Street punk

Street punk (sometimes alternatively spelled streetpunk) is an urban working class-based subgenre of hardcore punk inspired by New Wave of British Heavy Metal which emerged in the early 1980s in the United Kingdom, partly as a rebellion against the perceived artistic pretensions of the first wave of British punk. Street punk emerged from the style of early Oi! bands such as Sham 69 and Cockney Rejects, and the Oi! bands that followed them such as Blitz, The Business and Angelic Upstarts. A key band in defining the aesthetic was The Exploited. However, street punk continued beyond the confines of the original Oi! form with bands such as GBH, Chaos UK, Discharge, The Anti-Nowhere League and Oxymoron. Street punks generally have a much more ostentatious and flamboyant appearance than the working class or skinhead image cultivated by many Oi! groups. Street punks commonly sported multi-coloured hair, mohawks, tattoos, heavily studded vests and leather jackets, and clothing, especially plaids, adorned with political slogans, patches, and/or the names of punk bands. In the 1990s and 2000s, a street punk revival began with emerging street punk bands such as The Casualties, The Virus, Cheap Sex, Lower Class Brats and The Unseen. The Casualties achieved underground success in the 2000s.