The Death of Punk and the Turn of a Decade: 1979
             My essay will highlight the major socio-political events of my chosen year, 1979, before relating how the rock genre, in particular, punk-rock changed and mirrored, to an extent these events in England.
             Some say 1979 marked the end of an era. Certainly, as the end of a decade, what came after this tumultuous year was a decade that seemed fairly reluctant, in the case of some musical genres, to let go of the past. In NME's Rock 'n' Roll years they describe how the '80s 'would spend much of the decade ahead celebrating it's past rather than building for it's future.' (NME 1992:336) So, if it was into this uncertain time that the world of music was heading, something must have been lost from the highs that defined for so many the 1970's.
             At the beginning of this year, England was experiencing many social problems after having weathered the 'winter of discontent' that included bags of refuge building up on the streets of London due to the many trade union strikes. This was an eerie fulfilling of the Sex Pistol's prophecy 'Watching all the rubbish, Wasting my time'. The final nail in the coffin came on 3 May when Thatcher's Conservative government won the General election by 43 votes. Jon Savage (1991:540) points out in his book 'England's Dreaming' that England did not change overnight. However, for punk music the hourglass was running low. 'The Conservatives' victory did mark the end to the period of social unrest which punk had charted so intimately' (Jon Savage 1991:541). If a percentage of the punk record buying public had voted conservative the ideals that punk had stood for were obviously vanishing or already vanished. 'Punk and all its intentions were now well and truly finished for pretty much everyone, beggars excluded (Colegrave & Sullivan 2001:342)
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