Voices of Dissent: A Critical Discourse Analysis of American Punk Lyrics (1990s-2000s)

Brendan Jeremy Jia-En, Lim and Dexter Sigan, John (2025) Voices of Dissent: A Critical Discourse Analysis of American Punk Lyrics (1990s-2000s). Language and Literacy Education Journal, 1 (2). pp. 19-28. ISSN 3093-7302

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Abstract

This study investigates the messages and common themes conveyed through American punk music lyrics from the 1990s to 2000s using Fairclough’s three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis framework. A qualitative case study approach examined seven songs from prominent American punk bands spanning grunge, pop punk, hardcore, metalcore, and emo subgenres, which includeNirvana, Green Day, Hatebreed, Converge, Orchid, Silverstein, and My Chemical Romance. The textual dimension revealed lexical strategies that foreground alienation and entrapment through constraining vocabulary and fragmented grammatical structures. Discursive practice analysis showed how punk lyrics appropriate and subvert dominant cultural narratives whilst constructing authenticity through confessional modes. Social practice analysis connected these linguistic features to broader sociocultural contexts, revealing resistance to capitalist structures and a critique of institutionalised authority. Three dominant themes emerged from the analysis. Alienation and social entrapment, systematic critique of institutionalised authority, and collective trauma in response to catastrophic historical events. The findings demonstrate that American punk lyrics function as ideological interventions that expose power relations embedded within late capitalist society, transforming individual suffering into collective political consciousness whilst challenging naturalised social inequalities.

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