[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

also, there is a common idea that Punk is Dead...

It can be argued definitively one way or the other..

the its dead: There just haven't been any phenomenal innovative bands releasing genre defining records since at least the early 2000s.. The best records from 1978-2004 are still the best, and really, the best are from 1978-1988 with a renaissance from 1998-2004 of great bands. So, if you're looking for new punk records that are truly new, its not really happening. So from the music critique or magazine writer's perspective, yeah, its dead, and has been, for some time, and if anything that early 2000s revival was just kicking a dead horse...

HOWEVER

Punk has never been defined by sales, releases, or magazine critiques. If anything, most bands really never focus on records too much, aside from trying to have something to sell at the merch table. Hence a lot of DIY and small label vinyl only releases, a lot of 7" singles and EPs.. In the 1990s/2000s a lot of these were compiled into CDs..

Punk is defined by the scene. Are there bands playing? Are there new bands coming up? Are there venues that support? Good promoters that can set up tours? Really, most importantly, is there a community of fans to support these shows? What defines punk is not the records, but the live music. The shows. By this definition, punk is alive and well, because not only are there plenty of new bands, but at least 1/3 of the bands I listed were on tour in the past 12 months..

Even by the record release definition, more than half of those bands I listed have released new records in the past 4 or 5 years.. Of course, these records are simply not as good as their original records, they don't sound as bad as throw backs, but they don't tap into that same creative vein that spawned the original sounds.

In this regard, I think reggae and punk is very comparible, as they were in the 1970s when the punky reggae party scene was popular. Like all the best punk bands, all the original reggae artists and bands are still touring, still playing shows. They've also releases some subpar records in the 2000s, but their original 1970s and 1980s releases are all time great.