share or understand the underlying values or philosophy.


title: Punk subculture

text: Early punk fashion adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing was held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing was customised by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint; a black bin liner became a dress, shirt or skirt; safety pins and razor blades were used as jewellery. Also popular have been leather, rubber, and PVC clothing that is often associated with transgressive sexuality, like BDSM and S&M. A designer associated with early UK punk fashion was Vivienne Westwood, who made clothes for Malcolm McLaren's boutique in the King's Road, which became famous as "SEX".


title: Punk subculture

text: Many punks wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, plaid/tartan trousers, kilts or skirts, T-shirts, leather jackets (often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), and footwear such as high-cut Chuck Taylors, trainers, skate shoes, brothel creepers, Dr. Martens boots, and army boots. Early punks occasionally wore clothes displaying a swastika for shock value, but most contemporary punks are staunchly anti-racist and are more likely to wear a crossed-out swastika symbol than a pro-Nazi symbol. Some punks cut their hair into mohawks or other dramatic shapes, style it to stand in spikes, and colour it with vibrant, unnatural hues.


title: Punk subculture

text: Some punks are "anti-fashion", arguing that punk should be defined by music or ideology. This is most common in the post-1980s US hardcore punk scene, where members of the subculture often dressed in plain T-shirts and jeans, rather than the more elaborate outfits and spiked, dyed hair of their British counterparts. Many groups adopt a look based on street clothes and working-class outfits. Hardcore punk fans adopted a "dressed-down" style of T-shirts, jeans, combat boots or trainers, and crewcuts. Women in the hardcore scene typically wore army trousers, band T-shirts, and hooded jumpers.


title: Punk subculture

text: The style of the 1980s hardcore scene contrasted with the more provocative fashion styles of late 1970s punk rockers (elaborate hairdos, torn clothes, patches, safety pins, studs, spikes, etc.). Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris described early hardcore fashion as "the...punk scene was basically based on English fashion. But we had nothing to do with that. Black Flag and the Circle Jerks were so far from that. We looked like the kid who worked at the gas station or submarine shop." Henry Rollins echoes Morris' point, stating that for him getting dressed up meant putting on a black shirt and some dark pants; Rollins viewed an interest in fashion as being a distraction. Jimmy Gestapo from Murphy's Law describes his own transition from dressing in a punk style (spiked hair and a bondage belt) to adopting a hardcore style (i.e. boots and a shaved head) as being based on a need for more functional clothing. A punk scholar states that "hardcore kids do not look like punks", since hardcore scene members wore basic clothing and short haircuts, in contrast to the "embellished leather jackets and pants" worn in the punk scene.


title: Punk subculture

text: In contrast to Morris' and Rollins' views, another punk scholar claims that the standard hardcore punk clothing and styles included torn jeans, leather jackets, spiked armbands and dog collars, mohawk hairstyles, and DIY ornamentation of clothes with studs, painted band names, political statements, and patches. Yet another punk scholar describes the look that was common in the San Francisco hardcore scene as consisting of biker-style leather jackets, chains, studded wristbands, pierced noses and multiple piercings, painted or tattooed statements (e.g. an anarchy symbol), and hairstyles ranging from military-style haircuts dyed black or blonde to mohawks and shaved heads.


title: Punk subculture

text: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2013 hosted a comprehensive exhibit, "PUNK: Chaos to Couture", that examined the techniques of hardware, distress, and re-purposing in punk fashion.


title: Punk subculture

text: In the United Kingdom, the advent of punk in the late 1970s with its "anyone can do it" ethos led to women making significant contributions. In contrast to the rock music and heavy metal scenes of the 1970s, which were dominated by men, the anarchic, counter-cultural mindset of the punk scene in mid- and late 1970s encouraged women to participate. "That was the beauty of the punk thing," Chrissie Hynde later said. "[Sexual] discrimination didn't exist in that scene." This participation played a role in the historical development of punk music, especially in the U.S. and U.K. at that time, and continues to influence and enable future generations.


