Punk rock

Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music movement with origins in the United States and United Kingdom around 1974â€"1975 (although transitional forms can be found several years earlier), exemplified by the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Clash. The term "punk" 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.

Characteristics

Punk bands often emulate the approach of sixties garage rock bands. Punk rock emphasizes simple musical structures and arrangements. In 1976, the early English punk fanzine Sideburns famously included drawings (later reproduced in Sniffin' Glue) 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 can be as short as thirty seconds or less. Punk rock usually has fast tempos relative to the rock bands who came before them.

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). Bass lines usually consist of no more than the root notes of the chord being played by the guitarist(s). The guitar parts are made up of highly distorted power chords similar to Link Wray, though some bands, take a surf rock approach, with lighter, "twangier" guitar tones. Playing "lead" or guitar solos was considered taboo in the early punk days. Punk vocals often sound nasal and are more often "spoken" rather than "sung" in a conventional sense. 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 The Voidoids' "Love Comes in Spurts".

History

Origins

UK Punks, circa 1986

The phrase "punk rock" (from "punk", meaning a beginner or novicePunk, Merriam-Webster online. Accessed 22 March 2006.) 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 magazineWill Success Spoil The Frut? by Dave Marsh, Creem magazine, May 1971, 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 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 now known 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 early Rolling Stones, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and The Velvet Underground; as well as the sexuality, political confrontation, and on-stage violence of Detroit bands Alice Cooper, The Stooges and MC5; the English 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. An oft-forgotten pioneer from the late 1950s and early 1960s was the British musician Vince Eagar. Eagar's outrageous on-stage antics, style of dress and even aspects of his music all inspired other musicians.

Punk rock also served as 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. 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 1977 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 drew upon 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.

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.From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World by Clinton Heylin, 1993, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140179704 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.

Cover of The Clash album London Calling (1979).

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

The Swedish punk band Ebba GrÃ¶n, a poster from 1981

While it is thought that the style of punk from the 70s had a decline in the 80s, 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 80s, typified by bands such as 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 political 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 HÃ¼sker DÃ¼, 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, 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 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.

In part due to the popularity of alternative rock and the advocation of 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 the adovcacy of major radio stations like KROQ-FM.Gold, Jonathan. "The Year Punk Broke". SPIN. November 1994. 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 The Suicide Machines, also benefited from punk's resurgence. However, some in the punk community were wary of the music being co-opted by the mainstream. Many bands arose claiming the mantle of the ever-diverse punk label -- some playing the more accessible, pop punk style and achieving commercial success. The late 1990s also saw another ska punk revival. This revival continued into the 2000s with bands like Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake.

The commercial success Green Day paved the way for a new wave of pop punk at the turn of the century. Examples of bands labeled pop punk include: Blink 182, 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, and the Grammy success and superstar status in 2005 of Green Day.

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 0679720456
The Boy Looked At Johnny: The Obituary of Rock and Roll by Julie Burchill & Tony Parsons, 1978, Pluto Press, UK, ISBN 0861040309X
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain, 1997, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140266909
England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, 1991, Faber and Faber, UK, ISBN 0312069634
Burning Britain - A History Of UK Punk 1980 to 1984 by Ian Glasper, Cherry Red Books, ISBN 1901447243

Notes

External links

Punk rock: Encyclopedia BETA

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