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 Mid 1970s United States, Australia and United Kingdom. Vocals Guitar Bass Drums

Cultural origins: Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity:

Chart-topping in the UK, less success elsewhere. Some success for pop punk, especially ska punk and Two Tone Alternative rock Emo New Wave Post-punk

Derivative forms:

Subgenres
Anarcho-punk Christian punk Crust punk Garage punk Hardcore Horror punk Oi! Pop punk

Fusion genres
Anti-folk Chicano punk Death rock Folk punk Funkcore Jazz punk Deathcountry 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 is an anti-establishment rock music movement which began around 19741975 (although transitional forms 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," and it is often applied loosely to mean any band with "attitude" or "youthful aggression." The term is sometimes also applied to the fashions, ideology, subculture, or irreverent "DIY" ("do it yourself") attitude associated with this musical movement. [edit]

Characteristics
Punk bands often emulate the approach of sixties garage rock bands. Punk rock emphasizes simple musical structures and arrangements. The early UK punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue in 1977 famously included drawings of three chord shapes captioned, "This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band". Most punk songs have a verse-chorus structure and 4/4 time. Short songs are also a staple of punk rock. Songs are normally about two and a half minutes in length, but sometimes are less than thirty seconds, and on very rare occasions, a punk rock band will release a song that exceeds four minutes in length; this is common feature of songs by The Clash and the Dead Kennedys. Punk rock usually has fast tempos, especially hardcore punk. Typical punk instrumentation includes a drum kit, one or two electric guitars, an electric bass, and vocals. The drums typically sound heavy and dry, and are usually a minimal set-up, usually a four-piece kit (snare drum, one mounted or standing tom, one floor tom and one bass drum), and a lesser amount of cymbals, usually a simple set-up of hi-hats, one or two crashes and a ride cymbal. The drum beats are usually very simplistic, playing basic quarter note grooves with not very technical bass drum or snare drum patterns (however in hardcore punk the drumming is considerably faster and quite technical, but the same drum set-up is featured). The guitar parts are made up of highly distorted power chords similar to Link Wray, though some bands, especially California punk rock bands, take a surf rock approach, with lighter, "twangier" guitar tones. Punk vocals often sound nasal, gravelly, or throaty. Production is minimalistic, with tracks sometimes laid down on tape recorders in garages. More often than not, the band themselves produce, record, and distribute the album. In the mid-1970s, punk lyrics introduced a confrontational frankness of expression and social and political relevance that had been missing from contemporary music. Songs like The Clash's "Career Opportunities" and "London's Burning" dealt with unemployment, boredom and other grim realities of urban life; some were openly disparaging of governments and monarchies, as in The Sex Pistols God Save the Queen and

Anarchy in the UK; and still others were decidedly anti-romantic in depictions of sex and love, such as Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to Fuck" and The Voidoids' "Love Comes in Spurts". Other themes associated with punk rock lyricism include anti-conformity, such as in Bad Religion's "Automatic Man." [edit]

History
[edit]

Origins

UK Punks, circa 1986 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 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, critic and guitarist Lenny Kaye uses the term "punkrock" to refer to the Sixties "garage rock" groups, as well as some of the darker and more primitive practitioners of 1960s psychedelic rock. 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 snotty attitude, on-stage and off-stage violence, and aggressive

instrumentation of The Who; the snotty attitude of the early Rolling Stones, which can be traced back to Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent of the late 50's; the abrasive, dissonant style of The Velvet Underground; the sexuality, political confrontation, and on-stage violence of Detroit bands Alice Cooper, 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 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.

Cover of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. 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. Punk rock in Britain coincided with the end of the era of post-war consensus politics that preceded the rise of Thatcherism, and nearly all British punk bands expressed an attitude of angry social alienation. [edit]

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 mini underground rock scene at the Mercer Arts Center, picking up from the demise of the Velvet Underground, starting in 1971 and featuring the New York Dolls and Suicide, which helped to pave the way, 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 (a former New York Doll) and the Heartbreakers, 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, who was on the cover of the first issue of Punk, and Patti Smith, cover subject on the second issue. 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.