title: Punk subculture

text: Rock historian Helen Reddington states that the popular image of young punk women musicians as focused on the fashion aspects of the scene (fishnet stockings, spiky blond hair, etc.) was stereotypical. She states that many, if not most women punks were more interested in the ideology and socio-political implications, rather than the fashion. Music historian Caroline Coon contends that before punk, women in rock music were virtually invisible; in contrast, in punk, she argues "[i]t would be possible to write the whole history of punk music without mentioning any male bands at all – and I think a lot of [people] would find that very surprising." Johnny Rotten wrote that 'During the Pistols era, women were out there playing with the men, taking us on in equal terms ... It wasn't combative, but compatible.' Women were involved in bands such as The Runaways, The Slits, The Raincoats, Mo-dettes, Dolly Mixture, and The Innocents.


title: Punk subculture

text: Others take issue with the notion of equal recognition, such as guitarist Viv Albertine, who stated that "the A&R men, the bouncers, the sound mixers, no one took us seriously. So, no, we got no respect anywhere we went. People just didn't want us around." The anti-establishment stance of punk opened the space for women who were treated like outsiders in a male-dominated industry. Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon states, "I think women are natural anarchists, because you're always operating in a male framework."


title: Punk subculture

text: For some punks, the body was a symbol of opposition, a political statement expressing disgust of all that was "normal" and socially accepted. The idea was to make others outside of the subculture question their own views, which made gender presentation and gender identity a popular factor to be played with. In some ways, punk helped to tear apart the normalised view of gender as a dichotomy. There was a notable amount of cross-dressing in the punk scene; it was not unusual to see men wearing ripped-up skirts, fishnet tights, and excessive makeup, or to see women with shaved heads wearing oversized plaid shirts and jean jackets and heavy combat boots. Punk created a new cultural space for androgyny and all kinds of gender expression.


title: Punk subculture

text: In trying to reject societal norms, punk embraced one societal norm by deciding that strength and anger was best expressed through masculinity, defining masculine as the "default", where gender did not exist or had no meaning. However, the main reasoning behind this argument equates femininity with popular conceptions of beauty. Everything that was normally supposed to be hidden was brought to the front, both literally and figuratively. This could mean anything from wearing bras and underwear on top of clothing to wearing nothing but a bra and underwear. Although that act can seem sexualised, to punks it was just a way of self-expression. Punk seemed to allow people to sexualize themselves and still be taken seriously.


title: Punk subculture

text: The nature of punk allowed many to create a non-gender-conforming style. Punks could be free to use femininity or masculinity to make what they were doing even more shocking to their audience. It became popular for some punks to accentuate societal norms. At one concert, Donita Sparks, lead singer of the band L7, pulled out her tampon and threw it into the audience.


title: Punk subculture

text: Riot grrrl is an underground feminist hardcore punk movement that originated in the early 1990s in Washington, D.C., and the Pacific Northwest, especially Olympia, Washington. It is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as its starting point. It has also been described as a musical genre that came out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a musical movement in which women could express themselves in the same way men had been doing for the past several years.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punk aesthetics determine the type of art punks enjoy, usually with underground, minimalistic, iconoclastic, and satirical sensibilities. Punk artwork graces album covers, flyers for concerts, and punk zines. Usually straightforward with clear messages, punk art is often concerned with political issues such as social injustice and economic disparity. The use of images of suffering to shock and create feelings of empathy in the viewer is common. Alternatively, punk artwork may contain images of selfishness, stupidity, or apathy to provoke contempt in the viewer.


title: Punk subculture

text: Much of the earlier artwork was black and white, because it was distributed in zines and reproduced by photocopying at work, school, or at copy shops. Punk art also uses the mass production aesthetic of Andy Warhol's Factory studio. Punk played a hand in the revival of stencil art, spearheaded by Crass. The Situationists also influenced the look of punk art, particularly that of the Sex Pistols created by Jamie Reid. Punk art often uses collage, exemplified by the art of Jamie Reid, Crass, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, and Winston Smith. John Holmstrom was a punk cartoonist who created work for the Ramones and "Punk".


