punk

The term punk is used to describe the associated subculture, involving youthful aggression, specific clothing styles, ideologies, and a DIY (do it yourself) attitude. Historically the cities of London, Manchester, New York City, Detroit, Washington DC, Los Angeles and the Bay Area have been punk's breeding grounds.

Characteristics

Punk bands often emulate the simple musical structures and arrangements of 1960s garage rock bands. In 1976, the English punk fanzine Sideburns included drawings (later reproduced in Sniffin' Glue) of three chords, captioned: "This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band". Most punk songs have a verse-chorus form and a 4/4 time signature. This emphasis on accessibility exemplified punk's DIY aesthetic, and contrasted with the ostentatious musicianship of many of the mainstream rock bands popular in the years before the advent of punk. In the early days of punk rock, such musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion - complicated guitar solos were considered self-indulgent and unnecessary, although simple guitar breaks were still common, even in early punk songs.

Punk songs are normally about two and a half minutes long, and can be as short as 30 seconds. Punk rock usually has faster tempos than the rock bands who came before them. Typical punk instrumentation includes a drum kit, one or two electric guitars, an electric bass and vocals. Drums typically sound heavy and dry, and often have a minimal set-up, with a (snare drum, one mounted or standing tom, one floor tom, one bass drum), hi-hats, one or two crash cymbals and a ride cymbal. Drum beats are usually simplistic, with quarter note grooves and not very technical bass or snare drum patterns. However, in hardcore punk the drumming is considerably faster and quite technical. Bass lines are usually simple and consist only of the chords' root notes, although some modern punk bands - such as Rancid and Anti-Flag - put greater emphasis on more technical bass parts. Guitar parts usually include highly-distorted power chords, although some bands take a surf rock approach with lighter twangier guitar tones. Production is minimalistic, with tracks sometimes laid down on home tape recorders.

Punk vocals sometimes sound nasal, and are often shouted instead of sung in a conventional sense. In the mid-1970s, punk lyrics often involved confrontational frankness and commentaries on social and political issues. Songs like The Clash's Career Opportunities and London's Burning dealt with unemployment, boredom, and other grim realities of urban life. Some songs were openly disparaging of the political system, as in the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the U.K.. Others were violent or anti-romantic in depictions of sex and love, such as The Voidoids' "Love Comes in Spurts".

History

Origins

The phrase punk rock (from punk, 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 punk rock 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^[2], 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, Lenny Kaye uses the term "punk-rock" to refer to the 1960s garage rock bands, as well as some of the darker and more primitive practitioners of 1960s psychedelic rock. Shortly after he wrote those notes, Kaye formed a band with avant-garde poet Patti Smith. Smith's group, and her first album, Horses (released 1975), directly inspired many of the mid-1970s punk rockers.

Punk rock may have been influenced by the snotty attitude, on- and off-stage violence, and aggressive instrumentation, overt sexuality and political confrontation of artists like: The Who; Rolling Stones, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and The Velvet Underground, Alice Cooper, The Stooges and MC5, Deviants; the New York Dolls. Other likely influences include the English pub rock scene, political UK underground acts such as Mick Farren, and British glam rock and 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 served as a reaction against 1970s popular music such as disco music, heavy metal, progressive rock and arena rock. Punk also rejected the remnants of the 1960s hippie counterculture. The cultural critiques and strategies for revolutionary action of the European Situationist movement of the 1950s and 1960s influenced the vanguard of the British punk movement, particularly the Sex Pistols. Their manager, Malcolm McLaren, consciously embraced situationist ideas, which are also reflected in the clothing designed for the band by Vivienne Westwood, and in the band's promotional artwork, much of it designed by the Situationist-affiliated Jamie Reid.

The British punk movement may have drawn upon the do-it-yourself attitude of the Skiffle music craze that emerged amid the post-World War II austerity in Britain. Punk rock in Britain coincided with the end of post-war consensus politics that preceded the rise of Thatcherism, and many British punk bands have expressed an angry attituded based on social alienation.

Early emergence

The first ongoing music scene that was assigned the "punk" label appeared in New York in 1974-1976, centered around bands that played regularly at the clubs Max's Kansas City and CBGB. This had been preceded by a nascent underground rock scene at the Mercer Arts Center, picking up from the demise of the Velvet Underground. The Mercer scene, forming in 1971, featured the New York Dolls and Suicide, but came to an abrupt end in 1973 when the building collapsed.^[3] The CBGB and Max's scene included The Ramones, Television, Blondie, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers (fronted by a former New York Doll), Richard Hell and The Voidoids, and the Talking Heads. The "punk" title was applied to these groups by early 1976, when Punk Magazine first appeared, featuring these bands alongside articles on some of the immediate role models for the new groups, such as Lou Reed and Patti Smith (who were the cover subjects of the first and second issues, respectively).

