Has Punk/Heavy Metal ruined graffiti's 'style'?

[shaolinmasta]

I'm not for or against this argument but it was brought up to me today that someone thinks graffiti is losing style because more and more punk/heavymetal/emo/hipster guys are getting into it. He thinks that is bringing in more people like neckface and other copycats. He also believes this has bought in the 'graffiti for fun' element like drawing crap letters with a million arrows and playing it off as being cool/good or a unicorn with a million dicks. All in all he believes this is bringing down the general 'style' of graffiti.

 

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

 

I'm aware there have been many writers from the start who have heavy metal influences.

[jungleHead]

punk writers are on some different shit. thats about it

[RES4]

hipsters yes

[MOOGLE?]

Depends..if they are doing it just for it being another thing to complete the look.

Or have a genuine passion and just plain suck.

 

Its kinda the stencil wheatpaste argument

[eraserewind]

'children of the grave" pts. 1, 2, & 3 by Dondi - probably some of the most iconic graffiti pieces ever. Inspired by the Black Sabbath song.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=236Lquwq22A

 

Argument = over.

[ReignInBlood]

Hipsters are wack.

Metalheads are always welcome.

Overly hip hop posers are actually the ones who ruin anything.

The ones that swear they need to write, b-boy, rap, and speak ebonics to really represent the "culture" as opposed to themselves.

[Frate_Raper]

I think you could sit down some of the books out lining dates related to graffiti history and some more books relating to the history of modern music in the last 30 years and look long and hard the relation of the cultures over lapping. Was Blaze doin head spins in a fubu jumper or was he listening to funk,rock and roll and disco? What about Cornbread and the other pioneers of graffiti, at the time were they preaching four elements and preservation of said hip hop culture, or were they fucking painting graffiti?

 

 

I get pretty fucking annoyed with writers when it comes to hating other dudes over music. Anyone that holds on to the idea of a graffiti being solely one genre of music is a narrow minded fuck and should read up more.

[siks6siks]

who just listens to one style of music anyways?

[ReignInBlood]

Doing graf, should have nothing to do with what kind of genre you listen to.

That's what connotates, scenesters and posers.

[Creampuff]

i dont care if you xBREAKxDOWNxHxC or if you like to paint your nails black and cry about all the sad things in your life like having your parents hate you because your adopted, as long as you have a passion for graff, you are somewhat exceptable to the graff scene.

[tRASHbagONER]

All writers I know (including myself) have a wide range of musical taste.

In my opinion if people are "ruining the scene" its because they pick up a can before they figure what the hell they are doing.

Its the individual not the kind of music they listen to.

[Nove..]

punks were doing it long before it became apart of the hip-hop culture

[Juca]

Doing graf, should have nothing to do with what kind of genre you listen to.

That's what connotates, scenesters and posers.

 

agreed.

[shai]

You're noticing the "bandwagon/internet" effect....it has nothing to do with music or subcultures.

[testpattern]

just as lots of people were too square for punk rock music, lots of people are too square for punk rock graffiti. rap letters forever?

[ReackOne]

Lets not forget, graffiti is still part of HIP-HOP Culture, and while kids who listen to punk and metal might not really be screwing it up, theyre still forgeting the key element of graff is hip hop.

 

But at the same time graffiti is all about self expression and and doing what you want and what you like.

[honest_truth]

MOTORHEAD FUCKIN RULES.

the internet killed graffiti, not metal or punk

[seoren]

Graffiti isnt a fucking pop culture movement or the new fad. Its fucking art influenced vandalism. This thread is useless. And what honest truth said^^^

[injury]

You're noticing the "bandwagon/internet" effect....it has nothing to do with music or subcultures.

 

i agree with this. there's tons of counterexamples to the original post to be had, i.e. blade and comet in NYC

 

it boils down to graffiti as a whole becoming softer, more corporate, and more accessible - in short, becoming "art". writers learned how to market themselves and graffiti and the result is what we have today.

[Cracked Ass]

Graffiti is not dead.

Bad graffiti writers have not ruined the 'scene'. They merely constitute the wackest facet of the 'scene'. The internet is another facet, for good, bad, or ugly.

Actual graffiti keeps getting done by competent practitioners.

We can listen to whatever fucking music we want.

I put up all kinds of quotes next to my freights, some of which are from whatever song was stuck in my head at the time. They range from punk to hiphop to r&b to metal. Deal.

[JerseyViking]

Lets not forget, graffiti is still part of HIP-HOP Culture, and while kids who listen to punk and metal might not really be screwing it up, theyre still forgeting the key element of graff is hip hop.

 

But at the same time graffiti is all about self expression and and doing what you want and what you like.

 

Graff is one of the pillars of hip hop.

Hip hop is not one of the pillars of Graff.

This is not MC Escher architecture.

Everyone has a right to write,

regardless of their musical tastes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As long as they're not retarded hipster fags.

[work yr soul]

like tattoos, beards, blue collar beer, freight hopping, polaroid photos and a lot of other stuff, some facets of graffiti got sucked into that postmodern/ironic/retro/kitsch/superficial/suburban/hipster mentality and some of what you see now is just what got dumped out the other end. (i hate this).

 

also couldn't we have been having this debate 25 years ago when Ghost and Reas started getting infamous? from what i've heard they were sort of the Neckfaces of their day. my point is that as long as you have an overly serious or conservative element you will always have people coming up with ways to subvert it. as soon as you say "Graffiti is this." someone else will respond "No it's not.". (i'm okay with this).

[Morbidly Obese]

Street artist's are ruining graffiti hahha not PUNK or HEAVY METAL. Shit I wonder what type of music Cornbread was listening to when he started writing. Hell I read in a interview with Seen and he was like when they was doing the trains they would drink and smoke while rocking out to Black Sabbath. Graffit transcends so many labels. You'd be suprise the other things that people who write are into besides graffiti. hahah

[ReignInBlood]

I hate the association of hip hop and graf, that's a stereotype and people take pride in emulating it.

I listen to Death Metal when I paint, and I'm from the BX.

So sorry I could not live the stereotypical writer profile.

The whole point is to be yourself, not the clique that came before you.

I know punk rock cats that can burn circles around your average "b-boy writer"

[Morbidly Obese]

shit I remember drawing the death metal band logo's several years before I started writing. Word to Death Metal

 

Who remembers Metal Maniacs Magazine.....

[kromulos_one]

hipsters yes

 

Quoted for truth.

 

It really has nothing to do with what you listen to, hip hop doesn't make you a better writer, and metal and punk don't make you worse. If you don't get it, you don't get. You're going to be bad regardless of what you listen to. If anything it's all the crossover art fag hipsters. But mostly it's less graffiti and more "street art."

[Tuco Salamanca]

WHEATPASTING FTW BROS

[Swindle]

i dont think punk or heavy metal ruined graffiti's style.

 

that happy, round, curvy, lots of arrows, messy, badly drawn, illogical letter proportion style is not really inspired by either genre.

[berdsdahwerd]

cave music, and draggin hoes around by they pigtails yo

[Asian Eater]

From what I've seen and read Punk and Metal have always had an influence on graffiti, as far as Los Angeles graffiti goes.

 

Anyone who thinks graffiti is only hip-hop is retarded. Graffiti writing was around before the "hip-hop movement." Hip-hop just adopted it.