Punk History - Punk Rock

Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement that began about 1975 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Clash. The term is also used to describe subsequent music scenes that share key characteristics with those first-generation "punks." The term is sometimes also applied to the fashions or the irreverent "DIY" ("do it yourself") attitude associated with this musical movement.

UK Punks, circa 1986

Contents

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* 1 Origins

* 2 The Emergence of Punk Rock

* 3 Musical Style and Structure

* 4 Punk attitudes and fashion

* 5 Post-1970s punk

* 6 See also

o 6.1 Related genres

* 7 Sound samples

* 8 References

* 9 Notes

* 10 External links

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Origins

The phrase "punk rock" (from "punk", meaning worthless or disrespectful, often applied to a street hustler or a young person with a negative attitude towards authority; also meaning a beginner or novice [1]) was originally applied to the untutored guitar-and-vocals-based rock and roll of United States bands of the mid-1960s such as The Standells, The Sonics, and The Seeds, bands that now are more often categorized as "garage rock".

The term was coined by rock critic Dave Marsh, who used it to describe the music of ? and the Mysterians in the May 1971 issue of Creem magazine â„-, and it was adopted by many rock music journalists in the early 1970s. For example, in the liner notes of the 1972 anthology album Nuggets, critic and guitarist Lenny Kaye uses the term "punk-rock" to refer to the Sixties "garage rock" groups, as well as some of the darker and more primitive practitioners of 1960s psychedelia. Shortly after the time of those notes, Lenny Kaye formed a band with avant-garde poet Patti Smith. Smith's group, and her first album, Horses, released in 1975, directly inspired many of the mid-1970s punk rockers, so this suggests one path by which the term migrated to the music we now know as punk.

In addition to the inspiration of those "garage bands" of the 1960s, the roots of punk rock draw on the abrasive, dissonant style of The Velvet Underground; the rebellious attitude and free spirit of The Doors; the snotty attitude and aggressive instrumentation of The Who and the early Rolling Stones; the sexuality, political confrontation, and on-stage violence of Detroit bands The Stooges and MC5; the UK pub rock scene and political UK underground bands such as Mick Farren and the Deviants; the New York Dolls; and some British "glam rock" or "art rock" acts of the early 1970s, including David Bowie, Gary Glitter and Roxy Music. Influence from other musical genres, including reggae, funk and rockabilly, can also be detected in early punk rock.

Punk rock

Stylistic origins: 1950s R&B, rock and roll, country, and rockabilly, 1960s garage rock, frat rock, psychedelic rock, pub rock, glam rock, and proto-punk

Cultural origins: Mid 1970s United States, Australia and United Kingdom.

Typical instruments:

Vocals - Guitar - Bass - Drums

Mainstream popularity: Chart-topping in the UK, less success elsewhere. Some success for pop punk, especially ska punk and Two Tone

Derivative forms: Alternative rock - Emo - Math rock - Gothic rock - Post-punk - post-punk revival - Grunge

Subgenres

Alcopunk - Anarcho-punk - Anti-folk - Christian punk - Crust punk - Garage punk - Hardcore - Horror punk - New Wave - Oi! - Pop punk

Fusion genres

Anti-folk - Death rock - Funkcore - Jazz punk - Psychobilly - Queercore - Ska punk - Two Tone

Regional scenes

Punk rock in Belgium - Brazil

Other topics

History - Cassette culture - DIY - Pioneers - First wave - Second wave - Punk cities - Punk movies - Fanzine - Fashion

Punk rock was also a reaction against tendencies that had overtaken popular music in the 1970s, including what the punks saw as superficial "disco" music and bombastic forms of heavy metal, progressive rock and "arena rock." Punk also rejected the remnants of the hippie counterculture of the 1960s. Bands such as Jefferson Airplane, which had survived the 1960s, were regarded by most punks as having become fatuous and an embarrassment to their former claims of radicality. Eric Clapton's appearance in television beer ads in the mid-1970s was often cited as an example of how the icons of 1960s rock had literally sold themselves to the system they once opposed.

The cultural critique and strategies for revolutionary action offered by the European Situationist movement of the 1950s and 1960s were an influence on the vanguard of the British punk movement, particularly the Sex Pistols. Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren consciously embraced situationist ideas, which are also reflected in the clothing designed for the band by Vivienne Westwood and the visual artwork of the Situationist-affiliated Jamie Reid, who designed many of the band's graphics.

The British punk movement also found a precedent in the "do-it-yourself" attitude of the Skiffle craze that emerged amid the post-World War II austerity of 1950s Britain. Skiffle music led directly to the tremendous worldwide success of The Beatles (who began as a Skiffle group) and the subsequent British Invasion of the U.S. record charts. Punk rock in Britain coincided with the rise of Thatcherism, and nearly all British punk bands expressed an attitude of angry social alienation.

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The Emergence of Punk Rock

The