DONAHUE PARENTS OF PUNKERS 1981

[@lonniemeyer7232]

Good god you gotta love the 80s. All the misjudging. All the misunderstanding. I wasn’t punk but I was a metal head. I remember going through all that shit back in the day. Fun times.

[@magamaga1827]

me too. little did they know the negros would really be the one's to worry about

[@trekkiejunk]

It's not even the misjudging. It's the judging. Period.

[@roxannemoser]

​@@trekkiejunkexactly! Many of these "rebellious" teens have probably made lucrative careers in the punk scene or some other career. They have dedication and loyalty to whatever career choice they have made.

[@lLushKitty]

This was the beginning of the '90s and many of these daytime talk show hosts relied on controversial guests and topics to forge viewerships.

[@bufordhighwater9872]

​@@lLushKitty This episode of the Phil Donahue show was from 1981. Tabloid talk shows started in the late 70s, and started peaking in the mid-80s, until the late 90s.

[@cmsmith1973]

The woman that said she'd rather have her daughter on drugs than for her to look like these guests is ridiculous. I can't imagine any parent would rsther their kids be on drugs than have a crazy hairstyle. That statement blew my mind

[@xx7secondsxx]

Apparently this womans JUDGMENT of looks means MORE than what addiction IS! I assume shes never really known a TRUE Junkie! If so.... shed cry at the words she said! Its terrible!!

[@sexobscura]

she had a very valid point

[@tarynmosakowski3512]

Exactly! Imagine an addiction like opiates! Hell on on planet Earth 😢

[@RByrne]

That's a pretty selfish mother. She'd rather her kid suffer through addiction than be happy and look a little different. Can't have the other ladies at the bingo hall whispering about her "weird kid" behind her back.

[@sexobscura]

@@RByrne It's her own way of interpreting her existential view of life through a filter of Schrödinger and Nietzche and Phil Donahue

[@ashleyduffy2088]

Funny thing is that most of the serial killers during that time wore suits, ties, and casual shoes. Ted bundy is the biggest example

[@ellisivy4303]

Those punks where so ahead of their times. I’m sorry for all the hatred and prejudice they had to endure by the sheeple.

[@Anonymous-wb3nz]

@Eidelmania No, we didn't.

[@bassdvant]

I don't think kids now know how back then you didn't have to try very hard to piss off adults with the way you dressed. If you were a kid, doing your own thing, you weren't even supposed to exist.

[@ddivincenzo1194]

@@bassdvant In my High School (I graduated in '83) wearing a mohawk hairdo and having multiple ear piercings was radical.

[@bassdvant]

@@ddivincenzo1194 totally, just one stud earring was unacceptable.

[@sweeptalk]

More proof that Karen was alive and well in 1983.

[@willquigg8265]

A lot of the parents in this show the same thing happened to them when they were listening to Elvis Presley, the Big Bopper, Jerry Lee Lewis and other rock and roll stars of their day. Their parents thought they were crazy, weird and on drugs. So take the plank out of your own eye before you try to take the plank out of someone else's eye. I got into hardcore punk rock in 1978, I still listen to that same music today. When kids get tired of the way this country is going, keeping us in Foreign Wars that we have no business being involved in, is just one of the things we rebelled against. We rebelled against Society because they were being hypnotized by the media and the government to believe a certain way. We did not agree with the way they wanted us to go. Punk rock is a way of life, it was not a fad or a trend. Punk rock to this day is still very alive and well. There are still a lot of punk bands playing today that started in the late 70s and 80s and the shows are all sold out. So that should tell you something. Ever since the beginning Society was against us but we held strong to our beliefs.

[@thomasdudley4558]

Yup popular kids are the real cruel ones sheep as they are not the parents .alternative people have had this for ages the misfits .

[@meangene2345]

Crazy what we had to go through. Just because we loved the music and lifestyle. Being judged by the norms and such. I went on to raise two beautiful, successful daughters. Built homes outside of DC featured in Architectural Digest, worked as a maintenance mechanic for the National Park Service, now manage a custom car shop. Sang for the Maryland governor, was in the Macys Day Parade. Still a punk, till I die.

[@b-sidehnl1296]

Wow, thank you! I've been looking for this episode FOR YEARS. The Circle Jerks clip here at 11:11 is precisely what got me into punk and hardcore as a preteen all those years ago. Watershed moment! I did some research and found out the actual TV airdate was in 1982, if it matters to anyone.