title: Punk subculture

text: Two dance styles associated with punk are pogo dancing and moshing. The pogo is a dance in which the dancers jump up and down, while either remaining on the spot or moving around; the dance takes its name from its resemblance to the use of a pogo stick, especially in a common version of the dance, where an individual keeps their torso stiff, their arms rigid, and their legs close together. Pogo dancing is closely associated with punk rock and is a precursor to moshing. Moshing or slamdancing is a style of dance where participants push or slam into each other, typically during a live music show. It is usually associated with "aggressive" music genres, such as hardcore punk and thrash metal. Stage diving and crowd surfing were originally associated with protopunk bands such as The Stooges, and have appeared at punk, metal, and rock concerts. Ska punk promoted an updated version of skanking. Hardcore dancing is a later development influenced by all of the above-mentioned styles. Psychobillies prefer to "wreck", a form of slam dancing that involves people punching each other in the chest and arms as they move around the circle pit.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punk has generated a considerable amount of poetry and prose. Punk has its own underground press in the form of punk zines, which feature news, gossip, cultural criticism, and interviews. Some zines take the form of perzines. Important punk zines include "Maximum RocknRoll", "Punk Planet", "No Cure", "Cometbus", "Flipside", and "Search & Destroy". Several novels, biographies, autobiographies, and comic books have been written about punk. "Love and Rockets" is a comic with a plot involving the Los Angeles punk scene.


title: Punk subculture

text: Just as zines played an important role in spreading information in the punk era (e.g. British fanzines like Mark Perry's "Sniffin Glue" and Shane MacGowan's "Bondage"), zines also played an important role in the hardcore scene. In the pre-Internet era, zines enabled readers to learn about bands, shows, clubs, and record labels. Zines typically included reviews of shows and records, interviews with bands, letters to the editor, and advertisements for records and labels. Zines were DIY products, "proudly amateur, usually handmade, and always independent", and during the "'90s, zines were the primary way to stay up on punk and hardcore." They were the "blogs, comment sections, and social networks of their day."


title: Punk subculture

text: In the American Midwest, the zine "Touch and Go" described the regional hardcore scene from 1979 to 1983. "We Got Power" described the LA scene from 1981 to 1984, and included show reviews of and interviews with such bands as Vancouver's D.O.A., the Misfits, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, and the Circle Jerks. "My Rules" was a photo zine that included photos of hardcore shows from across the US. "In Effect", which began in 1988, described the New York City scene.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punk poets include: Richard Hell, Jim Carroll, Patti Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Seething Wells, Raegan Butcher, and Attila the Stockbroker. The Medway Poets performance group included punk musician Billy Childish and had an influence on Tracey Emin. Jim Carroll's autobiographical works are among the first known examples of punk literature. The punk subculture has inspired the cyberpunk and steampunk literature genres, and has even contributed (through Iggy Pop) to classical scholarship.


title: Punk subculture

text: Many punk-themed films have been made. The No Wave Cinema and Remodernist film movements owe much to punk aesthetics. Several famous punk bands have participated in movies, such as the Ramones in "Rock 'n' Roll High School", the Sex Pistols in "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", and Social Distortion in "Another State of Mind". Derek Jarman and Don Letts are notable punk filmmakers. Penelope Spheeris' first instalment of the documentary trilogy "The Decline of Western Civilization" (1981) focuses on the early Los Angeles punk scene through interviews and early concert footage from bands including Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Germs, and Fear. The Decline of Western Civilization III" explores the gutter punk lifestyle in the 1990s. "Loren Cass" is another example of the punk subculture represented in film.


title: Punk subculture

text: The Japanese cyberpunk movement has roots in the Japanese punk subculture that arose in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with his punk films "Panic High School" (1978) and "Crazy Thunder Road" (1980), which portrayed the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and went on to become highly influential in underground film circles. "Crazy Thunder Road" in particular was an influential biker film, with a punk biker gang aesthetic that paved the way for Katsuhiro Otomo's manga and anime franchise "Akira" (1982 debut). Ishii's next film was the frenetic "Shuffle" (1981), an unofficial short film adaptation of a manga comic strip by Otomo.


title: Punk subculture

text: "[Glue] sniffing was adopted by punks because public perceptions of sniffing fitted in with their self-image. Originally used experimentally and as a cheap high, adult disgust and hostility encouraged punks to use glue sniffing as a way of shocking society." Model airplane glue and contact cement were among the numerous solvents and inhalants used by punks to achieve euphoria and intoxication. Glue was typically inhaled by placing a quantity in a plastic bag and "huffing" (inhaling) the vapour. Liquid solvents were typically inhaled by soaking a rag with the solvent and inhaling the vapour. While users inhale solvents for the intoxicating effects, the practice can be harmful or fatal.