At the same time, a less celebrated, but nonetheless highly influential, scene had appeared in Ohio, including The Electric Eels, Devo, and Rocket from the Tombs (who in 1975 split into Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys).

During this same period, bands that would later be recognized as "punk" were formed independently in other locations, such as The Saints in Brisbane, Australia, The Modern Lovers in Boston, and The Stranglers and the Sex Pistols in London. These early bands also operated within small "scenes", often facilitated by enthusiastic impresarios who either operated venues, such as clubs, or organised temporary venues. In other cases, the bands or their managers improvised their own venues, such as a house inhabited by The Saints in an inner suburb of Brisbane. The venues provided a showcase and meeting place for the emerging musicians (the 100 Club in London, CBGB in New York, and The Masque in Hollywood are among the best known early punk clubs).

While the London bands may have played a relatively minor role in determining the early punk sound, the London punk scene would come to define and epitomize the rebellious punk culture. After a brief stint managing the New York Dolls at the end of their career in the US, Englishman Malcolm McLaren returned to London in May 1975. He started a clothing store called SEX that was instrumental in creating the radical punk clothing style. He also began managing The Swankers, who would soon become the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols soon created a strong cult following in London, centered on a clique known as the Bromley Contingent (named after the suburb where many of them had grown up), who followed them around the country.

An oft-cited moment in punk rock's history is a July 4, 1976 concert by the Ramones (with The Stranglers) at the Roundhouse in London. Many of the future leaders of the UK punk rock scene were inspired by this show, and almost immediately afterward, the UK punk scene found its feet. By the end of 1976, many fans of the Sex Pistols had formed their own bands, including The Clash, Joy Division, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Adverts, Generation X, The Slits, and X-Ray Spex. Other UK bands to emerge in this milieu included The Damned (the first to release a single, the classic "New Rose"), The Jam, The Vibrators, Buzzcocks, and the appropriately named London.

In December of 1976, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, and Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers united for the Anarchy Tour, a series of gigs throughout the UK. Many of the gigs were cancelled by venue owners, after tabloid newspapers and other media seized on sensational stories regarding the antics of both the bands and their fans. The notoriety of punk rock in the UK was advanced by an infamous televised incident that was widely publicised in the tabloid press: on Thames Today, a London TV show, guitarist Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols was goaded into a verbal altercation by the host, Bill Grundy, swearing at him on live television in violation of then-accepted standards of propriety.

One of the first books about punk rock — The Boy Looked at Johnny by Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons (December 1977) — declared the punk movement to be already over: the subtitle was The Obituary of Rock and Roll. The title echoed a lyric from the title track of Patti Smith's 1975 album Horses.

During 1977, a second wave of bands emerged, influenced by those mentioned above. Some, such as The Misfits (from New Jersey), The Exploited (from Scotland), GBH (from England) Black Flag (from Los Angeles), Stiff Little Fingers (from Northern Ireland), and Crass (from Essex) would go on to lead the move away from the original sound of punk rock, later spawning the Hardcore subgenre.

In the UK, punk interacted with the Jamaican reggae and ska subcultures. This reggae influence is evident in much of the music of The Clash and The Slits, for example. By the end of the 1970s, punk had spawned the 2 Tone ska revival movement, including bands such as The Beat (The English Beat in U.S.), The Specials, Madness, and The Selecter.

Gradually, punk became more varied and less minimalist, with bands such as The Clash incorporating other underground musical influences like ska and rockabilly and even jazz into their music, but the message of the music remained the same; it was subversive, counter-cultural, rebellious, politically incorrect and often anarchist. Punk rock dealt with topics like problems facing society, oppression of the lower classes, the threat of a nuclear war, and such. Often it was personal but no less critical: many songs concerned the individual's personal problems, such as being unemployed, or having particular emotional and/or mental issues (e.g. depression). Punk rock was a message to society that all was not well and all were not equal.

Genres of Punk

While it is thought that the style of punk from the 1970s had a decline in the 1980s, many sub-genres branched off playing their own interpretation of punk rock.

New Wave and its attendant subculture arose along with the earliest punk groups; indeed "punk" and "New Wave" were originally interchangeable terms. Soon after the term gained popularity, a division emerged between the two genres: music that tended more toward experimentation, lyrical complexity, or more polished production, notably bands such as Talking Heads, Television and Devo, were called "New Wave" rather than "punk". Combining elements of early punk music and fashion with a far more pop oriented and less "dangerous" style in the early 1980s, typified by bands such as The Cars, Blondie, Elvis Costello, The Police and even Duran Duran, New Wave became one of the most popular music movements of its time.

The United States saw the emergence of hardcore punk, which is known for fast, aggressive beats and, in many cases, politically or socially aware lyrics. Early hardcore bands include Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Bad Brains, The Descendents, early Replacements, Bad Religion, and The Germs and the movement developed via Minor Threat, Minutemen and Hüsker Dü, among others. In New York, there was a large hardcore punk movement led by bands such as Agnostic Front, The Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law, Sick of it All, and Gorilla Biscuits. Other styles emerged from this new genre including skate punk, emo and straight edge.