[@hatedbymanylovedbyfew3567]

@ Are you still into Punk & Hardcore?

[@b-sidehnl1296]

@@hatedbymanylovedbyfew3567 Yeah, I'm still going to shows, supporting local bands but now I'm also photographing them, interviewing them and videoing them. I just wished I had done more of that when I was younger. This stuff needs to be preserved for future generations!

[@russellbarlow1796]

Well the ads running are from 1981 though

[@b-sidehnl1296]

@@russellbarlow1796 The ad for the Connie Francis Mill Run Theater concerts at about the 54-minute mark are for a pair of January 1982 shows, though this episode could have aired first locally in Chicago in December of 1981. They almost certainly taped it in late '81 or maybe the first few weeks of '82, based on the concert dates. I do know from digging up old newspaper listings that this episode showed in many other parts of the U.S. in June of 1982, which is probably when I saw it. I guess a few months' discrepancy doesn't make much of a difference to most people but I looked it up out of curiosity.

[@roxannemoser]

​@@b-sidehnl1296I was a junior in high school when it aired.

[@gretehelena196]

Big respect to them for doing what they want, cause no one has the right to tell anyone how they should look like! That woman who talked about her four children and how she would kick them out tho, she made my blood B O I L.

[@bizyizziaz4831]

omg everyone styled like us our generation cultures identity how we grew up is absolutely fucking creepy

[@TheGrahamHick]

I just realized that some people might not know that some of the punks in the audience are members of classic Chicago punk bands Strike Under, DA!, and Naked Raygun. That guy with the glasses letting the squares know he has a job at 38:52 is drummer Bob Furem who was in Strike Under and DA! One of the women who speaks at 3:35 was Gaylene Goudreau from DA! And finally the guy who makes fun of the mohawker with the Hitler stache around 17:41 is Steve Bjorklund from Strike Under and Breaking Circus. I think Santiago Durango from Naked Raygun and Big Black is in there somewhere too. It was a pretty small tight knit community at the time, mostly confined to the north side of Chicago. I also can't stress enough just how different it was from the LA scene which was what the episode and the uproar was really about.

[@nankypooh655]

I'm an old timer who used to go to Wax Trax every weekend and Space Place on a Saturday night. This video brings back memories, both good, and bad. I recognize these people as well. You know your history. I assume you were there as well. Thanks for adding your historical insites.

[@scottstalcup6980]

10:14. Pretty sure that's Dr. Vic Bondi from AoF. The reason Chicago had an all ages scene was down to Vic's work.

[@Baneumann66]

Santiago at 33:58

[@Baneumann66]

Santiago also 57:10

[@meangene2345]

Completely different from our scene here in DC. Any DC punk would’ve intellectually destroyed Phil!

[@EmoFags-il8lt]

I hate how they demonized alternative people. It disgusts me, and to think this still goes on today. I know they did not get a whole therapist because kids are sick of society’s shit and listen to punk rock.

[@bizyizziaz4831]

omg why y´all styled like our cultures and attach us to emo LMAO !

[@heathercorinne5876]

It goes on with every generation fast forward to Donahue 90s club kids.

[@fuzzballzz36]

1:17 THE KAREN TO END ALL KARENS!

[@johnathanrodriguez4135]

Anyone watching in 2024? Still feels relevant today.

[@tencentpistol1]

And the ignorance of those people is just as infuriating as it was back then. Started listening to punk in 1985. First Mohawk in 1987. First tattoo..1988(i was 17)

[@laurastrobel718]

I am. Looking at the problems youth have today it's all so trivial. It would have been interesting if Donahue had done a follow-up on these guests before he retired.

[@alienboy1322]

Will Smith said it best: Parents just don't understand.

[@Bear-nu8xm]

These kids are angels compared to 40 years from this show

[@LokiStrikeArmy]

I felt the same the way, in viewing and listening... Good kids that like to party and happen to listen to fun bands... That is punk rock.

[@Jasen-M74]

Right.

[@DiogenesOfCa]

I was in the hard core scene in 81, everyone HATED us.

[@DerekHundik]

maybe you know where the term hardcore came from. I know about DOA album called hardcore 81 . But wonder what was they references ?

[@hatedbymanylovedbyfew3567]

I’m still a Rocker is not phase stay true and positive vibes .

