Gunk Music

This week in class we started to talk about gunk before talking about women’s lives and music. I personally had never heard the word gunk before today. I had no idea there was such a thing as gunk, although I knew of or had heard some of the songs played in class today. After listening to the songs today and watching the videos along with them, I understood their music and approach to music, along with the purpose of it more. Throughout this class I’ve realized in order to fully get the message of the song, or the emotion of it, you really have to watch the music video or a performance of them signing it. It makes the message clearer and show their true expressions and emotions. One song in particular we listened to I had heard multiple times but never really got that it was sending a message and not just a statement. The song “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett is an example of a song I’ve heard multiple times and know the lyrics too, mainly because they are repetitive. However after watching the video, I understood the message more and realized it was to people who viewed them, not just a statement to everyone else. Jett was saying that she doesn’t care what they have to say or how they view her, she is not changing her ways or going to act more ladylike. During the video she got kicked out of a place twice because she wasn’t acting or dressing like a lady should in their eyes. It got me thinking, what if we still had that problem today? What if someone who doesn’t dress up to standard were to get kicked out of a place? Can you imagine the publicity, the protests, how many people would be outraged about it? A lot has changed over the years thankfully so we don’t have to deal with that kind of thing as much. It hasn’t gone away it is just focused on something else now. Although a lot of people had mixed feelings about gunk, they still made their mark, they were still heard and still performed and did what they intended to. They didn’t stop until they were heard which is important because they didn’t give up. Artists speak through their music, they use it to define themselves and express themselves. When someone disagrees with them or tries to tear them down, they come back stronger. That is the beauty of artist, they don’t quit, they don’t give up, and they make sure you know what their doing and how they are feeling.