“New Noise” versus the Old Sound: Manifestos and The Shape of Punk to Come

Abstract

Reflecting on the historical relationships between manifesto-writing and politics, art, performance, and music, this article investigates the role of the liner note manifesto included with Refused's The Shape of Punk to Come (1998), considering it to be a rhetorical text supporting songs, lyrics, and images that openly identify as counter-cultural and contribute to an aesthetic transformation of the punk genre. Because the album is situated in dominant methods of production and distribution, this article addresses power relationships between the mainstream music industry and the cultural work that attempts to challenge it.