[@jasondilan]

Good vibes only❤

[@johnrife7134]

Everyone mentions his hair but not his Hitler stach

[@ganemrahman3424]

Charlie Chaplain moustache

[@DannyFiver-m9k]

Toothbrush

[@Iamfr0ggy]

So funny, how the way you look can upset someone

[@nankypooh655]

I didn't see this episode back when it originally aired, but all the kids in my school were talking about it, and asked me if I knew any of these people personally. I would see various clips used in some documentaries and I recognized quite a few people. It should be pointed out that Serena Dank had political ambitions and used people's fear of the unknown to further her political career which eventually failed. This, sadly fanned the flames of anti-punk sentiment among the U.S. populus and the end result was we got films like Class of 1984, and anti punk episodes of Quincy and ChIPS which put punk rocker in a bad light, but nobody was addressing the real issues why these kids were the way they were, and why they were so angry. The U.S. Economy was in the toilet, it seemed like a nuclear war was around the corner, The U.S. government had launched two illegal covert wars in Central America, and since The Viet Nam War was over, and John Lennon had been shot, people thought everything was fine, and anybody who dared speak out against the injustices that were happening before our eyes were "Living in the past" and anybody who still smoked pot was a "Druggie" and therefore, a bad person. And that's not even touching on the personal lives of the individuals involved, and why punk spoke to them so loudly and articulately. Some of these kids were odd balls or misfits who didn't fit in. They weren't jocks, or preppies, or "Stoners", didn't like popular culture at the time, so they didn't fit in, and were often targets of the bullies in their high school. Some were beaten and abused at home, many of the girls were sexually abused by members of their own families. These kids felt abandoned and worthless, and their anger was legit, even if they didn't quite know how to articulate it. Many times the lyrics of the music said it better for them than they could themselves. I knew of at least three of my peers who were thrown in mental hospitals for dressing and listening to punk. When they got out, they ran away from home. Maybe nowadays a lot of punk got watered down, and what was once perceived as a "Threat" is now being used in television commercials, but believe me when I tell you that only the names have changed, and not much else. Kids dressing a certain way are still going to get hassled by the police for not dressing like the rest of mainstream society, and listening to outsider music weather it be punk rock or something else.

[@bassdvant]

wow, you summed up my experience in the eighties perfectly. If you were a kid, you weren't even supposed to exist as far as yuppies were concerned.

[@MrMatteNWk]

There's a girlllllllll... Abigail. "You're the killers, your whole sick so-ciety! We're just your lousy escape goat!"

[@bassdvant]

@@MrMatteNWk i think it's "scapegoat", look it up if you don't know, it's an interesting term.

[@MrMatteNWk]

@@bassdvant Nah, just quoting the kid from that Quincy episode (or maybe it was "Jimcy")

[@bassdvant]

@@MrMatteNWk oh okay.

[@angelfeather7547]

It's kinda creepy watching this in 2022. I was an 80's kid and rebellious. I wasn't a punk but was in a mosh pit or 2. The 80's broke the world. We were a group of kids who hated the idea of war, conforming and discipline. I still feel the school system is screwed up and way past time of tearing down. Turning kids into worker drones is wrong and unhealthy for most of the kids of today. Kids today are so more knowledgeable than any class of the past. They have a world of information in their little faces as soon as they are born. They no longer need 4 walls to learn anything. They have everything they ever needed or wanted to know at a press of a button. We as parents today who were those kids are nothing like those adults on that show now. We would never try to stop our kids from exploring who they are and what they believe. We encourage it. The only people who still dress and act like those parents from that show are in churches still looking down their noses at people judging them. My youngest son came in one day wearing leather and spikes and I said, Ah Kool son! I never told him I used to look that way and when I told him he's like, "Apple don't fall far then." He came to me and was nervous one day and told me he was pansexual. I said, "what does that mean?" He told me and I said, "so what?" He asked, "You're not mad?" I said, "why would I be mad? Your sister is Bi and didn't care about that." Were you afraid to tell me or something?" He said, "yes." I told him he never has to be afraid to come tell me anything because, I love you no matter what. So, seeing this video just reminds me how many barriers my generation were able to tear down over the years by just not being so uptight and judgemental. He does know my religious beliefs and that was why he was scared but, I think he understands that I see us as 2 different people not the same. I don't believe in getting tattoos but, I'm not him and if he does I won't hate him for it. That's his decision. All you can do is tell someone what you think about something but, you can't MAKE them think the same.

