Some might look at the rise of a memory industry associate with punk and dismiss these expressions of cultural memory and the creation of punk archive as simple nostalgia. What does it mean to describe something as nostalgia and what is the nature of this dismissal? Is a zine archive actually a powerful response to nostalgic recollections of the past?
Nostalgia is a term that comes from “the Greek nostos, to return home, and algia, a painful condition.” It can literally mean “a painful yearning to return home” (Davis 446). More often, the term nostalgia is defined as a homesickness for an imagined or real past (Megill 195). Nostalgia is associated with forms of longing and attachment to the past. Nostalgia expresses a key idea: that the past is not simply something that exists, but something that one can desire and that can remain vital to oneself in the present. What becomes tricky, however, is that this attachment to the past can be a desire to see only the past one wishes to encounter and thus it might involve erasing and forgetting much of what actually happened or inconvenient details that would interfere with the past one desires.
One can see evidence of this in some early histories of punk culture that shared the experiences of only certain punks.
Typically, white, cisgender, heterosexual, male experiences dominated these oral histories and first-person accounts. For a time, it appeared that only some have the ability to have lived experiences documented and acknowledged within punk spaces and punk cultural memory, perhaps precisely because of who was doing the remembering and how they nostalgically recalled their own experiences. The author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks about “the danger of a single story” as a way of thinking about how one story comes to appear as if it is the only story. As we know, there are any number of definitions of punk, and there are just as many histories to be told.
The past exists, but how we choose to represent it and remember it is subject to individual and collective memory as well as pre-existing social norms that govern what we expect to hear or are used to hearing. There will always be multiple stories of the past and more than one perspective on what happened when.
Consider the question of the archive we are considering: can preserving a public record of HeartattaCk zines allow for greater diversity and a richer account of the history of punk and its present formations? The creation of digital archives can be an important alternative to nostalgic misrepresentations of the past because they bring more stories into view and offer additional viewpoints that might differ from some of the stories that we are presently telling about punk culture. In essence, an zine archive lets an aspect of punk culture speak for itself, much like the music often does.
It would be a mistake to think that this means that zines contain the truth and people are telling lies. They are likely both speaking truth. It is just that a full view of history requires multiple perspectives and multiple viewpoints. There is no single story of punk in the past or the present. More perspectives should always be welcome!
Whose voice tells the story of punk? Is it only documentary film? Is it only oral history? Is it only the kids of today who know what punk is? Zines are part of this conversation and they are an alternative to yet another film that asks Ian MacKaye (or another increasingly authoritative voice) what he thinks about something.
Memory serves as an important powerful tool for subcultures to build a collective identity. Nostalgia can glamorize the past and might forget some of the limitations, failures, and real harm that punk subculture has inflicted upon different individuals. There are great old stories. But these are not the only stories of punk culture either. I don’t think that a zine archive solves this problem, however. Zines can and do romanticize and glamorize punk just as effectively as nostalgia does!
Nostalgia, remembering, and forgetting are simultaneously productive and harmful for a subculture. Nostalgia does not need to mean that one remembers only the good times and forgets how punk has routinely failed to put its ideals into practice especially when it comes to creating an inclusive community free of sexism, racism, and homophobia.
One can fondly recall the past and remain critical of how nostalgia might encourage us to forget some important matters. An archive can help by placing documents into context for present users. Nostalgia might be the reason one discovers and starts to use an archive. One can and should seize the opportunity to offer users more than just a piece of their past.
Nostalgia could encourage people to re-engage with the punk subculture of the past and in turn allow individuals to celebrate punk in the present. Equally as important are the memories of the folks who did not feel welcome in punk spaces and who may or may not have formed resistant subcultures within punk such as riot grrrls or queercore. Zine archives help to create an expectation that punk involves many different voices.
By Lea Rose Sebastianis and George Grinnell
The Straight Edge movement has given us plenty: the belief in a sober life, in a collective power to change things, and in the ability to overcome passivity. But we also felt that the movement perpetuated “toughness” and masculinity, and that there was no place for us in the “brotherhood.” The principle of solidarity was often forgotten.
Sober Coven Collective
Punk Pedagogy 