Cover of The Clash album London Calling. An oft-cited moment in punk rock's history is a July 4, 1976 concert by the Ramones at the Roundhouse in London (The Stranglers were also on the bill). Many of the future leaders of the UK punk rock scene were inspired by this show, and almost immediately after it, the UK punk scene got into full swing. By the end of 1976, many fans of the Sex Pistols had formed their own bands, including The Clash, 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 U.K. 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 furthered by a televised incident that was widely publicised in the tabloid press; appearing on a London TV show called Thames Today, 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 at the time 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 influence the move away from the original sound of punk rock, that would spawn the Hardcore subgenre.

In the UK, punk interacted with the Jamaican reggae and ska subcultures. The 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 such as problems facing society, oppression of the lower classes, the threat of a nuclear war, etc. Or it delineated the individuals personal problems, such as being unemployed, or having particular emotional and/or mental issues, i.e. depression. Punk rock was a message to society that all was not well and all were not equal. [edit]

Genres of Punk

The Swedish punk band Ebba Grn, a poster from 1981 While it is thought that punk had a decline in the 80s, many sub-genres branched off playing their own interpretation of punk rock. The United States saw the emergence of hardcore punk, which is known for fast, aggressive beats and political lyrics. Early hardcore bands include Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Bad Brains, The Descendents, early Replacements and The Germs and the movement developed via Minor Threat, Minutemen and Hsker D, 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.

It can be argued, though, that Washington, DC was the site of hardcore punk's first emergence. In the UK, meanwhile, diverse post-punk bands emerged, such as Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, Gang of Four, Siouxsie & the Banshees & Public Image Ltd, the latter two bands featuring people who were part of the original British punk rock movement. Although most the prominent bands in the genre pre-dated the 1980s by a few years, it wasnt 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, 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-estalishment stance. These bands, the founders of pop punk, included the Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Rezillos and Generation X. [edit]

Legacy and recent developments

The underground punk movement in the United States in the 1980s produced countless bands that either evolved from a punk rock sound or claimed to apply 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 were starting 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 tended to label 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 or 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 the 1990s popular music milieu. The subsequent shift in taste among listeners of rock music was chronicled in a film entitled 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which featured Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, and Sonic Youth; Nirvana also featured in the film Hype! A new movement in the mainstream became visibile in the early and mid-1990s, claiming to be a form of punk, this was characterized by the scene at 924 Gilman Street, a venue in Berkeley, California, which featured bands such as Operation Ivy, Green Day, Rancid and later bands including AFI, (though clearly not simultaneously, as Rancid included members of the defunct Operation Ivy). Epitaph Records, an independent record label started by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, would become the home of the "skate punk" sound, characterized by bands like The Offspring, Pennywise, NOFX, and The Suicide

Machines, many bands arose claiming the mantle of the ever-diverse punk genre -- some playing a more accessible, pop style and achieving commercial success. The late 1990s also saw another ska punk revival. This revival continues into the 2000s with bands like Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake. The commercial success of alternative rock also gave way to another style which mainstream media claimed to be a form of "punk", dubbed pop punk or "mall punk" by the press; this new movement gained success in the mainsteam. Examples of bands labeled "pop punk" by MTV and similar media outlets include; Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and Sum 41. By the late 1990s, punk was so ingrained in Western culture that it was often used to sell commercial bands as "rebels", amid complaints from punk rockers that, by being signed to major labels and appearing on MTV, these bands were buying into the system that punk was created to rebel against, and as a result, could not be considered true punk (though clearly, punk's earliest pioneers also released work via the major labels). This debate continues among young punk acolytes (who, as do most new generations, seek a sense of originality or authenticity) amid the popularity of modern "pop punk" in the early 2000s, including the emo trend of recent times, and the Grammy success and superstar status in 2005 of Green Day. There is still a thriving punk scene in North America, Japan and Europe. The widespread availability of the Internet and file sharing programs enables bands who would otherwise not be heard outside of their local scene to garner larger followings, and is in keeping with the DIY ethic championed by some earlier punk bands.