title: Punk subculture

text: Straight edge is a philosophy of hardcore punk culture, adherents of which refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. For some, this extends to refraining from engaging in promiscuous sex, following a vegetarian or vegan diet, and not drinking coffee or taking prescribed medicine. The term "straight edge" was adopted from the 1981 song "Straight Edge" by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.


title: Punk subculture

text: Straight edge emerged amid the early-1980s hardcore punk scene. Since then, a wide variety of beliefs and ideas have been associated with the movement, including vegetarianism and animal rights. Ross Haenfler writes that as of the late 1990s, approximately three out of four straight edge participants were vegetarian or vegan. While the commonly expressed aspects of the straight edge subculture have been abstinence from alcohol, nicotine, and illegal drugs, there have been considerable variations on how far to take the interpretations of "abstaining from intoxicants" or "living drug-free". Disagreements often arise as to the primary reasons for living straight edge. Straight edge politics are primarily left-wing and revolutionary but there have been conservative offshoots.


title: Punk subculture

text: In 1999, William Tsitsos wrote that straight edge had gone through three eras since its founding in the early 1980s. Bent edge began as a counter-movement to straight edge by members of the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene who were frustrated by the rigidity and intolerance in the scene. During the youth crew era, which started in the mid-1980s, the influence of music on the straight edge scene was at an all-time high. By the early 1990s, militant straight edge was a well-known part of the wider punk scene. In the early to mid-1990s, straight edge spread from the United States to Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. By the beginning of the 2000s, militant straight edge punks had largely left the broader straight edge culture and movement.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punks come from all culture and economic classes. Compared to some subcultures, punk ideology is much closer to gender equality. Although the punk subculture is mostly anti-racist, it is overwhelmingly white. However, members of other groups (such as African Americans, other black people, Latinos, and Asians) have contributed to the development of the subculture. Substance abuse has sometimes been a part of the punk scene, with the notable exception of the straight edge movement. Violence has also sometimes appeared in the punk subculture, but has been opposed by some subsets of the subculture, such as the pacifist strain anarcho-punk.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punks often form a local scene, which can have as few as half a dozen members in a small town, or as many as thousands of in a major city. A local scene usually has a small group of dedicated punks surrounded by a more casual periphery. A typical punk scene is made up of punk and hardcore bands, fans who attend concerts, protests, and other events, zine publishers, reviewers, and other writers, visual artists illustrating zines, and creating posters and album covers, show promoters, and people who work at music venues or independent record labels.


title: Punk subculture

text: Squatting plays a role in many punk communities, providing shelter and other forms of support. Squats in abandoned or condemned housing, and communal "punk houses" often provide bands a place to stay while they are touring. There are some punk communes, such as Essex's Dial House. The Internet has been playing an increasingly large role in punk, specifically in the form of virtual communities and file sharing programs for trading music files.


title: Punk subculture

text: In the punk and hardcore subcultures, members of the scene are often evaluated in terms of the authenticity of their commitment to the values or philosophies of the scene, which may range from political beliefs to lifestyle practices. In the punk subculture, the epithet "poseur" (or "poser") is used to describe "a person who habitually pretends to be something [they are] not." The term is used to refer to a person who adopts the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a particular subculture, yet who is deemed to not share or understand the values or philosophy of the subculture.


title: Punk subculture

text: While this perceived inauthenticity is viewed with scorn and contempt by members of the subculture, the definition of the term and to whom it should be applied is subjective. An article in "Drowned in Sound" argues that 1980s-era "hardcore is the true spirit of punk", because "after all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics", the punk scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics".


title: Punk subculture

text: Proto-punk bands such as the Who, the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, Pink Fairies, the Deviants, and Edgar Broughton Band came out of garage-rock during the late 1960s. Usually, white working-class boys are credited for pioneering the genre, however, there were many women (Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux) and people of color (the Specials member) who contributed to the original punk sound and aesthetic. Because the original subculture meant to challenge to the mainstream, and punk movement became major it was brought to the mainstream. If punk is commercialized, it is far from street culture. This is the paradox of punk; as a subculture, it must always be evolving to stay out of the mainstream.


