Where have all the punks gone?

written in January 2008

Camden markets on a cold, wet and rainy Friday afternoon:
The weather has bleached the colours out of Camden Town. The only things that shine brightly are the products the stall owners desperately try to sell. Pink hand cuffs, yellow army boots and green trousers, still dazzling like on any other day in Camden, do not find a new owner on this day.
The market is merely crowded so that the warning to watch one’s bag for not becoming a victim of theft at the tube station is absolutely superfluous.
The only people on the Camden High Street are tourists taking pictures of all the punk, raver and gothic clothes the market offers.
Ironically, the punks, ravers and gothics are missing. Nevertheless, you can get ties with skulls on it, jumpers with the typical Ska-logo and buttons with the names of famous punk and metal bands printed on it.
The T-shirt stalls offer clothes with Metallica and Misfits logos, printed words such as back off, Pornostar and National Pornographic with Rhinoceroses that jump each other. Political customers can also get Hitler’s European Tour 1939-1945 T-shirts as well as one that claims that Hitler and Bush are the “same shit”.
Bob Marley music, the smell of incense, pipes, shishas, bongs and even “Super Skunk: legal intoxicating smoking mixture for sale to adults only” would work up enthusiasm for fans of legal or illegal drugs, if there were any.
But the only people who look like they would buy all that stuff are the stall owners themselves with their red, blue or green dreadlocks, piercing and tattoos. While some of them scare the customers away just with the way they look like, others try to smile or beckon you over to them, saying “come on in” to get at least some customers.
The guy holding the shield Eclipse Tattoo and Piercing Studio yawns and probably asks himself what his sense of standing in the rain is. Today no one seems to be interested in the bargain of a tattoo for £40 or a Piercing for £25. Others are doing Sudoku as it is clear: Today they won’t sell anything.
The smart stall owners put out their Hello Kitty fan clothes, Mickey Mouse purses and London souvenirs that they could sell to tourists.
Only one punk is standing at a food stall with his U.K. Subs leather jacket, holding a shopping bag in his hands – which does not correspond with the cliché of a dirty, poor punk who begs for money with a beer in his hand at ten o’clock in the morning.
One girl says: “I do not really feel like I’m in London.” This could be because of the different sorts of food, clothes and music that can be found at Camden markets. You can buy clothes that look like they came directly from the cast of a Bollywood film, and even the German band Rammstein can be heard from the other side of the market.
But, it could also be because there are hardly any English people, but lots of tourists from all over the world. While walking up the High Street or on the cobbled surface on the winded roads of Camden Lock you can hear conversations in French, Spanish, Italian and German, but not English.
Even an alternative market like Camden has become what punks would call, with a disgusted tone, “mainstream”. Camden Town is becoming more and more a tourist attraction and the best time to notice that is on a cold, wet and rainy Friday afternoon.