From Geoffrey Sirc’s “Never Mind the Tagmemics: Where’s the Sex Pistols?” in CCC 44.1 (February 1997), pp 9-29:
Punk’s was the aesthetic of the cut-up, re-making/re-modeling the materials of the dominant culture, detourning them from their bland, deadening use into something useful. It was a re-fetishization of society’s fetishes. (15)
I’m in the middle of this essay, and I have to stop and scream with excitement every few lines!
Sirc elicits this kinda response all the time, when people aren’t horrified by the blasphemous things he is saying. I think there might be interesting study in the “visceral response to Sirc.”
I would definitely encourage you to read all his work!
Kevin
Thanks for the comment, Kevin! I’ll definitely be looking at Sirc’s work more. I finished the article (of course!) and I am still jittery with excitement over it two days later.