title: Punk subculture

text: "Punk Girls" written by Liz Ham is a photo-book featuring 100 portraits of Australian women in the punk subculture, and it was published in 2017 by Manuscript Daily. Discrimination against punk subculture is explored with her photographs in the book; these "girls" who are not mainstream, but "beautiful and talented".


title: Punk subculture

text: Some of the first hip hop MCs called themselves punk rockers, and some punk fashions have found their way into hip hop dress and vice versa. Malcolm McLaren played roles in introducing both punk and hip hop to the United Kingdom. Hip hop later influenced some punk and hardcore bands, such as the Beastie Boys, Hed PE, Blaggers I.T.A., Biohazard, E.Town Concrete, The Transplants, and Refused. Other rappers and hip-hop acts were influenced by the subcultures of crust punk and hardcore such as City Morgue.


title: Punk subculture

text: The skinhead subculture of the United Kingdom in the late 1960s – which had almost disappeared in the early 1970s – was revived in the late 1970s, partly because of the influence of punk rock, especially the Oi! punk subgenre. Conversely, ska and reggae, popular among traditionalist skinheads, has influenced several punk musicians. Punks and skinheads have had both antagonistic and friendly relationships, depending on the social circumstances, time period, and geographic location.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk and heavy metal subcultures have shared some similarities since punk's inception. The early 1970s protopunk scene had an influence on the development of heavy metal. Alice Cooper was a forerunner of the fashion and music of both the punk and metal subcultures. Motörhead, since their first album release in 1977, have enjoyed continued popularity in the punk scene, and their now-deceased frontman Lemmy was a fan of punk rock. Genres such as metalcore, grindcore, and crossover thrash were greatly influenced by punk rock and heavy metal. The new wave of British heavy metal influenced the UK 82-style of bands like Discharge, and hardcore was a primary influence on thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Slayer. The early 1990s grunge subculture was a fusion of punk anti-fashion ideals and metal-influenced guitar sounds. However, hardcore punk and grunge developed in part as reactions against the heavy metal music that was popular during the 1980s.


title: Punk subculture

text: In punk's heyday, punks faced harassment and attacks from the general public and from members of other subcultures. In the 1980s in the UK, punks were sometimes involved in brawls with Teddy Boys, greasers, bikers, mods, and members of other subcultures. There was also considerable enmity between Positive punks (known today as goths) and the glamorously dressed New Romantics.


title: Punk subculture

text: In the late 1970s, punks were known to have had confrontations with hippies due to the contrasting ideologies and backlash of the hippie culture. Nevertheless, Penny Rimbaud of the English anarcho-punk band Crass said that Crass was formed in memory of his friend, the hippie Wally Hope. Rimbaud also said that Crass were heavily involved with the hippie movement throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with Dial House being established in 1967. Many punks were often critical of Crass for their involvement in the hippie movement. Like Crass, Jello Biafra was influenced by the hippie movement and cited the yippies as a key influence on his political activism and thinking, though he did write songs critical of hippies.


title: Punk subculture

text: The industrial and rivethead subcultures have had several ties to punk, in terms of music, fashion, and attitude.


title: Punk subculture

text: Power pop music (as defined by groups such as Badfinger, Cheap Trick, The Knack, and The Romantics) emerged in mostly the same time frame and geographical area as punk rock, and they shared a great deal musically in terms of playing short songs loud and fast while trying to emphasize catchy feelings. More melodic and pop-influenced punk music has also often been wrapped alongside power pop bands under the general "new wave music" label. A good example of a genre-straddling "power pop punk" band is the popular Northern Ireland group Protex. However, stylistically and lyrically, power pop bands have tended to have a very "not-punk" top 40 commercial pop music influence and a flashier, heavily teen-pop sense of fashion, especially modern power pop groups such as Stereo Skyline and All Time Low.


