Peruvian Punk as a Global Means of Underground Production

Starting from the context of Lima, Peru’s 1980s underground rock scene, I develop a theory of punk as a means of global underproduction and discursive undercutting. The aim is to think of punk in contrast to understandings of capitalist tendencies toward over-production, the specifically aesthetic dimensions that over-production takes within cultural industries, and the ways punk production becomes tied to irruptive discourses of disregard for public norms. I explore this theoretical framework by analyzing one of the Lima underground’s most iconic examples, the band Narcosis’ demo cassette first recorded in a garage in 1985, now circulating in digital and limited edition vinyl.