What did fetish stores, wild hair styles, sex work, non-binary gender, and BDSM have in common? Punk Rock, says Lissa Rivera of New York’s Museum of Sex in an interview with Rolling Stone.
“Sex is the fetish-wear, sex is putting explicit images on your album covers that will make it so you’ll never be signed to a major label. Sex is transgressions, gender expression, totally breaking free from gender norms and the role of women in rock music.” Sex, in other words, was so ubiquitous that the very people who helped create the scene didn’t even realize how much it permeated every aspect.
…The show covers musicians that have become icons (Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Adam Ant) as well as underground heroes like the Slits, Crass and Jayne County. Across the board, though, these artists used sexual imagery in their lyrics and album art as a way to shock.
…Rivera says that she hopes the punk exhibit could be a meeting place in the way that Manic Panic and Trash and Vaudeville used to be in the East Village.
Starting November 28, 2018, “Punk Lust: Raw Provocation 1971–1985″ will be open through November 30th, 2019.