The History of Punk Rock By: Eric Jaffe

Punk means many different things to different people. Punk is part of the "next" generation's "fumbled attempts to get drunk, listen to the band, get laid, and get the last bus home." (Chamberlain 1) Punk is "really creative rock 'n' roll music that is fun and upbeat, excellent melodies." (Cuellar 4) Punk is "hard-driving, in-your-face music, but at the same time, there's intelligence behind it. That's the thing I really latched on, because that was a combination that is very rare to find." (Cuellar 3) "Part of it [being a 'punk'] is not caring and being what you damn well want to be." (Cuellar 3) "Punk's about boredom and partying, pure and simple." (Cuellar 3) "Punk was a new music, a new social critique, but most of all, it was a new kind of free speech." (Marcus 2) Just two years after the Beatles hit America (1966), Iggy Pop decided to form a band that would be completely unlike anything that anyone had ever heard. Iggy formed the Stooges in Detroit, Michigan, with friends who could barely play their instruments. They had very little musical knowledge to interfere with the ideas that they had.

Their 1968 performances consisted of an aural background for Iggy's body contortions, self mutilation, dives into the audience, and screamed insults at those who had come only to be entertained, not to be involved in the show. The Stooges' extreme bizzareness did not make them popular like the Doors', whose antics they pre-dated. As a Neanderthal version of the Velvet Underground, the band managed to achieve the distinction of the first true influence on punk. Ironically, they were signed by the major label Elektra, and their 1969 debut was produced by John Cale. It was highlighted by the classic "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and the pre-punk "No Fun." In "1969," they revealed the source of their outrageousness to be boredom, chanting "another year with nothing to do." They were bored with the music scene, and bored with being poor, a condition that they remained in after not achieving anything above a cult status. Also from Detroit, MC5 articulated their boredom in a slightly more politicized and distinctly blue collar manner, coming to prominence in the 1968 Democratic Convention riots as figureheads of John Sinclair's White Panther Party. While their heavy sounding music was not particularly original, (They were largely derivative of the Who.) their attitude inspired many future punk bands, prophesizing the Sex Pistols' with EMI and Virgin. Like the Stooges, MC5 was scooped up by Elektra. They were soon embroiled in controversy over the lyric "Kick out the jams motherfuckers!" When one record store called Harvey's refused to stock the album, the group responded by taking out a full page advertisement in a local newspaper that read "Fuck Harvey's!" Elektra was not amused, especially when MC5 went further and plastered stickers bearing the Elektra logo all over the record store's windows. MC5 and Elektra parted shortly after that. By 1970, the provocative Detroit scene lured the Alice Cooper away from San Francisco and Frank Zappa's Straight Records to claim the Motor City as their new home. Singer Vincent Furnier, who acquired the name "Alice Cooper" from a Ouija board, expanded upon the theatrics of Iggy Pop's brand of Theater of the Possessed with his own style of shock-rock. With a Theater of the Absurd stage show consisting of garish make-up, live boa constrictors, and toy dolls meeting their death in electric chairs and gallows, combined with the new artistic credibility in the albums "Love It To Death" (1970) and "Killer" (1971), it became increasingly difficult to remain bored in Detroit. Punk rock is generally considered to have surfaced in 1975, but exactly who the first punk act was is undetermined. If anybody were to tell you that they can pinpoint the first punk band, they are either lying or confused. Many early bands such as Iggy and the Stooges, the MC5, Richard Hell and the Voidoids displayed some aspects of punk, but no band combined all of the elements, in my opinion, until the Ramones gathered in 1975. The Ramones self-titled debut album, released in 1976, was the first example of punk rock, and they are generally accepted as the creators of the genre. Being tired of music that they considered boring, the Ramones gathered and began to piece their own sound together. The lack of originality in music was a key factor in the creation of the Ramones' sounds. "No one tried to do anything original, and if they did, it came out sounding

