Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well, not sure i would be able to formulate this question well, but i'll try.
What's rebellious music more about — individuals or teams?
Indeed, all of us may find a lot of examples of both. But how do you think, what is the main leading force of "underground" or whatever you call it?
On one hand, "a rebel is always alone, misunderstood and fighting the society". On the other hand, "punks", "hippies", etc, are collective names for the groups of people united by some principles, philosophy (or lack thereof), etc. A punker often sings about himself, about what he thinks, and sometimes you may even get the impression he suggests the whole world is circling around him. On the other hand, we may find quite a few punkers or other "sorts" of rebels who were hiding their names under nicknames (some even took a "common" last name for the whole band, "Ramone brothers" being one of the most blatant examples), therefore somehow "impersonalizing" themselves. Or is it like, "open your heart but hide your "identity card""?
All kinds of opinions welcome, as always.

Something Arlo Guthrie said in "Alice's Restaurant" comes to mind. I think it's germain.

I think a lot of it boils down to interpretation. I have been in bands with "rebelious" singers who spent more time singing about alienation in the victim sense, than an action sense. He used to write words of action concerning issues we/he found revolting about things that are established. As a group, we spoke out about things that we felt strongly about, but this slowly eroded over him writing different versions of the same old alienation factor, but now as a victim, instead of someone who is empowered, or at least striving for empowerment. By the time I left the group, it was basically him saying the same thing over and over again, but with a tone of defeat. If I'm going to be in a group of a rebelious nature, I just don't want to whine and moan about something, I want to inspire myself, and possibly others, to take action, rather than elicit sympathy. I am not talking about doing anything illegal or violent, as I'm not an extremest.

Rebellion to me implies revolution in the most basic sense of the word. If I find something revolting, I will take some action to rebel against it , as it has already been established in my perception of reality. Whether it is a finite element such as a law or rule, or something someone says, once my brain interprets something I find revolting, I feel compelled to deal with it in a rebelious nature, as now this item has been established as part of my reality. I don't want to be the helpless victim, as well as not wanting to be an overbearing fanatic, so obviously, you have to figure out a good middle ground that can yeild positive results.

There are too many people who are "Rebels witout causes" because they are trying to be cool. Be cool by actually doing something, even if it is making others aware of things you see around you that maybe we could change for the better. I hope I have replied to the topic in the manner you intended.