[@hjillumi880]

spikes etc were already mainstream in the 80´s

[@ddivincenzo1194]

My brother and four of his friends shaved their heads into mohawk hairstyles. That threw our uptight conservative school into a frenzy.

[@uwangelic]

Big up to you, fellow Angel! Thanks for sharing and being so awesome dad! Can't agree more with your comment, has all I am thinking.

[@GilbertSyndrome]

Craziest thing about any of this was the unexpected Aldi advert. Blew my mind.

[@JohnnyTong215]

Phil Donahue RIP. You will be missed.

[@DXPunx74]

I miss the days when punk was considered dangerous and scary. I don't miss the harassment and getting jumped. But I guess we got what we wanted. It's more acceptable now than then. I blame Quincy, Chips and these conservative Hollywood productions that made us look like all we did was do drugs and hurt ourselves. They never focused on the positive side of it and the good that we did and what came of it.

[@kimberlyvespa]

Every show and movie characterization was very negative and it was just a bunch of actors in costumes and sometimes there would be real punks in the crowd, but rarely. I remember seeing CPO Sharkey and the Dickies on there when I was really young. I watched an Archie Bunker’s Place, possibly, where there was a punk rock show or some sort of rock concert with a riot. They showed punk rockers in a negative light and I was like why do people not like them just because they have blue hair? I ended up becoming a punk in the 80s after listening to New Wave stuff in the late 70s. I’ve had bands and of course, I still listen to all the music I’ve always listened to. There’s a lot of positive bands, anyways, with positive messages like Youth Brigade.

[@fruitofthejoot]

These punks don’t even appear extreme!

[@helenmarquez9309]

The phrase "planned obsolescence" Going back to 1981....

[@waukivorycopse2402]

Yep, Vance Packard talks about planned obsolescence in his book The Waste Makers back in 1960!!

[@romanticandperky]

During the late 60s, my Mom had dinner with Marlo Thomas. She was still working on the 'That Girl' series at the time. About 10 years later, I was, one evening, at the Westport Country Playhouse (Westport, Ct.), singing with my brother's band, and who went on stage after us was The Ramones. Their opening number that evening was from their second album-'Pinhead'. That was around the time that Marlo met Phil for the first time; where else-on his talk show!

[@RByrne]

Who the hell would rather their kid suffer through a drug addiction than look a bit different and be happy? She just doesn't want the other ladies at the bingo hall talking about her "weird kid."

[@TheGrahamHick]

I love all the old Chicago accents.

[@H.C.Q.]

I listened to the Toy Dolls. They were like living cartoon punks. I even got their autographs on my ticket. The punk rock scene was just about youths having fun, belonging and still being different from the mainstream. It was also an outlet for adolescent aggression. The jocks had contact sports- we had the mosh pit, slam dancing and stage diving. It was our sport.

[@song8777]

Did you have asthma??? ;) I still listen to them, occasionally. They're great!

[@visionaryventures12]

Imagine this. A show with a host mediating between two sides of a topic. Wow. What a concept.

[@joek5612]

This whole episode is upsetting. Donahue allows the audience to talk over the punks but silences the punks for the audience to speak. The group of punks were not particularly diverse as far as articulate conversation or thought organization. Some had great points but no direction. It completely looks staged to make the alternative group appear stupid and to look like just plain ol hoodlums. And that's not a way to form an unbiased accurate opinion of anything at all.

[@jenny2tone242]

Totally agree 👏🏻

[@gitsurfer27]

Knowing about TV and propaganda back then (and now) it very well could have been staged - reject everything out the norm, conform, consume, attack all dissenters. They were only 3 years away from 1984.