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk scene began to emerge in socialist East Germany in the late 1970’s. It shared many similarities with that of the West and was considered by the ruling authorities to be a spread of an international youth sub-culture which had its roots in the U.S.A. and Western Europe. Indeed, this was an assessment many East German punks shared themselves. According to one, Mario Schulz, "The start was that I liked the music. I did not quite understand the English texts, but this ostentatious experience as an outsider, this capacity to shock, that pleased me. I was already- someone else would probably express it differently- an awkward sod."


title: Punk subculture

text: By the authorities, punk was seen as representing a way of life which was contrary in nature to existing social conventions and values. Punks were, however, not the only youth sub-culture to be considered ‘negative decadent’ and a threat to the stability of socialist society: heavy metallers, skinheads, and goths were also targeted. Whilst it is hard to ascertain an exact figure, the punk scene in East Germany in the early 1980s was still relatively small. For example, ‘In 1981, the Stasi (secret police) identified 1,000 punks and a broader group of 10,000 sympathisers.’ Punks, whether considered as individuals or as groups, were persecuted by both the regular police and the Stasi. More overt methods of persecution by the regular police- such as enforced haircutting, arrest, and physical beatings- were combined unofficially with the more insidious and far-reaching decomposition methods (trans. Zersetzung) of the Stasi: these involved various forms of infiltration, false flag type acts, framing, psychological harassment methods designed to cause mental health problems, and incarceration on the basis of mental health legislation or on the basis of crimes ostensibly committed. As the methods of the Stasi were difficult to detect and even harder to prove, it allowed them to circumvent international condemnation in regard to the persecution of their own citizens. Aside from being designed to harm people, the methods were also designed to discredit and isolate individuals and break up the various bands and groupings. They relied heavily on the hiring of collaborators who were of a similar disposition to those who were being targeted. According to Stasi officers, this was a task which was harder to achieve with punks due to their ‘feeling of belonging together.’ Nonetheless, the Stasi did have notable success in the repression and decomposition of the punk scene. Former member of the band "Namenlos", Jana Schlosser, stated in 1984 when she came out of jail, that "The Stasi had pretty well managed to smash punk."


title: Punk subculture

text: The punk subculture has spread to many countries around the world. The fluidity of musical expression in particular makes it an ideal medium for this cross-cultural interpretation.


title: Punk subculture

text: In Mexico, punk culture is primarily a phenomenon among the upper-middle class, many of whom were first exposed to punk music through travel to England, but rapidly shifted to the lower-class youth. Because of low fees at public universities in Mexico, a significant majority of Mexican punks are university students. It is estimated approximately 5,000 young people are active punks in Mexico City, hosting two or three underground shows a week. These young people often form chavos banda—youth gangs—that organized subculture activity by creating formal meeting spaces and rituals and practices.


title: Punk subculture

text: Oral nicknames are a distinguishing feature of Mexican punk, where the tradition of oral culture has influenced the development of nicknames for almost all Mexican punks. Patches are widely used as an inexpensive way to alter clothing and express identity. Though English-language bands like the Dead Kennedys are well known in Mexico, punks there prefer Spanish-language music or covers translated into Spanish. The slam dance style common in the California punk scene of the early 1980s is thoroughly adopted as part of the movement and continues to be the most popular dancing style among punks.


title: Punk subculture

text: Performance and ideology practices often reflect the socioeconomic circumstances of Mexican punks. Live shows, called "Tocadas" are generally held in public spaces like basketball courts or community centers instead of places of business like venues, bars, and restaurants, as is more common in the United States and Europe. They usually take place in the afternoon and end early to accommodate the two or three hours it takes many punks to return home by public transit. Mexican punk groups rarely release vinyl or CD recordings, usually cassettes are the preferred format.


title: Punk subculture

text: Though Mexican punk itself does not have an explicit political agenda, Mexican punks have been active in the Zapatista, Anarcho-punk, and anti-globalisation movements.


title: Punk subculture

text: Punk arrived slowly in South Africa during the 1970s when waves of British tradesmen welcomed by the then-apartheid government brought cultural influences like the popular British music magazine "NME", sold in South Africa six weeks after publication.


title: Punk subculture

text: South African punk developed separately in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town and relied on live performances in townships and streets as the multi-racial composition of bands and fan bases challenged the legal and social conventions of the apartheid regime.


title: Punk subculture

text: Political participation is foundational to punk subculture in South Africa. During the apartheid regime, punk was second only to Rock music in its importance to multi-racial interactions in South Africa. Because of this, any involvement in the punk scene was in itself a political statement. Police harassment was common and the government often censored explicitly political lyrics. Johannesburg-based band National Wake was routinely censored and even banned for songs like "International News," which challenged the South African government's refusal to acknowledge the racial and political conflict in the country. National Wake guitarist Ivan Kadey attributes the punk scene's ability to persevere despite the legal challenges of multi-racial mixing to punk subculture's DIY ethic and anti-establishment attitude.


