Subculture Style Communication

In the Hebdige article, a useful comparison is made between culture and counter culture: culture is to news photography as subculture is to advertising (Hebdige, 101). I thought this comparison really hits the nail on the head for how audiences (and band members) would have perceived the message counterculture music was portraying. Punk music was a showcase of deviancy, and sells (much like advertising does) a way of expression for those that the norm-cultural system just isn’t working. Specific to the first couple years of the Sex Pistols, the punk genre prescribed what Hebdige calls “un-fashion” (Hebdige, 107), DIY trash-searching, and creating your own, individual look. Of course this is taken over after some time by corporate interests, selling black leather jackets, creating a gradual shift towards homogeneity within the audience. Yet, this does not detract from the advertising nature of the Sex Pistols. The individuality of punk never ceases, it just becomes confronted with fans that have bought their way into the punk scene. Which, as the documentary explains, seems against the ideology of the genre. Punk was founded upon London class “warfare”, in that punk was a way for the working class to have a voice to say “tough titters” (~minute 36) towards the wealthy. Which begs the question, do wealthy fans have a place within this subculture?