In its prime, punk rock was a movement which transcended its origins as a rough and ready musical sub-genre. It was an attitude, a philosophy, a way of life.

At its heart lay a word feared by few, romanticised by many. A word which gripped the imaginations of a generation of young people who embraced punk as their own and which caused a certain sense of panic and confusion in an army of adults too old and too set in their ways to, you know, get it’. That word was rebellion’.

Musically, punk rock was a backlash against the overblown, overproduced, corporate rock of the time. Stripped back to basic, snarling guitars, simplistic rhythms and sneering, angst-fuelled vocals, punk rock’s most prominent exponents issued a wake-up call to both fans and the industry.

The message was simple. You didn’t need years of classical training to play music, nor did you need the brute force of the record industry to succeed. It was a message which, perhaps perfectly summed up by British group, Radiohead, years later said, “Anyone can play guitar”. And so they did.

Taking the punk rock ethos of music-making to heart, scores of fans picked up instruments, joined forces with their friends and embarked on what were often short-lived careers as punk rock musicians.

Indeed, with the exception of a handful, few punk rock bands ever made it further than cutting a rough demo, and even less made it that far. But punk’s legacy does not lie solely in its musical output.

Inspired by the often socio-political lyrical content of their heroes, fans of the genre took punk to be much more than an excuse to make loud, and usually terrible, music. They took it as a call to arms to rebel, to revel in anarchy and fight the system.

Of course, there were those who understood the ethos of punk, who understood that, at the crux of it all, this was about being dissatisfied with the status quo and disenfranchised by a system which didn’t seem relevant to their generation. Armed with enough knowledge and logic, they fought for change, for a new way of thinking and a new way of doing.

Then there were the others; the ones who found themselves swept along in the euphoria of an uprising of youth, the ones who embraced every irrelevant and superfluous element of punk to make sure they weren’t seen as having missed the boat, the ones who didn’t really know what they were rebelling against and simply decided to rebel against everything.

Anarchy was raped of its social and political context and morphed into an excuse for violence, vandalism and general disorder.

Sadly for those who did get it at the time, those old punks who now find themselves fighting the system from the inside, it’s the lasting image of the latter camp which has prevailed to provide a new generation of young people with the inspiration to carve their own identity.

Frequently lambasted by those who were there during punk’s formative years for distorting the ethos of the sub-culture into a vitriolic ideal, many of today’s punk rockers live lifestyles which, whilst not completely at odds with the original movement’s mission objective, certainly do not encapsulate the spirit of what punk rock was really all about.

All of which ultimately brings us back to the big question; how to be punk rock.

The answer, at least in most cases, is to be and do the complete antithesis of everything large numbers of modern-day punk rockers will tell you are the lifestyle’s equivalent to the holy commandments.

For one, bear in mind that in its heyday, punk had no uniform. There were fashions, sure, but in studying the spirit of punk rock, you’ll probably find that the concept of fashion itself was at odds with what the movement was trying to achieve.

Having your mother to neatly sew some Rancid or UK Subs patches to your newly acquired denim jacket does not make you punk rock; it makes you a caricature of punk rock.

Fashioning your hair into a six foot high, lime green Mohawk, sticking a safety pin through your ear and donning a pair of tartan bondage pants isn’t punk either. That’s what most folks call fancy dress’.

Besides, if this is how you attire yourself, doesn’t that go against the grain of non-conformity? If all your other punk rock friends are decked out in similar gear, all you’re doing is adopting the de facto punk rock uniform, subscribing to a fashion and, shock horror, conforming.

They say that clothes don’t make the man. Clothes don’t make the punk rocker either, especially when a sparkly Sex Pistols T-shirt can be picked up from your nearest high street fashion retailer.

And remember, a lot of what punk was, and largely still is, about was rebelling against conformity. Fashion, whether it’s up there on the catwalk or out on the streets, equals conformity.

By all means, if this is how you feel comfortable and best able to express yourself, dress like this, but it won’t necessarily make you punk.

Nor will telling everyone that you’re a punk. After all, if you have to repeatedly inform people of your punk rocker status, your ideals and beliefs, you’re only working harder to try and convince yourself than persuade someone who, in the long run, probably won’t care.

That’s what all this ultimately comes down to; having enough belief in yourself and your personal outlook on life to be comfortable without feeling the need to express it through your fashion, your musical tastes or your social etiquette.

There really is no need to be overly aggressive when attending a punk rock show. Sure, enjoy thrashing around in the slam pit and bashing into other like-minded souls, but if someone doesn’t wish to join in, steer clear. Diving into them with a vicious unintentional’ forearm shot, or barging into women doesn’t make you punk; that makes you a bully.

Likewise, hostility for hostility’s sake is rather pointless, and somewhat detrimental to the cause. The spirit of punk was embodied by many things, but one of them wasn’t a need to find an outlet for misplaced angst. Acting obnoxious and hostile just because I’m a punk, and that’s the way we are’, just won’t cut it.

What’s more, if you’re antisocial towards just about everybody, chances are you’re missing out on the opportunity to mix with the kind of people who may just share your outlook on life, or even be able to offer a fresh outlook which you may just agree with.

If punk is about trying to influence social and political change, how can you even begin to do that if you shut yourself off from society?

If rebellion lies at the heart of what punk is all about, then at least have the decency to know what you’re rebelling against.

Rebellion in itself isn’t about violence and hostility and hating a system simply because hating the system happens to be cool. It’s about being disenfranchised with the system and wanting to influence change within it. Pick your battles, understood why you’re rebelling and even then, only rebel if its something you feel strongly about.

Music, society and politics may have evolved since punk’s glory days, but in essence, the true spirit of punk remains the same, and even now, there’s more to it than riotous, scraping music, spiky hair and misplaced aggression. Those who get it’, get that punk is an attitude, a philosophy, a way of life being true to yourself and your ideals.