[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Punks Are Basically Nice People Pretending To Be Mean, Whereas Hippies Are Mean People Pretending To Be Nice

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

List member Jesse Sheidlower asked me, off list, to explore the
provenance of the saying in the subject line. The earliest match I
found appeared in the 2010 book "Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge" by
Gordon Edgar:

[Begin excerpt]
A lot of punks say they hate everyone, but a wise friend once said to
me that punks are basically nice people pretending to be mean, whereas
hippies are mean people pretending to be nice.
[End excerpt]

The "wise friend" is unnamed; hence, the creator of this saying
remains anonymous. I suspect that earlier citations exist, and future
researchers may discover them.

A contrasting viewpoint appeared in 1978 within an article titled
"Look Out, Punk City!" in "The Washington Post". An unnamed person
criticized punks:

[Begin excerpt]
"There are no real punks here." said one man. "Punks are mean. They
shoot heroin. They get into fist fights. Real punks would blow your
mind."
[End excerpt]

In 1990 columnist Lawrence Livermore of the punk journal "Maximum
Rocknroll" described his journey from being a hippie to being a punk.
The columnist suggested that hippies were mean, whereas punks
pretended to be mean. This observation fit the meaning of the saying,
but the phrasing was different:

[Begin excerpt]
… my own hippie experiences. We weren't the ones with the flowers, we
were the ones with the bricks. We lived by stealing, prostitution,
drug dealing, and about half of us were dead by the mid-'70s. For me
punk was a step forward; I got to put my energy into pretending to be
mean instead of really being mean.
[End excerpt]

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/06/18/punks-hippies/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

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