There are so many ways -- literal or figurative, referencing content or
form -- that one could invoke the idea of 'punk' cinema, that there's
little point in trying to chose one over the other or come up with an all
inclusive definition. Mike's student is probably best advised to clarify
what she means by the term, and not worry about whether it agrees with
somebody else's notion.
As for the history of the concept of 'punk rock'. No, it did not originate
in the UK at the time of the Pistols, nor in NYC with CBGB and John
Holmstrom. The term was coined several years earlier by rock critics who
were arguing that crude and simple records from the mid-sixties by The
Kingsmen, Shadows of Night, Standells, etc., -- and the works of later
bands they saw as extending that tradition (especially the Stooges), were
aesthetically superior to the bloated Art Rock or Progressive Rock that
dominated the era. They called this music 'punk rock.' I believe the term
was first used by Lenny Kaye, but the most notable statements of the
aesthetic are probably the essays Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung,
and James Taylor Marked for Death by Lester Bangs. A key moment in
development of this interpretive position was the release of the original
Nuggets compilation on Electra, produced by Kaye. As such, there was
already an intellectual model for 'punk rock' before the Ramones released
a record, and I distinctly recall one rock mag noting on the release of
the first DMZ EP on Bomp that this record was closer to what the punk
theorists had in mind than the Ramones had done.
Of course, language evolves, and nowadays people rarely use 'punk' to
describe anything earlier than the Ramones. The 3-chord fuzz of the 60s is
now usually called 'garage music'. But the way it is, is not how it was.
The etymology of 'punk' itself may have started with prison slang for
sexual prey, but it evolved into a more generic pejorative for young men
attempting to adopt a 'tough guy' posture, a kind of juvenille deliquent
of questionable competence at delinquency. Outsider status, vulnerable
youth, tough-guy pose, more enthusiasm than skill -- these were the
connotations activating by attaching the term to a kind of 'rock.'
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