[@roxannemoser]

I never had a problem with how my children dressed. My daughter went through a semi-goth phase. My son was a punker. I was a metal kid. My mother didn't judge. My GPA during my metal years was 3.87. My children were the same. My son did 5 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's a wounded vet, but also a harley technician who bought his first home. 2 story historical home for $350,000. He has a wife and a child, numerous animals, 2 motorcycles and a truck. His wife is a veterinarian assistant at her local shelter. My daughter is an educator with 2 children, married 16 years. Her children are involved in sports. I loved and supported my children and now grandchildren in all their endeavors. My mother was very judgemental. She learned a lesson when she saw how my children evolved. They loved her unconditionally even when she ridiculed them at times. They never let her intimidate them. As a thrash metal fan, punk music was also a staple for me. As a mother, I dressed as a mother. It was fun dressing when my children and I attended concerts together. I wonder if these parents communicated with their children at all. My mother was absent during my youth. My brother saved our lives from an extremely abusive stepfather when he was 11. She was always looking for her next husband which landed us children in dangerous situations. Our second stepfather was a criminal that participated in high stakes poker games. We werent allowed in the house on poker night. At 12, I walked inside from exhaustion at 11pm from being forced to play outside. All my neighborhood friends weren't allowed outside after they ate dinner. I went to tell my mother I was going to bed only to see 7 adults around a poker table with guns on their lap or pointed at someone. One guy was shot in the eye in front of me. The gang story was he was cleaning his pistol and shot his eye out. But, my mother was in church every Sunday.

[@krisrhood2127]

As long as they're not doing something really bad who cares what they look like?

[@russellbarlow1796]

The lady asking if they would fight for the country if a war broke out is exactly the type of person that allowed the masters of war to do what they have done over the years. How ignorant some Americans are

[@holgazanable]

That Serena Denk looks scarier than the punks .

[@anthonyscaglione8916]

i can't believe nobody asked what was up with her face

[@timefragment5387]

Worlds first Karen

[@kstadives3]

@@anthonyscaglione8916 ikr? ! 😛

[@joyr36]

These punkers are now in their late fifties and early sixties. Kids are probably looking at this today and thinking wow, my grandma and grandpa was cool.

[@hjillumi880]

or their children

[@abstract5249]

If your grandparents are Trump supporters, they were probably never punkers. Contrary to popular belief, people usually don't become more conservative as they age. They tend to have the same main political leaning as when they were young, with only some changes.

[@joyr36]

@@abstract5249 What does Trump have to do with this video? Trump has supporters from all different backgrounds.

[@abstract5249]

@@joyr36 Not really. Trump supporters come from all demographics, but they share a tendency to be judgmental, narcissistic, lacking in empathy, and easily swayed by appearances. These parents were clearly conservative. They were uncomfortable with the way their children expressed themselves, even though they weren't hurting anyone, simply because it was unconventional. It was a moral panic, just like the older panic over rock and roll, just like the later panic over video games, just like the current panic over wokeness. Same mentality, different thing to hate.

[@cynthiawilliams737]

From the 50's with kids & their Rock-n-Roll people thought they were going to "hell" these people are just expressing themselves it is silly for these women to speak of "rather my daughter was on drugs" I have met women like her & avoid them!

[@nickcharles6530]

I think I spotted Genesis P-Orridge in that "Pirates of Penzance" commercial...(around 26 mins in)

[@JL0ndon]

Lol was genesis in that? I still love how they talked about punk being too mainstream

[@stop_lying_to_me]

Punk girls with mohawks in high school. I miss it. Music, art, fashion. Creative expressions that were common place. Fun. I would hate to be in high school now. It must be so boring. The normals and their obligatory tattoos.

[@ashleyandrews3105]

Love to see Phil Donahue talk about school shootings….this is so tame in comparison

[@hyesk.8399]

Thanks for posting this.

[@jasonberezny1710]

I remember seeing this when I was 10 and others like Geraldo. Already liking punk music it only fuelled my punk ethos to today. I am a 52 year old punk rock family dad , musician. This was a hilarious look back having lived thru it. 🤣🤘🇨🇦

[@RitaRiley-w4d]

Wow, the judgement! Times have changed. I always felt like choosing what was important had nothing to do with hair, or clothing, or their music. I was a hippie, these kids are doing what's been going on for ages. I'm 71 and just started listening to the Cure!

[@jenny2tone242]

Lol these punk kids look tame to some of the English punks hanging out in London in the mid to late 70s. They would have given the members of the audience a heart attack 😂

[@abrahama2643]

35:09 Is that Kathy Lee Gifford?

[@virtualmoyda7221]

Half the audience including the student counselor have freakier makeup up or look more inhuman than any of the kids.

[@manp1039]

RIP Oliver - died in 2009. Mother died in 2005.

[@politicaltroll8920]

These people really treating studded wristbands as lethal weapons

[@z3phyr666]

1:50 i like this woman. she says she doesn't get it but is still respectful

[@TaborTalk]

Thanks for posting this!

