If the original movement in the 70s was in response to political stagnation in the UK and the Vietnam war in the US. And the revival in the 00s in response to the US wars in the Middle East. Between Black Lives Matters, No Kings protests, and far right political parties recent win across the globe, where is the Punk movement? Where is the disenfranchised youth grinding out their anger on an electric guitar in an abandoned industrial building?
Edit: Thank you to everyone who suggested various artists. I’m going to check them all out!
Like so many other industries, the music industry has been thoroughly consolidated by massive record labels, publishers, and corporate interests. Much of the music we’re exposed to on a daily basis is no longer simply music it’s a commercial product engineered to generate as much revenue as possible.
If you’re looking for something genuinely specific, unconventional, or outside the mainstream, you usually have to go looking for it yourself. Unfortunately, basic searches on YouTube or Spotify aren’t necessarily going to lead you there. Their algorithms tend to reinforce what is already popular rather than uncovering the deeper corners of the musical landscape.
But that music is out there. There is an enormous amount of incredible, creative, and genuinely original music being made right now. You just have to dig past the commercial surface to find it.
Big scene in Sweden still with our own subgenre called Trallpunk (basically singalong punk). Lastkaj 14, Småjävlafötter, KSMB, Björnarna, Troublemakers, Just to name a few who are still active. Most bands are connected to a music label which was started in the early 00s to give more swedish punks an opportunity to reach out with their music SecondClassKids
Apart from all the great bands mentioned by others, here in my city there’s a pretty alive underground scene with cheap shows which are explicitly anti fascist
It can be more alive than you’d think
Ive got two that come to mind in terms of modern punk
Zeal and Ardor - top tier punk with heavy vibes and a grandiose range
La Dispute - some of the greatest and most emotionally devastating music you’ll hear
Hearing about the cancellation of the Great Vegan Festival, gave some excellent band recommendations in the article.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2026/08/03/uklfi-great-vegan-festival/
HAWXX are straight fire.
The Iron Roses. Can’t stop listening to the Molotov Nights album.
One major punk artist very relevant nowadays that I haven’t seen anyone mention is Jeff Rosenstock. He was very influenced by Ian MacKaye and he’s famous for making the first successful donations based record label.
He first blew up with a ska band called “The Arrogant Sons of Bitches” then moved onto his punk band “Bomb the Music Industry” until moving on to a solo career. His solo stuff have been some of his best albums, and the old ones are still good.
Bob Vylan
Amyl and the Sniffers
Lambrini Girls
Viagra Boys
Mannequin Pussy
Alice Longyu Gao
Die Spitz
Cowboy Hunters
Mudrat
Soft Play
Sleater-Kinney
Teen Mortgage
Kneecap
Screaming Females
Bikini Kill
Destroy Boys
IDLES
The Streets
VIAL
Propaghandi
Deap Vally
Bad Cop Bad Cop
IDLES say they’re not punk, which somehow makes them even more punk.
Great list recognize most of them. Excited to check out the rest. How you gonna leave out Ecca Vandal tho?!
I’m warming up to her stuff. I recently stumbled on her music this year. It’s a little too pop-punk sometimes for my own personal taste, but I enjoy the hell out of the messaging.
Ecca Vandal
My “discovery of the year” last year. Great album.
That’s surprising.
Cause I I I I I I I I I I I I
I bleed but never die ie ie ie ie ie ie ie ie ie ie 🎶 🎶 🎶
1 album from each, 12 hours and 20 minutes. ✊
Hell yeah :)
Enjoy!!
I loved Propagandhi in the 90s and went to see them live 20 years ago. Back to the motor league with me!
Hell yeah! I knew you would have a kick ass list of great bands ☺️
Off topic: I just used the Venom INLP polish and I love it!
Ahhhh sh.itjust.works was down for most of the day yesterday and I didn’t see this right away! I love that you love that polish 💕💕
Tropical Fuck Storm
Australian scene is great right now. The Chats and Ratsalad are standouts too
Laughing Death in Meatspace still one of the best albums of the last decade.
The Bobby Lee’s
That’s a few decades put together into one list
They’re all currently making music and playing shows.
Lots of disenfranchised youths rapping nowadays. I suppose the barriers to entry are lower so there’s a lot of trash but a hardened listener will eventually find some gold.
I’d say UK drill is pretty punk
Tried some youtube but can’t get into it. But that’s okay, where i live society is very different from UK. Trve punk thinks globally and acts locally.
feel free to post links tho
That should breathe some life into your algorithm
TRUE fucking slaps so unbelievably hard
It’s out there, it’s just harder to find when everything has to be fed through an advertisement friendly algorithm.
Maybe parts of the problem is that I don’t use an algorithm. The reach of my discovery is limited by what real humans suggest to me.
I mean, Amyl and the Sniffers, PinkShift, Skating Polly (more grungy than punk maybe) BitchKiss, Stray from the path, Blood Lemon, Sorry Mom, etc.
a lot of new punk music is more pointed to RiotGrrl punk these days, but there is a shitload of new, really fucking good punk bands out there. We just lack a main stream outlet/major tour that showcases it anymore.
Great list. Check out the rat utopia experiment if you haven’t already.
Will do!
Huge, intense punk scene in Montreal with lots of people from many walks of life screaming about exactly what’s going on right now.
We have multiple industrial buildings and hidden spots in the woods where shows happen.
Honestly a great scene.
Where is the disenfranchised youth grinding out their anger on an electric guitar in an abandoned industrial building?
They’re looking at their smartphones.
Also, viagra boys.
They’re using smartphones to hold their charts and tablature nowadays it’s crazy
Where is the disenfranchised youth grinding out their anger on an electric guitar in an abandoned industrial building?
Might be a bit of a hot take: the spirit is alive but the common form drifted away from this old-school ideal.
Punk as a genre has stopped being a self-contained monolith, and started blending into other styles. There’s still a pool of traditionalists, but they’re a relative minority.
In the 90s, it bleed into hard rock (Nirvana). In the aughts, the main fork was emo-punk (a la Conor Oberst). The 2010s had a big post-punk wave (Parquet Courts, Viagra Boys). Meanwhile, on a longer timeline, industrial EDM/noise music has been the modern incarnation of the spirit of the hardcore subgenre (Death Grips), and folk-punk has been a consistent niche of its own.
And even on top of these more specific splinters, the standard indie rock genre has grown to encompass more “soft-punk” elements in recent decades (Modest Mouse, Wolf Parade).
Even jazz is punk now
