Shonen Knife album cover, 1998

Although Nara’s work is undoubtedly cute, it also possesses an edge that comes from another major influence in Nara’s work: punk rock and folk music and culture. A fan of anti-establishment bands and artists such as The Clash, the Ramones, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Bob Dylan, Nara reflected this attitude as a student often skipping classes and spending his time looking for records (Matsui, 13). Nara also was part of a punk rock band during his college years and eventually designed album cover art for bands like Shonen Knife and The Star Club.

As a result of this musical influence, fragments of punk rock lyrics are found in many of Nara's titles and even in fragments of text on the canvas itself. Like punk rock, Nara’s artistic style appears naïve and almost too simple. But, like punk rock, it seems to be coming from a place of raw emotional intensity, youthful frustration, and rebellion (Tezuka, 31).