[@JoseMartinez-zh5yc]

How times changed. Once this look was hated and now a lot of people are influenced by the "style" for a lot of us this is not a style, is a way of life.

[@hjillumi880]

yeah but now it´s imitation

[@cranecams6784]

Looking “normal” is punk today really. The ones that “look” punk are usually into something like boy bands or some other weak shit.

[@uwangelic]

Lmaoo, bein listenin the whole shit where tryin to point they use drugs, suicide, yadda yaddda... when I came into the hardcore scene, that was what saved and kept me from taking my life as 13 year old, and I got it seems that msg in the right way as 13-14 y.o. 32 year old now

[@Ryan-vg4wn]

Can anyone answer why would anyone want a transcript of this show?

[@TheGrahamHick]

Back then that was common for live talk shows, morning magazine shows and news shows in general. They all offered that. Eventually they offered copies of the episodes on VHS tapes too for a small fee. It was the only way to review what you had just seen unless you were lucky to have a VCR in 1981 and taped everything off TV. They didn’t rerun shows like this. If you missed it you missed it.

[@Ryan-vg4wn]

@@TheGrahamHick makes perfect sense, cheers Graham

[@tinahochstetler2189]

I was growing up during this time. Wasn't punk, but kind of had my own look and my own thing going on that a lot of adults didn't like. I find it sad that as a society we've gone so much to an anything goes attitude that it's no longer so easy for kids and young adults to rebel. They have to go to extremes now, and often permanent extremes that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Where ever the line is drawn, it will be crossed. That's why it should be drawn conservatively. Gives people, especially the young, a chance to rebel and express themselves safely.

[@brooke8567]

Now it's tattoos and piercings and hair dye. Being bisexual is also a cool fad

[@pamvarner8044]

Man, these kids really like chewing gum.

[@jenny2tone242]

I'm more shocked by that blonde womans fringe

[@ewee4735]

I was expecting a silly funny video.. this is seriously sad. How awful some of these parents are, just terribly judgemental.

[@song8777]

"Punkers." At my school, you had better just call them punks or punk rockers. "Punkers." Lol

[@RJS1974]

I’m just here for the commercials. Anybody else remember butterscotch toll house cookies? 26:14

[@broccoli4781]

you see, i am definitely on the punks side. but they’re not very articulate. i keep coming up with answers to their questions and points that the punks should have been making.

[@TheGrahamHick]

I think it has to viewed in the context of the times. There wasn’t the vocabulary for a lot of things back then that there is now. This was decades ago. Some ideas had never even been articulated. Introspection like we have now wasn’t part of the culture.

[@broccoli4781]

@@TheGrahamHick i’m not talking about their vocabulary, they’re just not good at rebuttals

[@MGWorldwide]

@@broccoli4781 yeah they're teen punks not scholars

[@broccoli4781]

@@MGWorldwide neither am i? yet i can think of better arguments on the spot and i’m not even one of them

[@MGWorldwide]

@@broccoli4781 Monday morning quarterback back here.

[@bradpity]

The woman at 0:25... "I think they're going against society, but they've all got their own group of what they're doing. If it were my child, he wouldn't be living in my house looking like that. If he had purple hair, it would be cut in the middle of the night -- *if* I couldn't hold him down to cut it." All because these young adults were expressing freedom and individuality. Old women, 90-year-olds, tell me they love MY purple hair (Arctic Fox in shade "Purple AF" lol) and they tell me they wish they could pull it off. I always tell them to just go for it... if you've wanted to have purple hair, and you never could, but you're retired now... do it! Go to the salon and treat yourself with a semi-permanent color! Life goes by way too fast to not express yourself, you get one body/one lifetime. Thanks, Gen X, for starting the modern revolution of self-expression through more alternative routes. I would not be able to go out and have YOUR parents compliment my hair without you. I know that's worded kinda sarcastically to show how ironic it is haha... but genuinely, thank you.

[@nflorencem]

20:53 girl in the back: it was ok to smoke in the talkshow room in 1981?

[@TheGrahamHick]

In 1981 you could smoke just about anywhere you wanted to.

