"Dark, decadent and nihilistic"

A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores. Punk is a counterculture. It's said to be dark, decadent and nihilistic. I met punk in 1977. We obviously noticed the ragged clothes, the leather jackets with rivets and the safety pins through chins, but we didn’t make too much of it. And we certainly didn’t recognize the tension, anger, frustration and anxiety. We just danced on. Let me explain. I grew up in a small ”company town” outside Stockholm. In those days, there was nothing to do except for sport or dancing. We danced (or made our unruly and stochastic moves - for lack of a better expression) in modern places like in the basement of the newly built "The People's House" (Swedish: Folkets hus), in the basement of a swim center and anachronistically in rural community centers, a type of homestead or heritage center (Swedish: bygdegård) in the rural parts of the municipality. These were small communities and not densely populated. If the places we went to were an odd mix of new and old, it’s was nothing compared to the DJs playlists. "Daddy Cool" by Boney M, "2-4-6-8 Motorway" by Tom Robinson Band, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" by Baccara, "Anarchy in the UK" by Sex Pistols, "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate, “Disco Duck” by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots, "God Save The Queen” by Sex Pistols, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "White Riot" by Clash, "Dancing Queen" by Abba, "Pretty Vacant" by Sex Pistols, "Dont' Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston, "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" by Ramones, "That's The Way (I Like It)" by KC & the Sunshine Band, and for the last dance (cheek-to-cheek) "I’m Not In Love" by 10cc or "Love Hurts" by Nazareth. The punk influences just blended in. Maybe we "danced" a bit more intense in the punk songs, and maybe waived an arm or two or jumped up and down, but there’s all there was to it. Nothing dark, decadent or nihilistic. Except for a glue sniffing girlfriend in the toilet.