Alternative Brisbane: Evolution of goth and punk subcultures as ‘counter-cities’

Abstract

This paper studies the evolution of the punk and goth subcultures in Brisbane, Australia. We analyse how these subcultures are representing the idea of the counter-city through the ‘heterotopia’ displayed in the city from the birth of the punk movement in the late 1970s until now. This paper reflects on the continuous presence of these two subcultures in the city, and examines their relationship to space and the city. We investigate how spaces in the city have served these subcultural practices over the past 50 years. We examine the link between the concept of the counter-city and the material concerns of urban life by detailing the ways in which those participating in these subcultures exemplify value systems that run counter to hegemonic social and cultural norms. Using a typology of “critical urban interventions”, we examine the role the musicians and audiences in Brisbane's punk and goth scenes play in the urban sphere. First, we situate music scenes and subcultures within the broader ‘counter-cities’ theoretical framework. We then analyse interviews from participants in Brisbane's punk and goth scenes to examine the extent to which these subcultures have displayed counter-cities dispositions in the making and remaking of these subcultures.