[@nflorencem]

@@TheGrahamHick Damn I always thought it was ok till the 70's not 80's smoking really everywhere. Till when was it ok to smoke everywhere and how was is with pregnant women smoking? I'm born in 1987 in Europe so.. I'm curous. :)

[@TheGrahamHick]

@@nflorencem it wasn’t until the early 1990’s that they made strong pushes to ban it in most indoor places. I’d say it didn’t fully turn over until 2006 or so. You could still smoke in bars and some restaurants until then. At least in Chicago. There are still some states that allow it. Pregnant women just aren’t a consideration in America. Only their fetuses and only until birth. It’s a very strange country with some backwards values.

[@xx7secondsxx]

@42:20 Be a Good citizen!!!! Go to work and go to church!!! Have kids and create a family that you're too young to have... where it maturity level isn't to where it should be so you're MISERABLE!!! Drink a lot and end up arguing with the wife that leaves and leaves a broken family!!! Then those kids hear a PUNK ROCK LP that speaks to them and they like it and come home one day with SPIKED HAIR!! Forcing ideals onto others is NOT GOOD!!! Let the kids have FUN while they can!!! Have a Mohawk at 15-16.... when ur 40 and losing it hair and cant do it is a "mann... if I could go back again and do it differently!" Or you simply cant even have a haircut like that because ur work doesn't allow it! This went from a FUN "mann... pubk back in the good ol days!!" Then to see all these people that are basically trying to real Mandarin when they have never even had an egg roll is INSANITY!!! You're going to judge before ur educated on the subject? That's prejudice!!! That's what PUNX hate most!!

[@helicopterspies]

Few of the audience members are listening to anyone or even trying to understand, but I respect Phil Donahue for mediating and coming at this with an open mind. It's absurd to assume the scattered group of young people all hold unified beliefs or behave the same way, and equally absurd to put these young people on the spot to give immediate solutions for ending fascism: we're still slowly creeping toward that in 2024. Respect to the young punks, too, they were right.

[@jeremimcdonald]

Rest in peace Donahue!

[@kookadams85]

This has to be December of '81 correct?

[@thecreativemillenial]

People used to ridicule punk Rock but nowadays more and more people are sympathetic to the punk Rock movement

[@hjibakkkihjibakkki6408]

lol people who often have no fucking clue what it is

[@EmoFags-il8lt]

People are sympathetic to fake punk rock.

[@nootnoot630]

@@EmoFags-il8lt I;m not in the punk scene, but is it okay for you to explain what fake punk and real punk are? to my knowledge, punk is supposed to be about fighting the oppressive structures of society.

[@EmoFags-il8lt]

@@nootnoot630 Fake punks are basically people that talk about it or someone who likes the fashion or the “aesthetic” but never speak about what they stand for, do shit abt it, listen to the music, or people that twist the culture. Fake punks can also be sexist, racist, ext.

[@nootnoot630]

@@EmoFags-il8lt what can people do to act on their beliefs?

[@joaniepeters2565]

This is crazy! I remember that Maxwell house coffee commercial.. it’s funny because the dynamic of society and people in power have completely reversed, the punks started a movement and the people in power overtime took over that movement and distorted it in a cult

[@x-wing8785]

I wonder how many punk bands named Serena Dank have been formed since this.🤔

[@marthayoung870]

When I was in England in 1983 , lord these pepole would be so scared , I never seen so many Mohawks in my life with many colors. The 80s were the best .

[@moominsean]

Now we see 80 year old ladies with spiked purple hair. And most of these kids look pretty tame by any standard, really.

[@layditms2]

lol they vvere the Originals

[@bethr8756]

Why all the gum chewing

[@kmsleyang1980]

I know your comment is 2 years old but I was thinking the same thing like was that part of the punk movement??

[@Mynewlife2025]

​@@kmsleyang1980I grew up in the 80s, chewing gum was "beng cool"

[@johnc4696]

"This is by the BlackFlag" 🤣🤣🤣

[@paulj0557tonehead]

There are lots of different punk scenes, but the general attitude is that punks don't settle, and overall that is a good attitude. The young woman at 24:04 in the pink looks punk herself. It just shows how much 1981 makeup styles lent to punk fashion. The same could be said about the woman in the goth looking white blouse who is the anti-punk advocate. She looks very punk.

[@maxflower13]

19:54 "a creamy kind of honesty" WUT? + all the ads have a golden haze

[@LuciferSam2024]

Listen in the very beginning to these curmudgeons for "mothers" in the audience. *TOUGH LOVE IS NEITHER!*

[@BadgerLaser]

Serena Dank, prefers to kick back with a blunt

[@bassystacey]

Yer Cool!