like Stevie Ray Vaughan or ZZ Top." (Cuellar 4) Another factor was their lack of technical skill as compared to the bands of 1975. Their music would usually only utilize a few chords per song, and lyrics were often repetitions of short phrases. Many popular punk bands were often referred to as "Three chord wonders." Because of this, Ramones' songs are characterized by their amateur and aggressive sound. Examples of some of their more famous songs include "The Blizkrieg Bop," "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," "Cretin Hop," "Pinhead, "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?," and "I Wanna Be Sedated." The Ramones brought back the two-minute song, creating a sound that many found reminiscent of early rock 'n' roll. Others, blown away by the buzzsaw guitars and unconventional lyrics, condemned them. Legend has it that a touring representative from the A&M label saw the Ramones and got up and left in disgust after only hearing half of a song. Even later, record companies were not thrilled with punk, because it was very unstable. Danny Fields once said "American radio, then as now, doesn't like to participate in anything that is dangerous, or revolutionary, or radical. So [eventually] the whole thing [punk] became a great pile of shit that no one wanted to go near." The Ramones directly influenced British punk acts, helping to spawn the British punk scene. They played a fourth of July concert in London, which was attended by many members of future punk bands, such as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, Generation X, and Souxsie and the Banshees. This was the seed for what was to become the huge London punk scene of 1977. The Sex Pistols took the amateurist style of the Ramones, added a streak of nihilism, creating a sound and an image that is still the ideal in punk rock. The music of the Sex Pistols was even more raw and unrefined than the Ramones'. A fast paced rhythm guitar, sometimes out of tune, was the main musical feature of the Sex Pistols' music. Basslines were slaughtered by the Sex Pistols' most renown member, Sid Vicious, who oftentimes played drunk or on heroin. Johnny Rotten, singer for the Pistols, and Vicious are often seen as two of the "all time greatest punks," contributing so much to the punk style, both musically and fashionably. The nihilistic lyrics of the Sex Pistols were the crux of their music. Johnny Rotten half sang, half screamed the lyrics over crackling PA systems. Pistols' songs savagely attacked the status quo, making them instant villains. Some of their songs were "Anarchy In The UK," the punk anthem of all time, "God Save The Queen," a harsh rewriting of a traditional British song, and "No Feelings." The Sex Pistols were largely responsible for the vilification of Punk Rock and its followers, and for their actions both on and off the stage. Lyrics often raised huge controversies, especially the lyrics of "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy In The UK." Jon savage described the reaction to "Anarchy In the UK": "They set themselves up as national bogeymen. In England, the word 'anarchist' had the same connotation as 'communist' did in the US, raising the specter of an unseen but omnipresent enemy." (Chamberlain 3) The Pistols' actions offstage made headlines more often than their performances did. During a live interview with Bill Grundy, on the Today Show, they swore repeatedly.

Soon after, the BBC was flooded with complaints. There was one incident where a television set was kicked in during an interview. These acts helped to keep punk rock in the public eye and win over many new followers. Besides a huge influence on punk musically, the Sex Pistols also helped to create the look that came to characterize most punks. The Pistols, particularly Rotten, were characterized by wearing ripped blue jeans and obscene tee-shirts. Their manager, Malcom MacLaren, was also the owner of a fashion boutique called SEX. Seeing the Pistols as a way to help promote his fashions, he began to imitate their style in his work. The maniac pace and aggression of the Pistols in the UK and the Ramones in the US is seen as the bucket of water that woke rock from a long, Sgt. Pepper's-induced sleep. Now it is 1990 and many people say punk is dead. Others say punk is still dying. Still others say the story of rock 'n' roll is nearly over. Many believers of this theory often see only the superficial qualities of the subculture made visible through the mass media. The fashion and the well publicized scandals of Sid Vicious and friends were as far as most people saw outside the subculture. In Facing The Music, edited by Simon Frith, Mary Harron reduced the meaning of punk to "the spectacle of middle-class children dressing up in a fantasy of proletarian aggression and lying desperately about their backgrounds." (McNiel 401) Harron attributed her perceived failure of punk firstly towards the bands' misdirected hatred; toward stars of the previous generation like the Who or Rolling Stones, toward their records companies, toward even their fans with more venom than they directly toward the government. Because they had no "real" political focus, not even a simple issue like Vietnam, Harron believed punk accomplished little besides reviving the British pop industry before it failed. It is clear that Harron merely took a glimpse of the smoke from the forest fires sparked by punk. Underneath the smoke was a whole new opportunity for children to become active in a culture that they could call their own. If promoters and record company executives thought that they could capture the quintessential punk and drag him into board rooms, they were sadly mistaken. It was as futile as trying to capture youth. It was not only impossible, it was stupid to even attempt. The first punk caught in the corporate snare was Johnny Rotten and he quickly died in captivity. Lamenting his capture in a statement at the end of the last Sex Pistols' tour, he said "Have you every felt you've been cheated?" Here he was pondering his own fate rather than those in the audience. Later he would form a band sarcastically called Public Image and wrote the title song which describes a bitter embrace of success seen through the eyes of the quintessential punk: You never listen to the words I say You only see me by the clothes I wear... Or did the interest go so much deeper It must have been the color of my hair.