title: Punk subculture

text: In post-apartheid South Africa, punk attracted a greater number of white middle-class males than the more diverse makeup of the subculture during the apartheid era. Thabo Mbeki's African Renaissance movement has complicated the position of white South Africans in contemporary society. Punk provides young white men the opportunity to explore and express their minority identity. Cape Town band Hog Hoggidy Hog sings of the strange status of white Africans:


title: Punk subculture

text: Post-apartheid punk subculture continues to be active in South African politics, organising a 2000 festival called Punks Against Racism at Thrashers Statepark in Pretoria. Rather than the sense of despondency and fatalism that characterised 1970s British punk subculture, the politically engaged South African scene is more positive about the future of South Africa.


title: Punk subculture

text: In Peru punk traces its roots to the band Los Saicos, a Lima group that played the unique blend of garage and break dance music that would later be labeled punk as early as the 1960s. The early activity of Los Saicos has led many to claim that punk originated in Lima instead of the UK, as is typically assumed. Though their claim to be the first punk band in the world can be disputed, Los Saicos were undoubtedly the first in Latin America and released their first single in 1965. The group played to full houses and made frequent television appearances throughout the 1960s. Throughout the 1970s, the band was completely forgotten. Years later, a plaque that declares "here the global punk-rock movement was born" was placed at the corner of Miguel Iglesias and Julio C. Tello Streets in Lima.


title: Punk subculture

text: By the 1980s the punk scene in Peru was highly active. Peruvian punks call themselves "subtes" and appropriate the subversive implications of the English term "underground" through the Spanish term "subterraneo" (literally, subterranean). In the 1980s and 1990s subtes made almost exclusive use of cassette recording as a means of circulating music without participating in formal intellectual property and musical production industries. The current scene relies on digital distribution and assumes similar anti-establishment practices. Like many punk subcultures, subtes explicitly oppose the Peruvian state and advocate instead an anarchic resistance that challenges the political and mainstream cultural establishment.


title: Punk subculture

text: A punk subculture originated in Cuba in the 1980s, referred to as Los Frikis. As Cuban radio stations rarely played rock music, Frikis often listened to music by picking up radio frequencies from stations in nearby Florida. While many Frikas in the early-1990s entered AIDS clinics by knowingly injecting HIV-positive blood into them, others began congregating at "El patio de María", a community centre in Havana that was one of the few venues in the city that allowed rock bands to play. Some Frikis also participate in squatting as an act of political defiance.


title: Punk subculture

text: In its beginning, the subculture was seen as a threat to the collectivism of Cuban society, leading to Frikis becoming victims of discrimination and police brutality. According to the New Times Broward-Palm Beach some Frikis were "rejected by family and often jailed or fined by the government", the 1980s Friki woman Yoandra Cardoso, however, has that argued that much of the response was verbal harassment from law enforcement. Dionisio Arce, lead vocalist of Cuban heavy metal band Zeus spent six years in prison due to his part in the Frikis. Some schools would forcibly shave the heads of young Frikis as a form of punishment.


title: Jane Adams (actress, born 1965)

text: Jane Adams (born 1965) is an American actress. She made her Broadway debut in the original production of "I Hate Hamlet" in 1991, and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the 1994 revival of "An Inspector Calls". Her film roles include "Happiness" (1998), "Wonder Boys" (2000), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), and "Little Children" (2006). She also had a recurring role on the NBC sitcom "Frasier" (1999–2000), and was nominated for the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television for the HBO series "Hung" (2009–11).


title: Jane Adams (actress, born 1965)

text: Jane Adams was born in Washington, DC, the daughter of Janice, an administrative assistant, and William Adams, an engineer. She has a younger brother, Jonathan, and was raised in Wheaton, Illinois, and Bellevue, Washington.


title: Jane Adams (actress, born 1965)

text: Adams attended the University of Washington, where she studied political science, and the Cornish College of the Arts, where she took theater. She attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division (1985-1989, Group 18) where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1989.


title: Jane Adams (actress, born 1965)

text: Adams performed theatre at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. She turned down the chance to work in "Sister Act" with Whoopi Goldberg for the opportunity to work with Arthur Miller onstage.