[@alexkrummenacher5050]

That isn't Eddie Vedder in the dark bandana early on in the program talking about planned obsolescence, is it? Vedder is from the Chicago area where the Donahue show was produced. If it's not Vedder then it is someone in the public eye who is recognizable today, I think (I could be wrong, though)

[@the-anti-extremists]

No that's NOT Eddie Vedder... the guy in black bandana etc is me, JIM COLAO, the original drummer for NAKED RAYGUN. I'm 66 now but still rockin' and will be releasing new punk tracks throughout 2024. Keep your ears open for new music from "The Anti-Extremists." The songs rock hard, with an avalanche of beats, scorching guitar leads, anthemic riffs, and wry lyrics ripped from today’s absurd headlines.

[@vivianapsicodelux8355]

If this is not the living proof that society only perceives loud and fast changes..."normal people" don,t realize how influenced we all are by fashion and wear strange costumes, hair and makeup that look far more ridiculous than punks. Same with beliefs, we accept fur jackets, war, gender behaviour..etc

[@krrokodil]

Im not very familiar with the host but you can tell his bias from how much mic time hes giving the "normal " folk rather than the punks . His questions aight kinda tho

[@TheGrahamHick]

He was a very influential interviewer for the time. At least with suburban moms who were home when his show was on at 10 am weekdays. He’s actually a pretty good journalist even if a square. This was such a different time.

[@krrokodil]

@@TheGrahamHick thats fair enough & enlightening to know. In all fairness with some people its harder to hide biases so i can appreciate that he did what he could & it was interesting.

[@nankypooh655]

Do an internet search on Phil Donahue. He was a very influential talk show host, who, for better or for worse, set the template for shows like Jerry Springer, et al. The only difference is that Phil Donahue actually cared about the issues and the people he had on his show, whereas the Jerry Springers, and Maury Povitches of the world are taudry and sensationalistic. He also married Marlo Thomas.

[@tron944]

those commercials are treat to see, ahhhhh...nostalgia.

[@OutLawStargazer899]

"id rather my daughter be on drugs" DUDE

[@marknoahsotelo316]

I’m not sure which is wilder, the fact that the 1950s parenting ideal still existed in the 80s or that the “ punk kids” in the audience are all 60 years old now or pushing it.

[@bonniekeating9565]

The original commericials were far more creepier then the tame punk rockers.

[@Thornspyre81]

Whoa....Serena Dank.....

[@87g4g3]

8:18 name? Ursula what??

[@DavidUSA2525]

So tame by todays standards.

[@aotctd]

lol Now is literal Imitation

[@visionaryventures12]

4:21 OMG She would be in her 60s now.

[@tneowapl1-bv6gr]

Yeah, like most OG Punks

[@wadeboyful]

From February 1982 I saw the original broadcast at 9am on kfyr Bismarck North Dakota

[@jasonberezny1710]

The same thing happened with Elvis then The Beatles. Those parents in the audience were hypocrites lol.

[@galwaytribesman9289]

At 1:59 I thought for a split second it was the bald guys beard :)

[@willquigg8265]

That lady that first spoke putting down these kids about the way they look was brought up in the 50s and probably had a boyfriend that had a slicked-back pompadour or greasy hair and wore leather jackets and boots.

[@AlaDabat]

LOL these Punks would be considered conservative teens by todays standard!

[@markgreet3543]

Huge sex pistols fan, adam ant, anti nowere league, GG was okay except for crapping not on. Dead kennadys and lots lots more you guys good old usa gave us punk as far back as 1968.

[@brooke8567]

Iggy and the stooges lou reed Ramones mc5

[@tencentpistol1]

The crazy thing is what I find OFFENSIVE is what those "normal" people were wearing!!! THAT'S the real sin. I can honestly say, their style did not age gracefully...YUCK!!!

[@leestephenson7042]

Q: why don't you do this that and the other? A: Why should I?

[@JamesClark-c2m]

Donahue ahead of his time

[@BlackRose-vz9ww]

Okay, so was Marilyn Manson among those punks? I thought that might be him with the leather officer's hat sitting at the back.

[@_HimToo]

Donahue seems to agree with the punks. Nice!

[@jasonpinson8755]

I saw the Punk scene when I was younger.

[@_HimToo]

Mysels Furs. Wonder how long after this show they went outta business