What Is Punk (in Italy) Today? Some Remarks on the Aesthetic and Social Aspects of Musical Subcultures

In this contribution we investigate the aesthetics of popular music, with a specific attention to one of the main musical subcultures of the last decades, namely the punk subculture. In the first part of our essay we offer a general reconstruction and interpretation of some philosophical theories concerning the aesthetics of popular culture and popular music. Then, in the second part of our essay, we specifically concentrate our inquiry on the punk musical subculture, first analyzing some of the various definitions that different scholars have provided about punk, and finally taking into specific examination the Italian punk scene of our time.