In the UK, meanwhile, diverse post-punk bands emerged, such as Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, The Fall, Gang of Four, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Public Image Ltd, with the latter two bands featuring veterans of the original British punk rock movement. Sometimes confused with New Wave, post-punk was closely tied to the emerging indie scene and independent record labels such as Rough Trade Records and Factory Records. The music was often dark, arty, abrasive, and experimental, drawing inspiration from sources such as Krautrock, dance music, and David Bowie.

Although most the prominent bands in the genre pre-dated the 1980s by a few years, it wasn't until the 1980s that journalist Garry Bushell gave the sub-genre "Oi!" its name, partly derived from the Cockney Rejects song "Oi! Oi! Oi!". This movement featured bands such as Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects, Blitz, The Blood, and Sham 69.

Bands sharing the Ramones' bubblegum pop influences formed their own brand of punk, sporting melodic songs and lyrics more often dealing with relationships and simple fun than most punk rock's nihilism and anti-establishment stance. These bands, included Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Rezillos and Generation X, were an example to follow for present pop punk bands.

Legacy and recent developments

The underground punk movement in the United States and the United Kingdom produced countless bands that either evolved from a punk rock sound, or applied its spirit and DIY ethics to a completely different sound. By the end of the 1980s, these bands had largely eclipsed their punk forebearers and were termed alternative rock. As alternative bands like Sonic Youth and the Pixies started to gain larger audiences, major labels sought to capitalize on a market that had been growing underground for the past 10 years.

In 1991, Nirvana achieved huge commercial success with their album, Nevermind. Nirvana cited punk as a key influence on their music. Although they sometimes labelled themselves as punk rock and championed many unknown punk icons (as did many other alternative rock bands), Nirvana's music was equally akin to other forms of garage rock, indie rock and heavy metal that had existed for decades. Nirvana's success kick-started the alternative rock boom that had been underway since the late 1980s, and helped define that segment of 1990s popular. The subsequent shift in taste among listeners of rock music was chronicled in the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which featured Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, and Sonic Youth.

Partly due to the popularity of alternative rock and references to obscure punk bands by alternative artists, punk rock experienced a resurgence in popular culture in the 1990s. In 1994, bands like Green Day, The Offspring, Rancid, and Bad Religion experienced massive crossover success with the aid of MTV and major radio stations like KROQ-FM.^[4] While some bands like Green Day had signed to major labels such as Reprise Records, indie labels like Epitaph Records (started by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion and the home of the skate punk sound of The Offspring, Pennywise, NOFX, and Rancid), also benefited from punk's resurgence. Green Day's commercial success paved the way for a wave of pop punk at the turn of the century. Examples of bands labelled as pop punk include blink-182, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte and Sum 41. The late 1990s also saw a ska punk revival, which continued into the 2000s with bands like Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake and Chemical cocktail.

Some in the punk community were wary of the music being co-opted by the mainstream.^[4] By the late 1990s, punk rock was so ingrained in Western culture that it was sometimes used to sell commercial bands as rebels. Some punk rockers complained that by signing to major labels and appearing on MTV, these bands were buying into the system that punk was created to rebel against (although punk's earliest pioneers also released work on major labels).

See also

• Protopunk
• Punk subculture
• DIY Culture
• List of forerunners of punk music (ca. 1968-1976)
• List of musicians in the first wave of punk music (ca. 1976-1985)
• List of musicians in the second wave of punk music (ca. 1985-present)
• List of punk movies
• Timeline of punk rock
• Punk ideology
• List of rock genres

Sound samples

• "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones, from Road to Ruin, 1978. 28 seconds, 540 KB.
• "Dot Dash" by Wire, a single from 1978. 30 seconds, 519 KB.
• "London Calling" by The Clash, from London Calling, 1979. 30 seconds, 616 KB.

References

• Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs, ISBN 0-679-72045-6
• The Boy Looked At Johnny: The Obituary of Rock and Roll by Julie Burchill & Tony Parsons, 1978, Pluto Press, UK, ISBN 0861040309
• Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain, 1997, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-026690-9
• England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, 1991, Faber and Faber, UK, ISBN 0-312-06963-4
• Burning Britain - A History Of UK Punk 1980 to 1984 by Ian Glasper, Cherry Red Books, ISBN 1-901447-24-3

Notes

External links

• BlankTV Punk music videos
• A History of Punk by Fast'n'Bulbous Webzine
• Search And Destroy Punk rock search engine
• Southend Punk History Punk history and band list
• Spirit of Punk Band List List of punk band websites
• Punk 77 History of UK punk
• Punk & Oi! in the UK Band interviews, news, reviews and more