Greek Punk... and the King of Fools
Greek punk scene was small but powerful in the Greek capital, Athens, in the 1980s.
The documentary is directed by Stergios Vafiadis, co producer together with Michael Dalanikas (Stefi productions -Omega Commons). A brief history of the Greek punk scene of the 70's up to now.
Bands like Adiexodo (Dead end), Genia Tou Chaous (Chaos generation), Stress, Panx Romana, Ex-humans, Anti (Contra) functioned as a bunch of related bands, who gave concerts together, in the same locations.
More bands appear in the Greek punk scene, bands like Anti Troppau Council, Metro Decay, Magic De Spell, Cpt. Nefos, Libido Blume, Villa 21, Yell-o-Yell, Headleaders, Parthenogenesis (Παρθενογένεσις), Stress, Auschwitz, Lamps (Αρνάκια), ΑΝΤΙ, insufferable (Ανυπόφοροι), Last Drive, Without a Necklace (Χωρίς Περιδέραιο), Not 2 without 3,South of no North
and many more.
Like elsewhere, punk attitude has been loosely used by various individuals, but most of the times the key element was the youthful anger, the provocative anti-establishment attitude.
A lot of newer crust, hardcore, punk bands like Ksehasmeni Profitia (Gr:ξεχασμένη προφητεία) (Forgotten prophecy), Naftia (Nausea), Deus Ex Machina and others of the 1990s followed DIY ethics, gradually forming a small but powerful network in most big Greek cities.
This network has sometimes been linked with local anarchist-related groups, squats, cultural/social/left-wing centers. Most of the concerts of punk bands in Greece have no, or minimal, entrance fee and many of them are arranged according to DIY ethics.
Some nationalist punk, punk rock and Oi! bands, with far right, far-wing or Neo-nazi ideology, have also developed. One of the first was Hellgrinder, which was formed in 1998 and became popular by releasing a Greek version of SOD's song "Speak English or Die", called "Speak Greek or Die" ("Μίλα Ελληνικά ή Ψόφα").
At present, the most widespread Greek nationalist band is Pogrom. The most notable album "Rock για την Πατρίδα" was recorded in 2006, in cooperation of several Greek bands of the same ideology, like White Pride Rockers, Legion Hellas, Pogrom, Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Σύμφωνο Μολότωφ), Boiling Blood and Iron Youth.
Contemporary punk bands have seldom managed to form a solid scene outside that DIY / anarchopunk movement, but sometimes a band might attract an enthusiastic core of dedicated fans, like in the Oi! or streetpunk subgenres. Few attempts have been made to document information about Greek punk; one of those being a limited edition brochure of Anarchist Library (Anarhiki Vivliothiki). Some Greek webzines have also documented Greek punk history.
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