COLUMN: How punk rock shaped who I am today


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If there’s any singular thing I can point to that made me who I am today, it would be punk music.

It may seem silly to pin my entire development as a human being on music but when I look back, I can’t see anything else that created more of an impact. Punk rock helped me find my voice and channeled my teenage angst into something important.

However, this surprises me since punk rock hasn’t been around in my life for very long when I think about. In fact, it wasn’t until high school that I began listening to punk music. While I don’t consider them to be punk, bands like Green Day and Yellowcard were my entry points into punk music and eventually my favorite band.



During freshman year of high school, a classic California-based group known as Bad Religion entered my life. At this time, I was slowly becoming more politically-minded and began doubting any religious beliefs I had. Between the lyrics and insanely catchy melodies, I not only found my favorite band but I also found music I related to.

Bad Religion opened a flood gate of punk music to me, particularly political punk. By sophomore year, I was walking down the halls with the raw fury of Minor Threat, Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys blasting into my ears. This music gave me passion about political and societal issues in ways I never felt before.

Because to me, teenage angst shouldn’t be wasted on unimportant complaints. Being a standard teenager who complained about doing chores and not being able to go out partying with friends always came across as childish to me.

Punk music gave me important issues that were so obvious to me to rebel against. Whether it was against corrupt governments or hateful prejudices embedded in our society, I was given something to fight for. I was given issues to care about, with an aggressive backing track to motivate me.


Bad Religion Logo


And this new-found motivation came at perfect timing. By my junior year, chatter about the 2016 presidential election was under full swing and debates were flying around my school. As someone who is very cynical about politics and the candidates all sides running, the only thing I could turn to for guidance was punk music.

Songs like “What Can You Do” by Bad Religion or “California Uber-Alles” by the Dead Kennedys carried me through the rough times. But perhaps the one that helped me the most was “God save the USA” by Pennywise, which featured lyrics such as:

“The irony of liberty is no one here is truly free, when elections are stolen by greed and the G.O.P.”

Lines like these perfectly reflected my frustrations with this time frame and gave me more motivation to spread the knowledge I had… kind of like what I do now as a journalist. So many people were woefully misinformed during that time that it gave me a desire to inform others. By the time I got to college, I this passion made me want to try journalism.

While I value punk music for being anti-conformity and even the simple love songs, the passion for political issues I gained from it may be the thing I treasure most.

 Andrew Mullin co-hosts a weekly rock music podcast called "Soundcheck" that can be found on Spotify, iTunes and Soundcloud. 

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