Pinpointing the inception point of new fashion can be tricky. Sure, there is Milan but high fashion and street trends are two different beasts. Starting in late 2191 there was a rising trend of implanted micro-speakers in clothing. These musical suitors ranged from tame background music and personal soundtracks for PR and celebrity types to blaring distortion effects used by musicians in concerts or impromptu performances. Like most fashion trends, it soon consumed itself and by the mid 90s was a nearly forgotten fashion mistake.
In the last three years speck dotting as it later came to be known saw a major resurgence in what would come to be known as the Audiopunks. The first documented Audiopunks were at a right wing political rally in Portland, Oregon, ASA. Weaving into the crowds and speck speakers into over the top hair styles these progenitor punks would trigger distorted audio recordings of the speaker set to music whenever the speakers contradicted themselves. These first Audiopunks were beaten by extreme elements in the crowd. This only served to send the punk message through all the news feeds. Within two months, Audiopunks began appearing at speeches and public gatherings around the world.
With the continuing cost reduction of PINTs, modern wearable computers, Audiopunks have become a kind of real time fact checking service. Groups set up gatherers who pull audio clips during speeches piping it through remixing software and out to other punks at a gathering. In countries like the ASA and Great Britain where there is a high number of Audiopunk gangs a growing number of politicians and corporate speakers have taken events in doors screening crowds for speck speakers, blocking data transfer in the area and other tricks to avoid the scrutiny of Audiopunks and their own words.
Lacking any central organization clusters of Audiopunks crop up and fade away in unpredictable ways. Additionally, the political focus of Audiopunks seems equally as varied. The only real connective string being an ability to root out sound bites with incredible speed and efficiency. The PPB station Nis Oidua covers Audiopunk gatherings and plays a steady stream of remixes of punk recordings. While still only a few years old, that is longer than most political movements, or fashion trends.
