AND THAT'S HOW I GOT HERE

Punk is like olives, an acquired taste. Whoever can appreciate them will find ambrosia.

Reading an emotional yet down-to-earth text by Caliche (from the band Desadaptadoz) about his career in punk and how it saved his life made me think that for me, too, punk came as bursts of energy. In my case, they came and went, camouflaged themselves. But there they were, and finally, they came to stay.

I don't know if punk saved my life, although it did give me what I was looking for without even knowing it; it gave -as my grandfather would say- flavor to my existence.

I had three stages in punk. The first is the simplest, in my first decade of life. I didn't even know what punk was. However, thanks to my dad, I got to know the classic punk trinity (Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Ramones). Besides, thanks to my cousin, I got to know bands like The Offspring, Green Day, and Bad Religion. I incorporated it into my life, but it was just one more rhythm mixed with eurodance, metal, freestyle, new wave, pop, or ragga.

The second stage came when I was thirteen. I started dating a boy who showed me bands like Eskorbuto, IRA, KDH, Flema, and three compilations that blew my mind: Solo para Punx, the soundtrack of Rodrigo D. No Futuro, and La Flema Innata de la Sociedad. Now I knew what punk was. I liked it a lot indeed, but it still hadn't reached the first place in my heart. By then, I didn’t even consider it as a part of me.

At that time, I was a bit more radical. I had put aside everything that smacked of pop or electronic music, except if it was new wave. This genre was always there when I grew up, and I've felt identified with it since I can remember. I really got into rock and, as my dad taught me, rock is rock; whatever sounds good will do. Punk did sound good and worked for me, but it was at the level of other rhythms like grunge or alternative 90s rock.

My third and final stage came in 2005, a crucial year in my story. Due to things in life, I became friends with a cousin, and she took me to her punk patch in La Villa, in Medellin. She had a boyfriend who was a ‘postcard punk’ but had some swell music. One day he lent her about 20 CDs so we could ‘taste the noise’.

Among all those CDs (which I wish my cousin had never given back to him because he didn't actually like punk), five bands made me feel a rush through my veins that I had never felt before, bands that are still my favorites: GP, Bluttat, The Adicts, Dead Kennedys, and Siniestro Total. It was an unprecedented feeling. Something in me flared up and woke up.

After these stages, punk became a part of my life, of who I am.

Punk is my elixir of eternal youth.

Punk is the engine that perfectly matched my feelings of unease in the face of society. It fueled my desire for revolution, for change, for rebellion.

Punk motivates me to question everything. It makes me believe in myself, that I can do whatever I want without having to wait or aim for perfection that may never come and isn't necessary.

Punk cures my sadness and increases my joy.

Punk encourages me to show myself as I am, without masks or regrets.

Punk has been my faithful companion.

Punk is the best damn invention in the world of music.

For me, punk is a hug that surrounds me when everything is wrong.

I don't know who I would be if I hadn't met punk.

*This is the translated version. For the original version, just click here.