Two sides to every story, somebody had to stop me I'm not the same as when I began It's not a game of monopoly. The Public Image, you got what you wanted The Public Image belongs to me My entrance, my own creation My grand finale, my goodbye.

Categorie:Punk cretin

Short History of Punk Rock

Like any musical genre, it's hard to pinpoint that time and place where it actually began. But unlike any other musical genre, Punk rock was started as a deliberate reaction to the mass commercialism of music. In the year 2000, it's common to see someone "being A punk," rather than seeing someone "be punk." In the late 60's and early 70's, the music industry rang eerily familiar in its method of promoting trends over music. The public was being spoon-fed music that corporations simply intended to make a profit from. The backlash to this came to be known internationally as Punk rock. New York, early 1970's. Young, virtually unknown artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, and the Dolls of New York(changed later to New York Dolls) brought about a new style of "alternative-bohemian" entertainment, rooted in a "do-it-yourself" attitude. Short, frenetic songs, aggressive, sometimes confrontational stage presence, and angry messages against consumerism hit the stages at venues like New York's CBGB's, starting the movement that would be known as punk rock. Bands like the Ramones and the Talking Heads would evolve out of the punk rock movement, and become influences for those who shared a similar distaste in what was occurring in the music industry. Some say the underlying roots of

punk was the frustration and anger from being treated as sheep, while others say punk stemmed from the "politics of boredom." It was both. Malcolm McLaren has an indelible role in the history of punk rock, either beloved or hated for his managerial skills. In February of 1975, the New York Dolls, once a forerunner in punk, tried to revive a lagging career by hiring McLaren as their new manager. Understanding the value of shock, McLaren took the band and reintroduced them as born again communists. They draped themselves in communist flags and said catchy phrases like "better red than dead." Unfortunately for the band, they continued to fail. Fortunately for McLaren, they continued to fail. After his attempt with the New York Dolls, McLaren relocated to England and teamed up with his friend Bernie Rhodes. The two nurtured a band that was arguably their greatest success, the Sex Pistols. McLaren and the Pistols adopted an anarchistic view of the world that made them instaneous celebrities. With spiked hair, tattered clothes, and safety pins as jewelry, they frequented talk shows and publicly badmouthed fellow artists, bands, and musicians. They spoke harshly of the British class system and the subjugation of the working class. They made news for concert violence and fighting with fans. The Sex Pistols were also as notorious for their brashness as they were for their inability to play their instruments. Their shock value not only brought them fame, but made them the single most recognizable punk band. Therefore, many believed that punk rock began with the Pistols, while others believed it made punk into a novelty and signified the beginning of the end. Despite the internal turmoil in the punk movement, punk rock made several things clear to international audiences. Punk Rock, in its subculture, managed to break down many barriers of expression and language. It made an indentation in the commericial music industry. It provided a fresh alternative to a boring, stagnant music scene. But most of all, punk's legacy lies in its introduction of self employment and activism. It illustrated that anyone can do it themself, without reliance on the commercial media or the luxury of having financial abundance. Against the backdrop of mass consumer conformity, the punk rock movement made a statement of individuality that was heard worldwide.