A Punk's Paradise

By: Moujeck Cabales/Photos by: Moujeck Cabales/Article 7 of 7

Quiapo isn’t only famous for Black Nazarene, Hidalgo Street and pirated goods. Well-known among rockers, skaters and punks, a nondescript building on Recto Avenue is also a marketplace for various subcultures. A hodgepodge of knick-knack vendors, every store teems with things that are far cry to the softy pop culture: from scary heavy metal shirts and piles of rock music records to skateboarding equipment. People adorned with black shirts, dreadlocks, tunneled ears and tattooed arms abound the place, and making it the underground mecca for such radical characters. The ‘old downtown’ isn’t just a photographers’ haven, but also a punk’s paradise.

Like everything in this building, Marlon Dajac’s store is a hodgepodge of subculture stuff. Loud rock music blare from the speakers, and the walls are displayed with band shirts such as Sex Pistols, The Ramones, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. So-named ‘Monkey Man Shop’, its motley assortment ranges from punky accessories to vinyl records and cassette tapes of legendary rockers. He also sells rare and interesting things, from an old edition of ‘Das Kapital’ by Karl Marx and other dusty political books, to graffiti stickers riddled with anti-establishment slogans. Being an award-winning skater, he also has a wide selection of skateboard equipments to offer. If one is to observe Dajac’s shop, he would infer from this motley that the skateboarding is related with rock music and punk lifestyle.

Low ‘Kultur’

Most skaters would attest that skateboard is an outlet for individuality and creative expression, given it being a radical and unconventional sport. Because of its nature, it embodies a subculture of rowdy youthfulness, rebel attitude and urban lifestyle. Of that, it had been loosely associated with other individualistic and artistic interests that have the same image; such as rock music, punk lifestyle and lowbrow art. It is in confluence with low Kultur; which are contrary to higher forms such as classical music, high fashion and the fine arts.

And during the late 80s and early 90s, the ferment for such material culture came with the historic coming of the MTV or Music Television. The channel then aired hitherto 'unheard of' music genres (especially the angrier subgenres of rock music), promoted the lowbrow or avant-garde art in its station IDs and sponsored extreme sports competitions such as the X-Games. It went on to create a profound impact on the popular culture. With these images and sounds, the so-called 'MTV generation' carved their own identities. The hippies and beatniks of the past had been now replaced with skaters, rockers, punks and everything else. Dajac himself attested that the 90s were a great period of acculturation for him, given the onset of the strengthened influence of the culture industry. “Ay oo, konektado yan. Kasi di’ba yung ibang mga skaters nag-babanda din, kaya ayun. Tsaka parehas lang rin sila ng porma (Ah yes, they are connected. Isn’t it that some skaters are in a band? So there, and both have the same get-up)”, said the talented skater.

But like any other fads, they all fell out of trend as the next decades saw the upsurge of newer cultural products more palatable to the mainstream media consumers. Now there are fresher material culture for everyone to consume and live by; and the cultural industry is ever-changing. The rock music, punk fashion and skateboarding almost became unpleasant, unconventional and out-of-the-norm; relegated to be subcultures. But though they seemed to have gone on to the underground, they still have their faithful and passionate followers; all keeping their radical Kultur alive.

Skateboarders still play on their spots in the dark; and the real, anti-establishment, hardcore punks yet gather in hidden bars in Cubao. People clothed with black shirts, dreadlocks, tunneled ears and tattooed arms still abound the dirty alleys and noisy streets of Manila. Though the times are a’ changing, the old downtown Quiapo is still a punk’s paradise.